NAS, Server, or just a Media/HTPC?

[infiniteengine]

I've been researching all my possible options for months and I feel I finally need to make a decision so I thought I'd seek some final input from the forums. I'm trying to decide what kind of computer to build to best suit my networking needs for my apartment, so here are the details. Skip down to "My Goal" if you don't want to read about the components.

Current components on my network:

1. Primary Laptop - Dell Studio 15 - C2D T5800, 4GB RAM, 400GB WD4000BEVT, Blu-ray - decent power for everyday use, nothing special

2. Media laptop - Macbook Pro 1,2 - 2006 model w/ Core Duo, 2GB Ram (maxed), 320GB HD - vista installed usually running OSX connected to my 32" LCD running Boxee controlled with my iPod Touch

3. Netbook - Samsung NC10 - 2GB RAM, soon 400GB drive upgrade or 32GB SSD

4. Girlfriend's computer - Vaio FZ - powerful, but not really hardware I have control over

Others: Wii, DS, iPod Touch, Blackberry Bold. I also have two websites I edit on multiple computers.

All of these are networked through my D-Link DIR-655 (I know a lot of people hack these but I've done nothing to mine.)
__________________________________________________

The problems:

1. Tangled, wired storage - I have a ridiculous number of external hard drives that my media is spread out across and swapping out eSATA and USB cables constantly is driving me nuts. Right now I have:

• WD MyBook 500GB USB/eSATA connected to Media PC
• WD Passport 320 connected to Primary PC
• Two 120GB USB portables
• WD MB 250GB USB
• 64GB USB Flash
  [/LIS
  T]
  
  2. Speed - The computers are all networked, but when transferring files between computers I somehow get speeds of around 300-900kb/s
  __________________________________________________
  
  My Goal:
  
  So here's my primary goal: I want a single location for all my media with quick access from all my computers (at least 20mb/s.) I'm constantly switching between computers between computers and drives and would just like everything to be in one place. Remote access is a HUGE plus, because I basically want to empty all my drives and still be able to access all my content. This would allow me to replace my laptop drives with small SSDs.
  
  I have over 1 TB at present but only because I keep constant tabs on things I use infrequently and delete them, I'd like to not have to do that. This means at least 2TB to feel comfortable. Swappable drives to accommodate future expansion would be a huge plus.
  
  Now here are the options I'm considering in order from most to least likely:
  
  1. MSI Wind or other barebones - considering the price of diskless NAS + drives, this seems like the most bang for my buck. With the MSI Wind w/ Atom 330 at $167 on Amazon, plus two 1TB drives @ $70-90 I'm looking at a total of around $320. According to the SmallNetBuilder.com charts it would be significantly faster than any NAS in this price range.
  Pros - fully functional PC, small size Cons - weak Atom 330 processor
  
  2. Building a decent server - Considering the price of the other options, I've been considering just going ahead and building a full on server. I don't mind greater power consumption, and once again, the ability to use it as a fully functioning computer is a big plus. Both could potentially replace the Macbook Pro as my media PC rather than just adding space to it.
  Pros - Real processor, upgradeable Cons - Higher power consumption
  
  
  3. Simple NAS - This is what I originally set out to get, possibly a two-bay D-Link or Thecus, but after considering the cost of building a fully functional PC I've almost ruled this out.
  Pros- Low power consumption, small Cons - Expensive, slow in this price range, not a fun project!
  
  I'm the kind of person who loves the process as much as the end result, so the prospect of building something from scratch is really exciting for me, as is the potential for future modding. If something is going to be complicated and take a long time to build/set up, I'll consider that a positive!
  __________________________________________________
  
  The input I'm looking for:
  
  Any input is greatly appreciated but if you're going to recommend one option over the others, I'd really appreciate specific recommendations of components and where you'd buy them. I'd like to spend under $300, but would consider up to $400 to build a decent server/pc. In addition, if I do build a server, I'll probably have around $100/month to sink into upgrading it from this base. While power consumption is something to consider since I'll be running this 24/7, I'm more concerned with performance; also consider that I'll be saving the power currently running my MacBook Pro and all my external hard drives. Size is not really an important factor either.
  
  Sorry if this post seems unnecessarily long, but I wanted to make sure I get the best possible feedback before I finally buy all this stuff; thanks for reading!

 

[Osamede]

In this price range if you dont want slow (t least once you start dealing with) add on programs, then I would build your own NAS using a barebones PC and add something like linux Ubuntu server OS.

That MSI wind barebones unit is just fine as a starting point. Not much point building the hardwware from scratch.

If you just want to serve files and the unit will do nothing else, eg No squeeze center, no torrents, no transcoding, etc, then you can probably get away with a low end D-Link, Buffalo or Synology.

As far as I know basically all SATA drives are swappable as per the specification of SATA, so whether or not you have an external access bay, you shoudl be able to simple swap secondary drives in and out of whatever NAS you build as you upgrade. That said, personally I would suck it up and get 2GB Western Digital drives rather than 1GB ones. There is a price premium, but you get the benefit of not being forced to upgrade so fast. And you are already at 1GB of material so dont kid yourself, you are on the verge already.