How does DAS (Direct Attached Storage) primarily differ from HCI?

Direct Attached Storage (DAS) and Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) are both storage solutions, but they have fundamentally different architectures and capabilities. The primary distinction that makes HCI superior in terms of scalability lies in its design.

HCI integrates storage, compute, and networking into a single system, allowing organizations to scale their resources horizontally by simply adding more nodes as needed. This scalability is crucial for adapting to growing data demands without significant reconfiguration or downtime, which is why it is often described as "unlimited". Resources can be added seamlessly to meet increasing workloads, promoting efficiency and flexibility.

DAS, on the other hand, is a storage solution directly attached to a server. It is limited to the physical constraints of the individual server and does not provide the same level of scalability as HCI. Upgrading storage in a DAS system often requires significant manual intervention and may involve downtime, making it less adaptable to rapidly changing needs.

Understanding these distinctions highlights why the option indicating HCI's unlimited scalability is the correct answer. The nature of DAS, being single-server based and less flexible, contrasts sharply with the expansive and adaptable design of HCI.