Dell Powervault NF100 or Computer with a few HD on it

[morty346]

Would you recommend a Dell Powervault for a small business(<15people) That needs a centralized storage or is something like a Computer with multiple HD in it a better solution?

If going the route of just a PC with HD, what OS should it have?

Thank You

[scotty]

That unit basically is just a PC with an OS loaded on it. The only limitation with Storage Server Express is you're limited to 2 drives. But if you're happy with 2 big drives in a RAID 1 configuration, it could work for you.

Features and performance wise, a box like this would be roughly similar to loading Server 03 on your own hardware. Whether it's worth it is up to you. You could surely do an Ubuntu box for cheaper if that's your thing. Storage server 03 does have come nice features though, like DFS, Shadow Copy Service, and obviously tight AD integration if you ever need that.

If you JUST need storage with very little frills, you could get something cheaper and faster in a more regular NAS, as per SNB's excellent NAS charts (http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_nas/Itemid,190/).