NAS for Windows & Linux

[sathyan]

I'm looking for a low-power NAS appliance (I don't want to re-purpose a computer for this). Currently I am backing up to an external hard drive and Carbonite online backup (which I will continue doing) from my main computer (Win7). I would like to switch to using a NAS on my gigabit wired network instead of the external drive that can handle backups for both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 11.04 and adds a few features:
-DLNA server (client: Panasonic TC-P50S30)
-iTunes server (client: iPad2)
-print server (printer: Brother HL5140)

If possible I would like it to
-communicate with my UPS (APC BR900) over USB for orderly shutdown if necessary
-provide an app to contantly backup to NAS (like Carbonite does) at least for the Windows machine if not also Linux

I have around 300 GB to backup.

I'm thinking Synology DS211j (US$200 + drives). What do you recommend?

thanks

 

[Emulex]

old junky pc (core 2 duo 1.83ghz) $40-50 *bonus if oem - vista or win7 or 2008 slic legal*
couple of 2TB sata drives $59-79 each.
virtualbox.

you can run windows then a vm of linux
or linux and a vm of windows - that way you can get the best of both worlds.

windows home products limit you to connections - linux doesn't (utorrent/nfs/smb/etc).

windows 7 has a great media center and excellent drivers.

you can export storage directly or via network between win7 and linux -

ie: 1 connection smb to VM of linux to 100 SMB/NFS/ISCSI targets.

itunes runs on windows (or osx ! thats an idea too)
APCUPSD runs on both windows and linux and can share the usb connection over ethernet to 100's of pc's (free!)
windows has great printer drivers - easy to share.
carbonite is available for both platforms.
DLNA works awesome on windows - plenty of codecs and gpu acceleration.

So a mix of both on an old pc - great way to recycle and save money! and get the most functionality. iirc virtualbox is free