Depending on what you get, the price may be a little more for a whole network setup, but the benefits are worth it. You will get the power and flexibility of a linux nas box on your network and the reliability of a raid 1 setup. I love it and i'd never go back to a usb external drive, unless I needed it for a specific purpose like a hard drive image to be placed in a safety deposit box or something. My main issue with most usb boxes is that they're passively cooled (no fan), so they get really hot which decreases their lifespan. I went all out with my setup last summer when I woke my computer up from sleeep and the usb drive wouldn't wake. I lost mp3s, wedding pictures, saved program source disks... you name it, i lost it. Overall, i spent about $300.