Shared storage for a new little company

jennimoo

I've just started work for a new small businessn(6 employees!), and so far have sorted out their email and calendars (with Google Apps) and have tried to use this for documents but I don't think this is going to be a good solution for all documents, particularly complex spreadsheets, so I'm looking for other ideas to put to the boss. Their current solution is to use LogMeIn to access the office computer from home, so have to do it outside of office time!

It needs to be:
1) Cheap!
2) Fairly easy to set up (as I'll have to do it, and although techie no expert on networks and stuff!)
3) Allow both those in the office (connected via wi-fi) and those connecting from home to securely access the files
4) Preferably work from an iMac as there is one in the office that is the main computer and is left switched on.

Anyone got a solution for me to suggest?

santer_2

I have this

http://www.my-ditto.com/html/professional.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e24u0ErG48I

You need to add in the cost of the drives which can be 2TB each

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/dane-elec-my-ditto-all-in-one-2x-35-sata-hdd-nas-server-with-usb-gbe-ethernet

macworld have a review so assume it is suitable for those, though check first

http://www.macworld.com/article/145484/2010/01/myditto.html

It can be accessed by up to 10 users at a time, and only their USB key is needed, so any PC can be used, which I like as it saves carrying, damaging or possibly losing a laptop etc.

Each user can be assigned their own folder, or given access to different folders. The admin key can also change any permissions per user

jaydeeuk1

You could use something like hamachi (same people as logmein), which is a VPN so you can access your computers at work and at home as if they were on the same network, and transfer files across, even if the pc is being used locally.

And then if you want everything on a shared drive, you can get a buffalo NAS drive with 2x500gb hd for £60ish inc delivery

One issue to look for is if people will be accessing and updating the same files - you don't want people locked out or overwriting file changes, copying to a local drive or even accidently deleting! Perhaps look at an svn solution, will keep track of version changes easily, and its free too (we use tortoise SVN client)