Note: This is not my business, nor did I setup this network.
Don't worry about it, I do weird setups like this all the time. If you set it up right, you can make the system fairly bulletproof, despite not having a $9,000 Dell server with ECC memory, iDRAC cards, and redundant power supplies. Some suggestions:
1. Buy
two hardware kits (BRIX, RAM, SSD). This way, if the boot drive dies, you can simply clone over a backup to the spare drive & be back up and running in no time. Or if the whole computer dies, you have an instant spare. Cheap insurance & same-day recovery for uptime!
2. Buy a license of Macrium Reflect ($75 if you're using Windows 7). This lets you do an entire drive clone & can be set to backup on a schedule (full, differential, or incremental). If your boot drive fries or your file share gets Crytolocker or whatever, you can simply restore the latest backup (ex. do a full backup initially, then setup incrementals to automatically back up at noon & midnight so you have two daily snapshots, so you never lose more than a few hours worth of work). Just have someone mount a backup once a week to make sure everything is still good.
3. Buy a big fat UPS (hook it up via USB & set it to shut down after say so many minutes without power). Another level of protection for your hardware. An APC BR1500G Back-UPS Pro 1500VA gives you an 865w battery for $170. Running just a BRIX, that will probably give you a couple hours of battery time.
4. There's no vPro or iDRAC or other hardware RAT stuff on these, but you can buy an IP-KVM if you need BIOS-level remote access, like a Lantronix Spider ($280, plus an extra ten bucks for an HDMI to VGA adapter for the BRIX), plus an IP-PDU (remotely turn a power outlet on/off) for remote power cycling. They sell cheap Wifi IP-PDU's now for single outlets, like the Raynic Power Pro ($30). So you can do some pretty neat remote management stuff on a reasonable budget. If they want to spring for secure remote access, a lifetime license of Teamviewer is $809 (unless they have a VPN service setup in say their router, in which case you could just connect in via the IP-KVM), or you could go with a free version, such as Chrome Remote Desktop using a Gmail account protected with 2FA for security purposes.
5. If they need a ton of space for a file server, you can get a zippy USB 3.0 external drive that has a RAID setup. For example, the WD 12TB My Book Duo unit gives you a 6TB RAID 1 (mirroring) box for $450, which is a
ton of space for a typical small business. Then add a backup drive to clone over the boot & data drives; a simple single-drive 8TB USB 3.0 drive would work fine ($230). Then back everything up to the cloud (Backblaze offers business backup for $50 per computer per year, unlimited, and can handle USB drives, plus there's stuff like Crashplan & other services available).
So a sample order list: (~$3k total)
(1) Windows 7 license ($150)
(2) BRIX ($550 x 2 = $1100)
(2) 16GB RAM kits ($60 x 2 = $120)
(2) 256gb NVMe boot drives ($180 x 2 = $360)
(1) 12TB (6TB RAID-1) USB 3.0 external RAID drive ($450)
(1) 8TB USB 3.0 external backup drive ($230)
(1) 865w UPS battery backup ($170)
(1) IP-KVM ($290 with an HDMI to VGA adapter cable)
(1) Wifi-PDU ($30)
(1) Macrium Reflect license ($75)
This gives you:
1. A Windows 7 mini computer with a speedy boot drive & tons of RAM
2. 6TB of data storage, plus an 8TB backup drive (to backup the boot & data drives)
3. A spare boot drive (in case that craps out), plus an entire spare computer (in case that craps out)
4. Remote access via IP-KVM & remote power-cycling via IP-PDU
5. Automatic daily backup clones of the entire drive, plus battery backup in case of a power outage
You're pretty much covered in every situation with that type of setup, assuming the hardware can handle the workload you want to run on it. Sure it'd be nice to have a fancy professional server, but most small businesses don't have the budget to get the good stuff, so sometimes you just have to make do with what you can get.