I’m wanting a NAS / FTP server for my home network. Does anyone know of one which would allow me to connect 2 usb printers or should I invest in 2 separate print servers in addition to a NAS?

Short answer: The Netgear Readynas NV+ will (according to their FAQ) support multiple printers.

http://www.readynas.com/?cat=4

Long answer:

Depending on what features you want (RAID, cost etc) a dedicated NAS may or may not be better for you than an old PC running one of the various free server operating systems.An old PC running something like freenas (http://www.freenas.org/) will do everything you want but PC’s (especially old ones) tend to be power hungry and noisy.

A tip – if you want redundancy, check and double check that your NAS can email you when a disk goes bad, you’ll need it one day. (I say this from bitter experience)

storage) ,a product of ximeta.I found the advanteges about it but can’t find its disadvatages

It all depends on what type of processor they use and the quality of the disc drives.

Check also HP’s Media Vault. It includes a UPnP media server and you can stream HD content from the NAS to any media adaptor. HP Media Vault also comes with automatic backup software.

I’m trying to use a network attached storage device to use Leopard’s Time Machine. It’s using SMB that I connect through Go–> Connect To Server. The network drive is how it is so I have no physical access to it except network. Can someone please help me? Also, is it possible to make a mapped network drive look like a physical mounted drive to ‘trick’ it if Time Machine doesn’t have any support whatsoever? Thank you very much!

Check out this lot

http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=116

I look for an external network storage device in office. Does anyone have any suggestions on any product with good review? I prefer this device including backup procedure within itself. Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Eric

Western Digital. It has all of the backup feature of a fancy expensive drive and is very low cost. I bought a 320GB one on sale for $120 that is a network drive and it is faster than fast, and has an energy star rating because it powers off if its not being used. The plus was that it is also comptible with Mac operating systems. For the best prices on NAS storage go to www.newegg.com

I have several laptops in my home as well as several Ipods. How do I get all of them to share the same files on my network storage device. MP3′s, videos, etc.

Instead of a NAS, you should consider the new Windows Home Server. This home Server was created for the very purpose you are saying you wish to accomplish with a NAS, but because it was created especially for this, and other purposes, it is much more capable, powerful, and has more features. Here is a link for you to check it out:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx

The home Server allows for simple and easy storage of shared files in a central location which all of the computers can have easy access too. You can also use an extender to access these files from a television, or other entertainment device, such as an stereo, dvd player etc.

The home server also does a full image backup of each computer. Because machines which run the same OS have many of the same files, the image backup does not take up as much room due to the Server not copying those exact same file more than once. This provides for a quick and simple recovery if a hard disk fails, or another type of system crash occurs. In addition, there are automatic nightly backups of each networked computer, and if a User mistakenly deletes an important file, or if a unexpected shutdown occurrs, such as a power failure, or other reason, the User can easily recover those files.

In addition, there is the Remote Access feature, where a User can connect to both the Home Server, or any networked computer from anywhere in the world, and the User can allow friends/family to access shared resources simply and easily while still maintaining security. The User can allow an individual remote access to a particular folder, with all types of data inside, such as photos, video, music, documents, PDFs, etc, and those people who have the password can access them from anywhere in the world.

I really like the remote feature, because when a grandchild or other family event takes place elsewhere in the country and I am unable to attend, we hook up a video recorder, or webcam, and I can watch and participate from my own home nearly in Real Time. Soon, this will really be in Real Time. Very cool feature.

There are other great features too. Plus, it is built from the Windows Server 2003, and for those individuals with experiance running and using the sever, they can access many other features by accessing the other 2003 Server capabilities underneath the Home Server. They just have to be careful to not do a couple of actions which would "break" the Server and cause it to be reinstalled.

The Server has duplication capabilities of files, which creates automatic backups of files on the Server, and it is super easy to add extra physical hard drives anytime more storage is needed.

It is not overly expensive, just a bit more than building or buying a NAS, and there are two ways to get one, either buy one prebuilt, which works OOB or Out Of Box, by simply plugging in the power cord, the ethernet cable, and installing the Connector software on each networked computer. Or, you could build one yourself, which is what I did.

Check it out, it is really neat. I participated in the Test Group before it was released to market.

Good luck with whatever solution you decide to go with, and have a nice weekend.