Do you have a network server or network storage device at home? What kind? Do you just use it for backups, or do you also use the other features (e.g. streaming to media players)?
I’m considering one myself but not sure what features I’d actually use. Primary use would be for backup of all home PCs. I might also consider some type of media player that can display photos and videos on the living room TV. QNAP NAS devices seem to have a good reputation, as do HP MediaSmart servers. I suppose I could also get a cheap PC and turn it into a server, but it would take a lot of space and consume a lot of power. Or perhaps a cheap nettop PC and an external enclosure with a couple of big hard drives? Give me some ideas and recommendations…
I don’t know if you’re running Windows exclusively but I’ve heard very good things about Windows Home Server which is sold more as an appliance from HP than a computer.
The glowing reports I’ve heard are mostly to do with the backup features. It backs up all computers (I assume that means Windows only but worth checking) in your house network very efficiently and transparently. I think it does some media stuff too. I wouldn’t mind getting one but for now I’m contributing to the economic slowdown
For now, we have “poor man’s server” which doubles has a seldom used desktop running Windows XP Home. It has several shared folders for backup of important files from laptops and it runs JungleDisk to backup those folders to Amazon S3. It’s also a good place to runs things like the Juice podcatcher.
