Working in a small office with three staff, we presently have the pc's networked, with one shared folder on a pc being accessed by all for carrying out any work. The printer is connected by USB to one pc and other users print though the other pc.
We did consider a server, but the cost could not be justified, so I wonder if a NAS would be of any benefit? I see many for around the £100 mark, which would allow central storage, printer can be set through it and remote access is available in some cases.
Is there any major problems in using a nas drive such as -
I have the netgear sc101 NAS. It's access on a wired lan by 4 other computers. I've had it for 2 years running 24/7 with the same original 200gb drive. (capable of using 2 drives).
They are perfect where you just need to store files in a central location.
My sc101 is formatted with a different file system (not fat32 or ntfs), and I had to install the netgear software on all the computers. Once software is installed, the nas shows up in my computer with it's own drive letter.
I've never had any problem with access speeds, but it does seem slower than transfering from one pc to another pc, not a big problem with small files. But it is quick enough to stream video over the LAN.
On my unit I spent 30 dollars for the sc101 and just used a old 200gb IDE drive I had laying around, a very good deal for me.
Before I did use a regular computer as a central location for file storage, but I do prefer the NAS since it's always on and doesn't waste as much electricity and it has proven very reliable.
