Small Business NAS Reccommendation

[jupiterfish]

FYI- I have been searching thru additional post and didnt see many about SMB.

just moved into a small (4 total users) company and taking over their IT. currently they are using an older computer (XP) for their file storage, i want to replace this with a NAS.

• file share is mainly for the storage and constant usage of AutoCad files (15-9Kb size drawing files)
• current storage is 60GB, max would be 250GB in the future (3-5 years from now)
• we currently do weekly offsite backups (USB)
• full gigabit switch/network (not managed) so no link-agg
• 3 new workstations (win7) and one mac laptop

NAS can be pretty basic,

• Dont need any cloud apps, the option to backup to cloud would be nice in the future.
• i want to do RAID 1 just for up-time and redundancy. (with notification of fail)
• Drives will be new WD Red Pros. 1TB
• under $400 diskless?
• prefer web interface for setup
• file version backup would be nice

I know that leaves a lot of options , but i would like some suggestions. I have been doing a lot of research and my main concern is that the NAS will keep up with multiple concurrent users (3) in the office without lag.

 

[thiggins]

Your needs are very basic, except for versioned backups. I suggest you use the NAS Ranker, sort on RAID1 and ascending price to get some ideas. This link should take you there.

One caution is that working with large files on a NAS will be slower than if the files are local on the workstation. You can get an idea of this by opening a test file on another networked machine and working with it.
But if you are already doing this by using an XP machine for shared storage, you will probably find a NAS just as fast if not faster.

 

[stevech]

Beware that some NAS ranking can over-emphasize speed and performance at the expense of ease of admin and completeness of features such as File Versioning backups, and so on.

Of course, a gigabit LAN makes a huge difference, versus a 100BT LAN or PCs lacking Gig-e

 

[sfx2000]

Most of the top tier vendors will have products that meet your needs, and their pre-sale teams are helpful to pick the right product for your needs.

Synology and QNAP both have online GUI simulators so that can help with "kicking the tires" to see what works best, and I think the others might as well..

When considering a NAS, also have a backup plan for the NAS, as it needs to be backed up as well as the clients, and when considering how much data can be centralized on a NAS box, it's probably even more critical to have a plan there than the desktops...

 

[stevech]

Most of the top tier vendors will have products that meet your needs, and their pre-sale teams are helpful to pick the right product for your needs.

Synology and QNAP both have online GUI simulators so that can help with "kicking the tires" to see what works best, and I think the others might as well..

When considering a NAS, also have a backup plan for the NAS, as it needs to be backed up as well as the clients, and when considering how much data can be centralized on a NAS box, it's probably even more critical to have a plan there than the desktops...

2nd that! Don't buy a NAS until you know how you will have a robust backup solution. RAID is not a backup as we preach.

Happy to help the OP.