Snap Appliance Snap Server 1100 Review
8/10
There is a fantastic simplicity to the Snap Server 1100. Setting up the Snap Server could hardly be any easier.
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Highs: Quick setup, small footprint, excellent performance, ease of use
Lows: Relatively high price per GB, lack of gigabit Ethernet support
The Snap Server is a pint-sized and incredibly easy to use network attached storage device for small business and home network use.
Summary
There is a fantastic simplicity to the Snap Server 1100. Small businesses and home users alike will appreciate the Snap Server’s easy installation, minimialistic exterior design and excellent performance.
Setting up the Snap Server could hardly be any easier and the system can quickly be configured with tight corporate security or a more relaxed level of security for a home-network.
Price may be the only limiting factor for some home users since at over $530 for an 80GB drive, there are certainly much cheaper solutions. However, the added security, backup features and ability to effortlessly transfer files between several operating systems will appeal to many users interested in protecting their data across a network. While the unit is more costly than other storage solutions the versatility will make up for it in many situations.
A recent announcement by Broadcom predicts heavy interest NAS from small businesses and home users with their NAS-on-chip which should significantly drive prices for these products down. Snap Appliance is on the cusp of this development and one of the few companies targeting the smaller users, but this will soon change.
Overview
With the increasing popularity of digital music, file sharing and digital photos, families and home computer users are hungry for more and more storage space. Disk storage is relatively inexpensive, but adding another drive to an existing computer is not always the easiest or safest way to back up and store data.
Enter the networked storage device. Several companies are offering storage solutions specifically designed to address these concerns for both home and small office users. The Snap Server 1100 by SnapAppliance is one such device.
This relatively small black box is an easy to configure file server that connects to your network and according to the company, can be serving up files less than five minutes after you pop open the box. Just plug the power in, connect the Ethernet cable and make a few configuration settings and you have 80 gigs of shared storage. The unit is instantly compatible with just about any network and any operating system out there and even features FTP and HTTP file access, making it ideal for the home or any small business.
According to SnapAppliance, the Snap Server 1100 is the most popular NAS (network attached storage) device on the market, with over 50,000 units sold.
The Snap Appliance Snap Server 1100 80GB NAS server.
Features and Benefits
SnapAppliance has gone with a minimalist approach to the Snap Server design. The front panel of the unit features four status LEDs
