sSATA vs. NAS for External Storage

[applemaggot]

I'm trying to strategize my storage solution for the future incorporating many media formats at once. These formats include; PC, HTPC, Car Audio, portable audio. Let's talk about what I have. To start, LG VX8300 phone with 1GB Micro SD card, which would serve as my portable audio player. This phone plays .WMA audio as well as .MP3 files (after hacking). I think this eliminates Apple Itunes as a file format/hardware option, duh. Next in importance is my router, D-Link DGL-4300 (Gigabit router!). Last is my future motherboard that I plan on integrating in the next month's if not weeks that will probably have an external eSATA port on the backplane.
My question is if I should use as a master storage solution of an eSATA external enclosure attatched to my PC, or a NAS (with Gigabit connectivity) attatched to my router to store all of my files. I would prefer an external solution vs. internal in my PC case. NAS is fairly expensive and seems to be aimed at enterprise solutions. eSATA is new and is relatively as expensive as current USB 2.0/Firewire enclosures. Once this is in place I can determine what goes in the car and HTPC.
Have any of you set up similar systems recently?

 

[SKy042]

Personally I built a second rig just for my raid array.
all the PC's in my house see it as a Network drive.
I used a low cost stable ECS motherboard and an opteron single core and ram I already had with a cheap mx4000 video card along with 8x250GB WD RAID edition hard drives for the raid 5 array.
It wasn't the cheapest way to do it but it's very stable.
I'm running windows server 2003 on a 80GB raid 1 for the OS and the Raid 5 is strictly for storage.
I use remote desktop to access the PC if need be.
Tossed a Netgear GS108 into the mix and a WAP and the whole house is attached to the network. the HTPC attaches over wirelessG and has no speed issues.

Used a PCI-E raid card a highpoint 2320 which is 8 port and fit grat in my PCI-E x16 port(hence the need for the mx4000 PCI VGA card.

 

[applemaggot]

Thanks for the suggestion. I do have a 2nd PC on my network, so this could be the better way for me. I live in a 1 Bdr Apt, so noise and clutter are a problem. That is why I was leanining towards a more elegant, smaller footprint as I like to keep the 2nd PC off. I like your suggestion of using Remote Desktop as opposed to a KVM switch though. That would allow me to locate the 2nd PC/Raid closer to my Home Theater area.