Windows Home Server/NAS for networked storage ?

[mjoshi123]

My home network has 1 MBP + 3 Windows Laptop + Network printer. I want to have external storage preferably on network so everyone can access it from their machine. Only thing is storage needs to be secure so nobody outside of network will be able to access files from storage. Can Windows Home Server work with Mac ?
What are my options ? I've bunch of bare hard drives floating around and would love to use them in storage.

 

[kappaknight]

My favorite options are from Synology. It has a web based OS that works with both Macs and Windows and can be secured pretty well if you set it up. The read/write speeds are also pretty good when compared to a Drobo.

 

[getz76]

What's your budget? How much space do you need? Do you want redundancy? Do you have restrictions on the physical size of the box?

The ReadyNAS stuff by Netgear (originally Infrant) is top quality, but for a price. The new Western Digital non-RAID NASes are actually very nice. You could also buy a Time Capsule or Airport Extreme and just hook up a USB drive.

I would stay away from Windows Home Server. I am not a anti-Microsoft person at all (I actually prefer Windows 7 in most regards to Mac OS X), but WHS is too hamstrung compared to the Linux-based options out there.

 

[andymodem]

I use Windows Home Server v1 in my house with my Macs. I love it. It also doubles as an iTunes server.

 

[maflynn]

I just ordered a QNAP TS-219P+. I can't give you any advice on that model since its enroute at this point. I can say for NAS, synology and QNAP are near the top with features and performance.