Network Attach Storage

[Katanand45]

We have a major storage issue where I work. The server where everyone saves their stuff is pathetic. It only has a 70GB hard drive. :Q I've been tasked to fix the problem. The thing is I'm not all that upto speed on servers in a medium office enviroments with about 100 users.

If I hookup a 1TB USB hard drive to the server should we be set for a while or should I look into a dedicated NAS(would be a Dell because that's where we get everything.). What could those $5000 NASs do that a $250 USB hard drive attached to a server cant?

 

[ViRGE]

Can you not just drop another hard drive in to the current server? Adding a drive via USB is possible, but I wouldn't recommend it due to USB's lower performance.

 

[JackMDS]

Inexpensive NAS might Not support 100 users and would Not Support NTFS.

Which mean that it is probably useless for 100 user Network.

NAS solution depeneds on many variables that you did not provided.

Given you level of knowledge you would be better Off upgrading the current Drive to a larger drive, or just add an additional drive.

 

[Katanand45]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Inexpensive NAS might Not support 100 users and would Not Support NTFS.

Which mean that it is probably useless for 100 user Network.

NAS solution depeneds on many variables that you did not provided.

Given you level of knowledge you would be better Off upgrading the current Drive to a larger drive, or just add an additional drive.

I think that's what I'm going to do. Server stuff is way outside my paygrade(I just manage workstations), but the server admins don't seem that interested in doing anything about the space issue. Heck I don't think they even have a clue what's going on in this office. They told me to call Dell to get a price on a hard drive for our domain controler because it's "newer" compared to where people crrently have their files. The domain controler is a Pentium 3. The current file server is a P4 with a 70GB hard drive. :roll:

Anyways.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Katanand45
Network Attach Storage

Which way to go?

I'd go to the "Networking" forum.

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: Katanand45

Originally posted by: JackMDS
Inexpensive NAS might Not support 100 users and would Not Support NTFS.

Which mean that it is probably useless for 100 user Network.

NAS solution depeneds on many variables that you did not provided.

Given you level of knowledge you would be better Off upgrading the current Drive to a larger drive, or just add an additional drive.

I think that's what I'm going to do. Server stuff is way outside my paygrade(I just manage workstations), but the server admins don't seem that interested in doing anything about the space issue. Heck I don't think they even have a clue what's going on in this office. They told me to call Dell to get a price on a hard drive for our domain controler because it's "newer" compared to where people crrently have their files. The domain controler is a Pentium 3. The current file server is a P4 with a 70GB hard drive. :roll:

Anyways.

If the domain control is on one computer (with the Server OS) and the file server with the 70GB is on an other computer. Upgrading the HD on the files server has nothing to do with the Controller.

The IT people probably have a different agenda, they might be right (or wrong) and there is no way to countable way to judge it without comprehensive understanding of the whole network.

 

[Nothinman]

What could those $5000 NASs do that a $250 USB hard drive attached to a server cant?

A NAS is just branding for a file server.

 

[RebateMonger]

A 1TB USB drive MIGHT be OK, although I hesitate to recommend a USB-connected drive for primary storage. It depends on how busy the drive is. If one user is accessing one file each minute, no problem. If ten users are accessing files every second...

It'd be VERY cheap to try it out. You can ALWAYS make use of a USB Terabyte hard drive for backing up workstations or whatever.

Be sure that you are making ongoing backups of this data. This is always the case, but if you are using a single USB drive, you won't have any redundancy at all, so a drive failure will certainly lose data.

You'd need more information to make an informed decision:
Current drive access profile
Current drive controller (can you add drives to an existing RAID arrary?)
Is there space for more drives in the server case? Adequate cooling?
Can the existing controller handle more drives?