Looking for NAS Solution

Here's my dilemma, I have a lot of media on my computers. Movies of my own that I've been ripping to my hard drives, etc. I like to keep them digitally so I can use them on my Apple TV.

I've been thinking about going for something like NAS (Network Attached Storage) as my collection in gigabytes increases.

There are a few "premade" solutions, such as HP MediaSmart Server EX470, or Synology's CubeStation RAID 5 Solution or something like Drobo though this one only has USB and a bit too proprietary for my taste.

Those are a few I was looking at, but they are pretty expensive considering I still have to buy the hard drives.

A few other people recommended I should try to just make my own.

As far as hardware...I guess I will need a case (would like it to be on the smaller size), mobo, processor, hard drive, raid controller, gigabit ethernet card, fans, psu. Pretty much everything a normal computer would need.

I don't really know what to look for as far as a mother board and which processor to get for a NAS setup. Any suggestions?

As far as the OS, I'm thinking about going with FreeNAS.org. Any comments or other suggestions on the OS?

Let me know if you think I'm missing anything. I'm pretty new to this kind of stuff.

Thanks

If you are looking for a project, definitely go for a real computer (maybe running Linux). Throw in some 500gb drives and away you go. Instant NAS that can do a bunch of other cool stuff, like home based apache server, use a dynamic dns service for remote access to your home network from external computers (ssh tunnels) and if its decent hardware you could also use it for a full blown HTPC - mythtv or elisa.... the possibilities are endless and fun.

Ask yourself do you want a plug and play NAS or do you want something you can build on.