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Problem: Small movie business using external USB hard drives to share large data between co-workers.

Problem 2: Remote access (They would also like remote access) (I can do this with a Mikrotik if I went with NAS, or the application server if not)

Solution: Some sort of Diskless NAS that allows for regular 7200rpm drives? An application server with capable SATA ports for adding HDDs?

Background: I have a small business client who creates movies, TV shows, etc.. They are building a new office and are wanting to do things better this time. They have requested a solution to better share large data between all of the coworkers. My question is, which to go with? File server or NAS. Typically, I would go with file server, but I figured I'd get some input from y'all.

If I went with a server, I would go with the following: https://www.amazon.com/Dell-PowerEdge-T20-Mini-tower-Server/dp/B011ZB45LM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483584514&sr=8-2&keywords=dell+poweredge+t20

I would probably use a small SSD with Linux smb file server as the OS and use SATA cables to connect their already existing HDDs that they need shared. Note, they are all using MACs.

I don't have any experiences with NAS servers at all. Any suggestions would be great.

Schylar
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Reading between the lines, it doesn't seem like you're in a position (either experience or time) to manage a large fileserver. With that in mind, I'd recommend just going with a Synology NAS appliance

They're available in an incredibly wide range of performance and storage specs - pick one that's right for you. The synology will be able to provide file shares in whatever protocol you need (SMB/AFS/NFS/etc.), and other than clicking "upgrade" every now and again to patch the OS, it's a zero-maintenance ordeal.

All of their units also provide a number of USB ports, which work great for importing data from portable USB drives.

In addition to the above functionality, DSM (Synology's OS) has a number of cloud storage backup modules which you can install and provide credentials for AWS S3, Azure, Google Cloud Storage, etc, and it will take care of backing up your data for you.

For remote access, that's not something that your NAS should be concerned with. Rather, you should have a router that supports something like OpenVPN which your employees can use to access the fileserver remotely.

EEAA
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  • DSM has a VPN Server built-in, you can just use that one, assuming that your Synology is not behind a router. – Alex Jan 05 '17 at 04:12
  • @Alex Yep, I'm aware of that. I'm a big proponent of separation of concerns though. Your NAS should be concerned with serving files, leaving routing/firewall/vpn to a different piece of equipment. – EEAA Jan 05 '17 at 04:13
  • Also, putting your DSM (or any other non-router appliance) directly on the internet and *not* behind a firewall is batshit crazy. – EEAA Jan 05 '17 at 04:14
  • I agree with you. – Alex Jan 05 '17 at 04:18
  • If the NAS is a fire and forget solution, than that's definitely what I was looking for. I will setup a Routerboard for the VPN. Thank you for your input! – Schylar Jan 05 '17 at 04:22