SharePoint vs. File Servers

The question often arises: When should you use SharePoint and when should you use a file server? There are a lot of considerations to think about when deciding where to put various information assets – security – auditing – recycle bin requirements – usage scenarios and workflow – versioning – encryption, and last but not by any means least, asset size and bandwidth usage requirements.

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Blog TOCFor example, SharePoint lists are a great way to capture and display data from your coworkers. SharePoint is also a super tool for document repositories, especially when you need to maintain multiple versions of documents. Large audio/video streaming media and DVD ISO files are best served with a file server, but links to these are best maintained in SharePoint. Developer source code control is best facilitated with a dedicated source control application.

This post, Is the File Server Dead, is a good summary of various points to consider when deciding where to place your information assets.

Comments

• Anonymous
  December 15, 2008
  I am trying to figure how many versions of a particular document (major and minor) can be stored in a SharePoint document repository? I have heard there is a limit on number of versions- don't know what the limit is. Thanks

• Anonymous
  October 15, 2009
  can we upload files to file server through sharepoint but using a column in lists