Help purchasing a NAS for home

[mets3214]

HI, I am looking to buy a NAS for media and backups at home. I currently have close to 1.2 TB of media and I need to be able to backup 2 desktops, and 2 laptops (1 macbook) periodically (every week or two). What would be the best NAS for my needs and how much storage should I get? I don't want to spend too much money and I am not too familiar with NAS devices, hope some of you can help me out. Thanks

 

[boosted1g]

Do you have a desktop computer you can just put some additional drives into as this would be cheaper then a NAS enclosure system.

There are 2 main kind of NAS boxes:
Standalone - usually connects to network and does not require a computer (except to configure) - this are more expensive
Enclosure boxes - has usb or esata port - requires direct to connection to PC to work - less expensive

 

[popatim]

Whats your budget?
A customer of mine has this one and its working well for him:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822108163

its probably the cheapest Synology Nas you will find. And Qnap & Snology are good stuff.

 

[mets3214]

I don't really have a set budget but I don't see myself spending over $500. My desktop can hold 3 more hard-drives but won't it be worse than a dedicated NAS? Also, would keeping the computer on 24/7 hurt it?