NAS or Windows Home Server?

Hi,

My sister recently lost all the stuff on her laptop and I've convinced my parents it is time for them to get something to do backups with properly. Apart from myself no-one in our house is tech-savvy so it needs to be simple and automated. There are 3 desktops (2 Vista + 1 XP) and 2 laptops (1 Vista + 1 XP) on our home network.

I have priced up a Windows Home Server using Dabs.com and ebuyer.co.uk for the parts. Using the Shuttle KPC as a basis it is possible to build the following system for approx £320:

Shuttle KPC
Celeron 420 1.6 GHz
1GB Ram
2x Samsung 500GB
WHS OEM

My question is this: Do you think the added expense of the WHS above compared to a simple NAS Hard drive is worth it? If not can anyone recommend a good networked hard drive? All those on amazon, for example, seem to get pretty mixed user reviews.

Thanks. Matt

My ½p : http://www.qnap.com/pro_detail_feature.asp?p_id=93

chookman's reasons for getting WHS are all valid. I've been there and if I had to do it all again I'd go for a QNAP TS-209 - cheap(ish), small, simple and low power usage. The downside of the QNAP is that it is not as expandable as WHS. If you do go for a WHS box don't use a "Shuttle KPC" case as they are very small so you'll be limited in the number of hard drives you can add.

Cost wise you're looking at about +- £250 for the unit + £360 for drives (2 X Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1TB SATA2 32MB 7200RPM @180)

UD.

p.s - go for the biggest drives you can get whichever way you go.
pp.s - have a look at scan.co.uk I've been using them lately and been pretty happy.

Hehe, that means their next pc will come with a standard 2 terrabyte hardrive and maybe a 16 core cpu, lol.

Glad to hear that we've been able to offer you some ideas. Please let us know what you do and how it turns out.

UD.

For my ½p they all look much the same - unless anybody has a specific recommendation or warning I'd go for the cheapest.

UD.