When creating the computer network for your garden office, you need to consider implementing a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device into your plan. The data that you create and save regarding your business can be invaluable. If your home business deals with customers and deadlines then you definitely need some sort of NAS device.
The cost of losing important information may mean many sleepless nights to recreate what was lost, and it could also mean losing clients or customers. No one wants to deal with retrieving or recreating lost data, so it is better to be safe than sorry in this case.
When implementing a Network Attached Storage device, you will want to make sure it is in a cool place that gets plenty of air flow. The machine should be treated like a regular computer when determining a place for it go in your garden office. You make sure that your NAS device does not get too hot, or that it gets wet. Since you will hardly ever have to physically touch it after it is installed, you are free to put it in an out of the way location to make room for other commonly used items in your office.
Using this Network Storage Adapter, it is extremely simple to share up to two external USB hard disks with all of the PCs in your computer network. The adaptor is connected to your network with a network cable.
You can access the disks via the integrated FTP server or you can use Windows and Linux file sharing (using Samba). So you can store your disks securely in your home and access the data over your network from your garden office.
This storage adaptor is available to buy at Maplin.co.uk.
An alternative to using a NAS device would be signing up for an online data backup service. To find a reliable NAS device, you are looking at spending around £169-£282. With an online data backup, you would not be required to pay much upfront, except maybe the first month of service in advance. The disadvantage to the online service, as far as money is concerned, is the monthly fee that is charged depending on how much space you need for your data.
For the UK, online backup is available at an average price of £15.00/month, and one company is known for its offer of a 20GB one month trial account without any obligations. They also offer 1GB per month totally free. Depending on the space you need, a NAS device may end up being cheaper in the long run.
Having an NAS device in your garden office will offer more protection for your private data than an online backup service. The reason for this is anything online has the potential to be hacked into. It would be possible someone to gain access to the information on your NAS device, but they would have to be able to access your network first. So long as you have the proper security settings enabled on your computer network, you should be fine.
An advantage to the online service is there is nothing physically sitting in your office for it to work. This would be beneficial if your garden office was broken into, or damaged in inclement weather.
Data backup is essential if you are serious about working from home. If you are working for another company, you may discuss the steps that need to be taken to protect important information. However, if you own your own business, you are solely responsible for keep your data safe from others, the weather, and the temperature. Consider the options for data storage, and choose the method that works best for you.
A simple and effective network attached storage (NAS) unit that can accommodate an internal 3.5" hard drive at the capacity of your choosing. Thanks to the wireless and gigabit wired networking, you have plenty of ways to access your data in your home office.
This NAS is available to buy at Amazon.co.uk.
The QNAP TS-209 Pro II is an excellent balance of features, price and storage capacity. The QNAP NAS is suited to both home and business use thanks to its very useful RAID option.
A RAID NAS allows you (among other things) to mirror 1 drive to another. Should a drive fail, the other drive will contain a complete copy of all your data. So you're protected against data loss.
The QNAP NAS devices are also able to backup to remote QNAP servers for additional protection should your own NAS become damaged. Read the reviews for this NAS, it truly is surprisingly feature-packed.
This NAS is available to buy at Amazon.co.uk.
