Synology DS211+ Small Office

[ninelegs]

I support a non-profit small office with 4 users. They currently use a share onone if their workstations as a server and I would like to move them to a NAS for basic file serving and backup with some redundancy. The DS211+ has a 1.6Ghz processor and 512MB of RAM http://www.synology.com/us/products/DS211+/spec.php. Anyone have an opinion on this unit or suggest another for approx same money? $400.00 plus drives.
Also, I will check the compatibility list but does anyone have a drive suggestion?

 

[greenrhyno]

Synology products are great. I have a 211j since November and it has been great. Set it up with 2 2TB disks in Raid 1. It backs up my mac with time machine and my wife's Vista machine with its own software.

Very cool features, easy to access the files from the server over the LAN and you can also access files (and music) over the internet from another computer or smart phone (great for taking a large music collection on iPhone).

Another option for keeping files synced and backed up is Dropbox, which would keep a copy online and on each computer. 2 GB are free.

For the Synology I use the Samsung HD204UI. There was a problem with the firmware, but it is fixed now so any new drives should be fine. There are other options just check the synology forums and lists.

If you do go with dropbox, use my referral link:

http://db.tt/uirkiu7

It will be the same for you and I'll get some extra free MBs of storage.

 

[stevech]

re DropBox
Neat, but $$$

OpenDisk is my favorite online disk + backup, multi-computer, so far. Some of the backup services don't have a virtual disk drive. Some don't permit external or network drive access.
I've tried Acronis On-line, Mozy, DropBox, CloudStore, Carbonite, iDrive, and a couple of others.

 

[thiggins]

Got a link to OpenDisk please? Not finding any links that make sense.

 

[thiggins]

For basic file sharing, you can use any NAS, really. The QNAP has many more features than you're going to use and you'll pay a premium price. You should consider single-drive diskful NASes like those from Buffalo, Iomega, WD, which are less expensive and will serve you fine for your use.

If it is going to be used a the primary file store, then make sure it is backed up in a reliable, automatic fashion.

Consider an offsite backup option. This can be cloud based, or as simple as a couple of USB drives that are rotated and taken home each night.