Hard drive solutions accessible by multiple computers
 

This is probably easy for you network, and even content, guys, but I am clueless with this stuff.

Let's say that I have 5 TB of content that I want to be accessible by multiple computers on the same network. Each computer on the network should be able to write to and read from the central storage center with ease and speed. I would also need a backup system of some sort implemented in case one of the drives were to die

What is the best way to achieve this? Price is always a factor, of course, but my primary needs would be speed, scalability, and reliability.

NAS

http://www.newegg.com/store/SubCateg...ry=124&Tpk=nas

I've been using the Buffalo Tera Stations for years

We got a synalogy ds1512+ disk station, absolutely love it.
You lcan set it to act as vpn and cloud server as well so you can access everything remotely

You can just set up a home network and share the drive, be sure to go into sharing, then advanced sharing and allow everyone to change files etc.

Since the current biggest drive is 4TB, you could just share 1 drive from a computer easy enough. But once you get to more than one drive, it would really be best to move to a small NAS device. Something like this: http://www.drobo.com/products/professionals/drobo-fs/
Might do the job well and offer some room for expansion.

A NAs is great, but watch out -- some of them are slower than dogshit. Like the ReadyNas that I own.

Best and safest way is to build a small Raid 6 server if you need redundancy and seed then just setup sharing but can be a little more costly and depends on what all u need. Or if you just want storage and nothing else something like http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10313 in a Raid 5+ spare or raid 10.

Mostly all comes down to how much you want to spend. No matter what you buy, if you need 5tb make sure you have for future expansion.

I have a QNAP NAS and love it.