Airport Extreme, USB HDD, NAS, Server...Help

[alagares]

Hello all:

Right now I have 2 ATV's streaming fine from an Airport Extreme router with an External USB 2TB HDD. I'm using ATVFlash and its media player not iTunes. I access this USB HDD with my Mac's, Windows pc's and most importantly ATV's. Right now I have all my media in this Ext USB HDD (Photos, Music, Videos, Documents, etc) I want to be able to backup this External HDD regularly but I'm confused on how to do it. I bought a 4-Bay USB HDD Enclosure but it didn't work with the airport extreme. The options that I have thought I could do:

1. Install a server on the windows computer and leave it on all the time. Install the 2TB HDD Internally in this computer toaccess it with the ATV's and Mac's. Use a new 3TB HHD Externally as a backup.

2. Buy a NAS that can work with the Airport Extreme (Synology) but this options is pricey so I don't like it that much.

3. I read that RAID 1 is not that good of an option.

I'm really confused. I've been reading a lot but the more I read the more confused I get.

Please help me out

 

[Panch0]

1) You don't need a server OS to create a share. Just set windows power settings to Always On, so the system doesn't sleep.
2) Synology makes a great NAS. Running iTunes from a NAS is a pain, but it is exactly the same as the drive attached to an Airport, so you are already dealing with the issues. NAS has nothing to do with Backup, but the Synology software does have backup ability built in, and the Synology device I have (DS411Slim) has a USB port where I can plug in a drive to send the backup to.
3) There's nothing wrong with RAID 1. It's just that RAID is not Backup. It is a solution to a different issue.

I'm not sure about this, but I think that you can include a network drive in a Carbon Copy Cloner cloning Job.

 

[alagares]

1) You don't need a server OS to create a share. Just set windows power settings to Always On, so the system doesn't sleep.
2) Synology makes a great NAS. Running iTunes from a NAS is a pain, but it is exactly the same as the drive attached to an Airport, so you are already dealing with the issues. NAS has nothing to do with Backup, but the Synology software does have backup ability built in, and the Synology device I have (DS411Slim) has a USB port where I can plug in a drive to send the backup to.
3) There's nothing wrong with RAID 1. It's just that RAID is not Backup. It is a solution to a different issue.

I'm not sure about this, but I think that you can include a network drive in a Carbon Copy Cloner cloning Job.

Thanks, I think I'm going to go with this:

Windows 7 PC with Plex Server (its a powerful desktop) adding the 2TB and 3TB disks to it.
Leave the computer on and check if Plex Server has some settings to wake up the computer if its sleeping.

Sounds good?