File Storage for Distributed Nonprofits

I work for a distributed organization and we have had a lot of trouble deciding how to centrally store files. We're a small nonprofit group with a small headquarters and the majority of full-time employees working out of their homes. Not all of the from home employees have great Internet access. 

The options we've looked into include: 

1) Buying a Server and installing Windows Server or Samba

2) Using JungleDisk for file storage

3) Microsoft Groove

- The Mac users have to dual boot to use it

4) Dropbox

We already use Google Docs for collaborative editing but want to be able to have a place to store files as well. 

Our primary requirements are that the solution provide:

- Mac, Windows support

- Versioning

- Security

- Offline Access

Are there other options we should be considering? Has anyone else already done this type of evaluation? 

Thanks, 

Julia

Take a look at Office Live Workspace.  Supports PCs and Macs through the browser.  There are Office plugins for the PC.  Office plugins for the Mac they say for Office 2008 will come late summer 2009 (so soon).

A friend and former co-worker of mine swears by JungleDisk as the greatest thing since sliced bread. She works with an office of 8 people and a handful of volunteers/interns but they're spread all over the country (New York, DC, Chicago, Oakland, CA) and they have no real "network" so to speak internally. They've been using JungleDisk for the past 8 months and have said it works really well. She's created desktop shortcuts on everyone's computers so people automatically "save" to JungleDisk even though it feels the same as saving to their C Drive.

She also was able to set it up so it automatically backs up everyone's machines (provided they're on and connected to the internet) at a specific time once a week, just like a normal in-house server might do. And I believe she told me that, in total, they pay less than $40 per month for all of it (she did note that there is a price difference between how much you upload versus how much you download each month, so it might be good to price it out based on what you think you'll be doing most each month).

I can't speak to all the requirements you mention, but for her small nonprofit, it's working well.

Also meant to mention these things:

1. We have an article from Idealware about sharing files with distributed workforces: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/software/page8378.cfm

Much of this article discusses using tools like Google Docs or Zoho for online doc collaboration, but it also includes a bit about Groove

2. We held a webinar with folks from Microsoft's Office Live Workspace a couple of weeks ago, so you could check out the archived recording and slides for an overview of how it works and a virtual tour of functions, if you're interested in looking into Chris' recommendation. https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=eqyep1ujf27u

You can download the powerpoint presentation to view the slides and download or stream the recorded audio. They also created a demo workspace where people could mess around with the tool without having to get too involved by emailing the presenter (Ken), who's info is on the page. BTW, OLW is free, which is a nice benefit.

Report back with whatever you decide upon to tell us how it goes. I'm sure there are gobs of other nonprofits dealing with the same issue who could learn from your experience.

You could also go with a managed dedicated server with a file server.  You may not have to buy the machine - just pay $100-300 per month (+ bandwidth) for your host to manage it and keep the hardware up to date.  Be sure it has raid and that they do regular backups of course - you may have to shop around for a business class host since larger bulk hosts that are into the quick money probably won't have time to help you whereas medium and smaller outfits tend to be better and more flexible for custom solutions.

Having an off-site managed server sounds like a good option. Thanks for the recommendation. I think that paying $100-300 would still be less than the cost of purchasing and maintaining an on-site server. 

Thanks Becky! I've looked at that Idealware article many times. It has been a very helpful resource. We love Google Docs for online document collaboration. However, when it comes to storing things like high-resolution logos, Google Docs doesn't work.  

Microsoft Live Workspace is another decent option as well. One problem I've run into with it is that you can't have access to your documents when disconnected from the Internet. I think that Workspace is in the same class as Basecamp and other web-based project management tools. 

 It's also great to hear that JungleDisk is used successfully by another nonprofit as a file server. 

No hosted solution will provide you access to your files when you're offline unless you take the necessary steps to make them available.  So even a hosted server requires you to take additional steps on your end to make sure all of the files you're accessing on the server are available offline.  I've never used Office Live, but I thought it would be very silly if there was no sync tool.  So I went and checked their support forum, and the response from their dev team is pretty funny.  You can do it, but it's not automatic - it's a pain for users.

So, if you do get a hosted server and you can map drives for access to it, then you'll want to look into the many sync options available so that you do have access to your files.  Here are some resources I know about:

• Windows Offline File Sync - included in XP Professional.  Offline File Sync can be an effective way to make sure you have access to documents when you're offline.
  • Instructions for Windows XP Professional
• Windows Vista Sync Center - if you're using Vista, you can use Sync Center
  • Introduction to Sync Center
• If you use a mix of Windows operating systems and want one solution to train people on, try Microsoft Sync Toy 2.0 - this is a more manual process, though.
• If you use a Mac, I've found LaCie's Silverkeeper to be effective, but I had a small amount of trouble setting it up properly.
• Another sync tool I've been looking at, but haven't implemented anywhere, is Unison.
• If you want to get really down and dirty, cross-platform, and dig deep into some nice command-line options, lookup rsync.
  • rsync is usually included in most Linux installations
  • rsync is also already in Mac OSX
  • rsync can be implemented in Windows by installing cygwin - the only way I know how to get GNU software tools on Windows

I'm sure if you wanted to, you could find some software to buy to do the same thing.  Call me frugal, I like the free stuff.

If you don't need to store all that much data I'd definitely go with Dropbox, it's what a small nonprofit I work for uses. It's free for 2GB accounts and that's worked for us for simple logos, photos, and videos we want everyone to have on their local machine.

It's also surprisingly good for collaboration as you can watch other people updating files and check what's new.

FYI - Instead of Groove consider SugarSync, it runs natively on Windows AND Mac. I have been using it for about a year, works great. Also it creates a web copy of files - which is very nice for remote access and for backup.