Digital Trends

Snap Appliance Snap Server 1100

April 7th, 2004 | by Douglas MacLean

Additional Provided Software

The Snap Server comes with a really nice piece of extra software, PowerQuest's Data Keeper. This program, previously available with the excellent partition management program Partition Magic, automatically backs up any or all files on your hard drive. You set up what files you require for back up and Data Keeper monitors any changes made to the files, saving the old copy before it is over written. You can specify how many copies you want to keep, the duration of maintaining the back up files and the space you want to devote to this function. If you have ever made a change that completely ruined a file, and who among us haven't, this utility lets you recover quickly and easy.

Since it is running in the background, the save functions are literally “set it and forget it.” Including this program just shows the commitment this company has to giving the most to their customers.

Conclusions

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.