Shared Company Files: NAS, SharePoint/OneDrive or Google Drive?
TL;DR: Teams working with large files inside the office get speed and control from a NAS; distributed, collaboration-heavy teams are more productive on cloud sharing (SharePoint/OneDrive or Drive). For most SMBs the honest answer is hybrid — and the critical rule is model-independent: every folder needs one source of truth, defined permissions and an independent backup.
"Where do we keep the files?" sounds innocent, but the wrong answer bills you daily: the contract nobody can find, the proposal overwritten, the project folder stranded in a departed employee's personal account. The three common models — an office network storage device (NAS), Microsoft 365's SharePoint/OneDrive pair, and Google Drive — are all mature, proven solutions. The choice is not a technology preference but a photograph of how you work: how large are your files, where is your team, how central is co-editing?
The Character of Each Model
| Dimension | NAS (on-prem) | SharePoint/OneDrive | Google Drive |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-office speed | Highest — LAN speed | Internet-bound | Internet-bound |
| Out-of-office access | Needs VPN or sync | Native — anywhere | Native — anywhere |
| Simultaneous co-editing | Limited | Strong in Office documents | Strong in Google documents |
| Large files (CAD, video, design) | Its natural habitat | Mind the sync limits | Mind the sync limits |
| Version history / undelete | Configuration-dependent (snapshots) | Built in | Built in |
| Backup responsibility | Entirely yours | Yours — a subscription is not a backup | Yours — a subscription is not a backup |
| Data-residency control | Full — the device is in your office | Limited to region selection | Limited to region selection |
| Cost character | Hardware + disks up front | Per-user subscription | Per-user subscription |
Decision Scenarios
Scenario 1: office-centred team on heavy files
In architecture, design, video and engineering, where large files dominate, the daily working disk should be a NAS; pulling a multi-gigabyte project from the cloud does not carry a production tempo. Cloud joins the NAS as the sharing and external-access layer.
Scenario 2: distributed team, office-document work
In sales, consultancy and hybrid offices, the file's home should be the cloud: co-editing the same proposal, phone access and external sharing links are daily needs. Microsoft or Google is usually answered together with your email platform — both are mature on the file side; productivity follows whichever matches your existing habits.
Scenario 3: the mixed reality (most SMBs)
Accounting's application data and scan archive should be fast and local; sales' proposals should share from the cloud — that picture calls for hybrid: NAS + cloud, with each folder family's home chosen deliberately. Hybrid's one danger is the double source; the fix is below.
Three Rules, Whatever the Model
- One source of truth: each folder family gets exactly one home; the same contracts folder does not live as two "current" copies on the NAS and in Drive. Hybrid means division of labour, not duplication.
- Permissions by role: the "shared folder open to everyone" arrangement lasts until the first critical file accident. Department-level access and external sharing off by default is the correct setup in all three models — and company files kept in personal accounts are shadow IT in its most expensive form.
- An independent backup: the NAS's RAID is not a backup; the cloud subscription is not a backup either. Ransomware syncs encrypted files up to the cloud too, and an accidental deletion can outlive the version-history window. All three models need a separate backup layer under the 3-2-1 rule — SaaS backup tools for the cloud, an off-site copy for the NAS.
The Migration: from Accumulated Chaos to Order
Choosing the model is half the job; the other half is moving years of accumulated folder forest. In a healthy migration, the folder map and permission scheme are drawn on paper first, a pilot department moves, the archive (untouched old files) is separated from the working area, and the old location is set read-only and closed after a transition period.
Yamanlar Bilişim's Approach to File Infrastructure
In file projects we first measure how you work: file sizes, the in/out-of-office access ratio, co-editing intensity, data-residency sensitivities. The recommendation follows as NAS, cloud or hybrid; installation brings the permission scheme, sync and the independent backup layer online together — and the migration ends with users finding the same folders in their new home on Monday morning.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Aren't files in the cloud already safe — do we really need a separate backup?
The provider protects the infrastructure, not your mistakes: accidental deletion, a malicious insider and ransomware-synced encrypted files are your responsibility. Version history gives partial cover; the corporate answer is a backup copy independent of the cloud.
If we buy a NAS, can we open it to the internet for remote access?
Exposing a NAS directly to the internet is one of the most reliable ransomware generators we see in the field. External access runs over VPN or the vendor's controlled cloud gateway; the management interface never faces the internet under any circumstances.
We use both OneDrive and Drive — should we consolidate?
Yes — running two ecosystems in parallel doubles licence cost and institutionalises "which file lives where" chaos. Choosing one as the main home and phasing the other out shows up within a year in both the budget and search time.
Will version history save us from ransomware?
Sometimes, partially: if the version window and the volume of encrypted files allow it, you can roll back. But attacks now target version history too, and a mass rollback can take days. Version history is the comfort layer; the disaster layer is the independent backup.
We are a small team; what is the cheapest correct start?
For a five-to-ten-person, office-document team, the file layer of your existing email ecosystem (OneDrive/Drive) is the lowest-friction start — no extra hardware, central permissions. The signal that puts a NAS on the agenda is unmistakable: growing file sizes and the sentence "pulling from the cloud is slowing the work down".
Author
Serdar YAMAN
Yamanlar Bilişim Expert
Writes content on IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and digital transformation at Yamanlar Bilişim. Get in touch for any questions.
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