Linux friendly NAS or networked drive/raid - perhaps wireless

[Steve G.]

I am getting to a point that, between all the old computers I still own or
use, the orphan hard drives from abandoned systems, and the dual boot
laptops, I have a storage nightmare. I have photos, videos, articles,
music, everywhere, and it is getting to the point that I can't access files
because I don't know where they are or were, or because they are on drive
that are no longer in use.

So I am thinking, maybe I should get an external network drive, or raid, or
NAS, and use it to consolidate my drive and keep all my files in one place
from now onward.

Any suggestions of devices, or where to look for them?

Here is what I think it should look like:

- OS agnostic - should play well with Linux, MacOS, Win7 or 8 (for future).
If I can access it from tablets or smart phones (iOS or Android), even
better.

- if it can handle IDE drives it would be awesome - all my old drives are
IDE , and it would be nice to continue using them.

If not, I need a solution to connect the older drives - at least so I can
transfer the data without taking apart an older computer and physically
mounting each drive.

- 2 drives (maybe more?)

- accessible by both wired and wireless connections, if possible

- I assume I would have to connect to the device directly to set up the IP,
and from then on manage it remotely. If I can set the IP address without
connecting (I remember headless servers that let you set the IP with a
toggle on the device) life would be so much easier.

- cheaper than dirt, or at least double digits, not triple (in dollars)

Questions:

1. What do I do if my wireless router has two IP networks, one for the
wired computers and the other for the wireless (a real situation and also a
real pain in the ass - wired computers and laptops could not reach one
another)?

2. Is there a simple way - or any way - to connect to the drive from
several networks (because the cell phones have a different IP address, and
also the wired and wireless devices might have separate IP addresses)?

Thanks,

Z.
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