What all can i do with a homeserver?

[Austin8868]

I have 3 computers in my house and thought about getting a server to access everything from any of them. If im away on business or on vacation will i be able get to all of the files?

I was thinking about this one so i could hook up my external harddrive since most of my media files are on it already.

Amazon.com: HP LX195 MediaSmart Home Server: Computer & Accessories

or possible this one right here

Hewlett Packard MediaSmart EX470 Server Upgraded Ram! - eBay (item 230582581455 end time Feb-12-11 22:32:44 PST)

Any others that are fairly cheap that work well?

 

[theog]

You like to take read:
Windows Home Server

 

[pparks1]

A home server gives you a centralized place to store all of your files (data, music, movies, etc) and access them from all of your machines. This way, if you have a workstation turned off or one doesn't work, your data is still available to the network from the server machine. The server machine also gives you a nice centralized place to backup individual machines too.

As far as accessing all of your files remotely, there are various options to allow this to happen. However, it is a bit of security risk in my opinion and you should consider whether you "really" need access to your files. Because if you can get to the files remotely, so could some random person on the Internet who tries hard enough. This may or may not be a concern for you.