I tried some of that stuff with various drives plugged direct into the router. After varying amounts of effort, I gave up on all of 'em.
Nowadays, the drives are connected to this desktop PC, which is never switched off. If I'm elsewhere and want to access stuff, I can use LogMeIn or TeamViewer (both running) to do it. Prior to Windows 7, I used Remote Desktop but that was left out of the Win 7 version I have.
I've never had a problem with LogMeIn - but it does offer a "cooperating partner" rather more than just database access, and you have to be not using the PC at the time. Since I'm the only one who uses this lot, it's fine.