FreeNAS

Overall Opinion: In an age driven by the internet, data is everything. Whether you're talking about information on your leads and clients, financial records, or correspondence, business owners need to know that all of their information is accessible in one secure and easily accessible location. FreeNAS provides you with the means to store all the data from your network and be able to reach it when you need it. Whether you're an individual, a small business owner, or the CEO of an enterprise level company, you can trust that the FreeNAS platform can scale to your individual needs. Personal users will find FreeNAS to be a great alternative to traditional media. You won't have to worry about the hassle and impermanence of physical devices like photo albums or DVDs, and you don't have to concern yourself with lost data or clogging up space on your dedicated home or work computer. The only limitation to FreeNAS is the size of your hardware, so you can easily scale your storage capacity to match your individual needs and upgrade to new server hardware as your lifestyle demands. Your information isn't sequestered away either. While FreeNAS makes sure all of your memories are tucked away on a secure server, everyone you give control to in your private network can access it. You can even set specific access protocol for the different files and folders within your network. This means that you can use FreeNAS as a remote media center, streaming your favorite videos and music or screening a family photo album for your closest friends. Mac, Linux, and Windows operating systems are all compatible with FreeNAS' network sharing protocol. You'll get access to business level security and assurance with your FreeNAS server. Creating local and remote backups only requires the click of a mouse, and the meticulous use of checksums assures that there are no errors or inconsistencies in the copying process. Your data will be well protected. FreeNAS never uses cloud or third party servers to store your information, meaning the strength of your private network is all you'll have to concern yourself with. A master security key means only authorized users will have access to your information. Increased versatility is available through the range of plugins that FreeNAS supports. These include media center apps like Plex as well as personal cloud platforms like ownCloud, which can be used to mirror your private network on a remote but accessible server. FreeNAS' business solutions use the same basic technology and interface as their storage solutions for home, but they can also purchase servers and storage components directly through FreeNAS. These are designed to match the needs of business owners, and they offer the sort of efficiency that enterprises level IT managers can come to depend on. A number of options are available, and these pre-built systems make it easy to get your local server set up even if you have only a rudimentary knowledge of business hardware technology.

Pros: Easy to use interface resembles a traditional Windows file manager No bandwidth of storage size caps

Cons: Requires some technical knowledge and self configuration to make the most of Necessitates the overhead cost of buying hardware to support your network