Best solution for small business shared drive?

Pulsedriver

Pulsedriver

Pulsedriver

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Hey folks, I am currently working for a company (3 users) who use a 'dropbox' style program to allow them to share documents.
However it is proving troublesome, with the sync to each computer etc, and they want to move away from it.

What do you think is the best solution? Ideally something that can be accessed from any location ie home, office etc

I was thinking almost a dedicated server type thing - but not provided by us, any ideas? Or would an external drive hooked up to LAN and mapped as a network drive be a better idea?

Thanks in advance!
 
create a folder on 1 PC

share the folder get everyone to access it

re-jig drop box to point at that folder and get instant backups if the PC dies

remove drop box from the other 2 PC's

get an external drive to back up to since drop box will not help if you delete a file accidently

if you are likely to have more than 3 people consider getting a dedicated PC to act as the server (if no one works at it there is less change of it going wrong software wise) - if there is a pc in use thats not more than a few years old I would make the the "server" as long as its not a silly compact mini pc that cooks the HDD
 
edscdk said:
all very well but if it breaks no one will know how to fix it....
Click to expand...

Same could be said about a dedicated server. Plus you also have the complexity of running and maintaining said server.

Using a NAS box is the simplest and more efficient solution if all they're after is a simple storage solution.
 
Pulsedriver said:
Hey folks, I am currently working for a company (3 users) who use a 'dropbox' style program to allow them to share documents.
However it is proving troublesome, with the sync to each computer etc, and they want to move away from it.

What do you think is the best solution? Ideally something that can be accessed from any location ie home, office etc

I was thinking almost a dedicated server type thing - but not provided by us, any ideas? Or would an external drive hooked up to LAN and mapped as a network drive be a better idea?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Simples, a cheap Dell R200 8GB ram 2 x 500GB Sata drives or 1TB in raid 1 SATA NOT NEARLINE.....and SBS Essentials provides all your backup needs ability to control remote logging in, all licenses combined to top off with 365 E1 or E3 IMO as it gives you privy to all the newest Office releases


I do know that there is small business 365 pricing but haven't seen it yet

satanicguardian said:
Office 365 small business plan (P1) I think, you can get access to microsoft share point
Click to expand...
P1 plan is a good plan however it dosent provide 1 on 1 support from microsoft which is silly IMO as thats what you want being a small business

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/office365/all-plans.aspx

comparison of all plans

if your thinking of 365 think of intune as well , that covers antivirus and OS along side reporting features for auditing and much more

visibleman said:
NAS box?
Click to expand...
this is an option however it comes with drawbacks etc and if there is any sign of earning more money or growing etc Id keep well away from this idea for sharing files from a nas only

if you do look at a synology ds411j iirc


edscdk said:
create a folder on 1 PC

share the folder get everyone to access it

re-jig drop box to point at that folder and get instant backups if the PC dies

remove drop box from the other 2 PC's

get an external drive to back up to since drop box will not help if you delete a file accidently
Click to expand...

edited seriously dont do this !!!! get a dedicated server it dosen't have to be rack mounted as i mentioned previously could be a tower but either way dont just use 1 pc, then you get into alll sorts of problems of shares and access to shares etc then if the pc dies, relying on dropbox and a uniquie password its a headache waiting to happen.

get server grade parts not just a bog standard PC a decent NAS at least


visibleman said:
Same could be said about a dedicated server. Plus you also have the complexity of running and maintaining said server.

Using a NAS box is the simplest and more efficient solution if all they're after is a simple storage solution.
Click to expand...

IMO wrong NAS and server solutions are all easy especially with SBS Essentials based on the Windows Home Server it was effectively a nas setup but simpler TBH SBS Essentials is the way to move on followed by 365 in either PLAN
 
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Well new 'requirements' I keep rolling my eyes at them because im not sure exactly what they REALLY want!

Anyhow... Now it has to be so they work on THEIR documents on THEIR laptops, but yet it is backed up, and 2 of the users have to be using the same 'set' of documents, which I admit, I do not understand as if they want to use their own hard drive based documents, yet want to have them backed up, yet accessible by others, I am VERY confused!

Dropbox synced to folders sounding good??
 
It can be done although I'm not sure which product was used. At one of the companies I worked at your Windows Documents folders was mapped to a network drive. When disconnected you could still access the last version of it. When reconnecting back you would have to check-in the changes.

Two people working on one document though sounds more like a requirement for configuration management tools such as Clearcase, Subversion, etc (there are many of them).

I would highly recommend a NAS with regular backups. Or look at a Small Business server with a service contract from a provider such as HP or Dell.

But if it were my small business then I would just get a NAS device and ensure regular backups.

Questions to ask:
1) How many people will use it?
2) How critical is the data? i.e. Will you need offsite backups?
3) What is the projected growth in the size of data?
4) If the data is corrupted or the device fails then how quickly does it need to be recovered?
 
Pulsedriver said:
Well new 'requirements' I keep rolling my eyes at them because im not sure exactly what they REALLY want!

Anyhow... Now it has to be so they work on THEIR documents on THEIR laptops, but yet it is backed up, and 2 of the users have to be using the same 'set' of documents, which I admit, I do not understand as if they want to use their own hard drive based documents, yet want to have them backed up, yet accessible by others, I am VERY confused!

Dropbox synced to folders sounding good??
Click to expand...

Arse and elbow springs to mind. I'd be getting a signed off specification, otherwise it'll just be a never ending story of "oh, could we also add....".

But with the above request, i'd now be looking at remote Sharepoint or Office 365/Google Apps.
You could do something 'in house' but for 3 users i don't think it warrants the cost or butt-ache of running and maintaining a server.
 
Pulsedriver said:
Well new 'requirements' I keep rolling my eyes at them because im not sure exactly what they REALLY want!

Anyhow... Now it has to be so they work on THEIR documents on THEIR laptops, but yet it is backed up, and 2 of the users have to be using the same 'set' of documents, which I admit, I do not understand as if they want to use their own hard drive based documents, yet want to have them backed up, yet accessible by others, I am VERY confused!

Dropbox synced to folders sounding good??
Click to expand...

SBS Essentials, offers all of these options.... use folder redirection with offline files and an external hdd for backing up followed by mapped drives for the other users.
 
Hi,

I work with Dell and there are some excellent NAS solutions that are simple to install and secure for file storage. You can also get replication software to move the files when changed to the NAS so you have a backup. Have a look at Dell NAS options
 
Bit of resurrection but don't think I need to start a new thread just yet. I have a similar requirement and was wondering what happened to the OP?

We've been using Dropbox as a test for over a year for current projects but are trying to formalise our file management and establish a solid system for the 8-10 employees. Our current file management is spread across a remote server (Windows 2007), Local NAS and a each desktops own Dropbox account. Mixture of Windows and OSX desktops.

We love the ease of use and setup of Dropbox so want to avoid setting up a new server machine if possible. Ideally I'd want our local QNAP NAS to sync with our Dropbox server but our model (non-X86) doesn't support the Dropbox QPKG.

It does support RSync, but this appears to be a bit insecure when talking to a remote server over the internet and some sources say it's one directional. It also support Real-time Remote Replication but I'm not familiar with that.

And, correct me if I'm wrong, but if someone in the office was to edit a document on the local NAS if it was synced to Dropbox, then the NAS would then update Dropbox and the local desktop client of the user would then redownload the change to the Dropbox folder. Sounds a right inefficient mess.

So, a possible solution would be to only use the physical servers (local NAS, and remote server) as backup repositories. All live changes would happen inside each users Dropbox folder, and a separate service replicates the data to the local NAS and remote server at timely intervals.

Someone mentioned Dropbox doesn't have any rescue for deleted files which is incorrect. The free account has a 30 day undo and a paid option is 'unlimited' undo.
 
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