Off-the-shelf dedicated NAS boxen tend to be rather expensive and rather inflexible. I'd suggest FreeNAS installed on any suitable box that you have hanging around or can pick up cheap.
FreeNAS is a dedicated BSD-based OS subset, designed to work as a NAS server and nothing else. Consequently the OS is very small and fast.
"FreeNAS is a free NAS (
Network-Attached Storage) server, supporting: CIFS (samba), FTP, NFS, AFP, RSYNC, iSCSI protocols, S.M.A.R.T., local user authentication, Software RAID (0,1,5) with a Full WEB configuration interface. FreeNAS takes less than 32MB once installed on Compact Flash, hard drive or USB key. The minimal FreeBSD distribution, Web interface, PHP scripts and documentation are based on
M0n0wall."
Check it out at
http://www.freenas.org/index.php?opt...page&Itemid=22
I've been using FreeNAS for the past year on my home network (Mac, Ubuntu, SuSE and XP) and it just keeps on going. You can use NFS if you like (you'll have to install Windows Services for Unix on the Windows boxen), but in general Samba (SMB/CIFS) is easier to administer and arguably more secure.
Depending on you needs, you could either resurrect an old P3 or buy a new barebones box with whatever specs you need - doesn't need to be a top flier for a home LAN. Mine's a headless Athlon XP with three 120GB drives, HD0 is the primary drive and the only one visible over the network and rsyncs to HD1 weekly. Similarly, HD rsyncs to HD2 monthly, so I have a grandfather/father/son hierarchy (I think RAID is pretty useless here, but I'm sure other people would disagree).
Stick it in the garage with a chunky UPS and forget it.
Mac