Considering a home server

At this point I need to get a home server running. Specifically a file server, where I can save data to - instead of having some files on my laptop, some on my external HDD, some on my phone and still more data on my tablet. This is not a good way to work and I would like 1 place to have everything. One location where I can save to and where I can access my downloads and other data.

For this I have a few options: NAS or Network Attached Storage, is an option. But buying a NAS box - or an old PC is expensive and will be expensive to run (electricity is expensive and I don't want to run a PC 24/7).

Fortunately there is a mini PC that I can buy (relatively) cheaply, which will run Linux (yeah!). Enter the Raspberry Pi. It runs on a cell phone charger for power and I will connect an external HDD to it for storage. I can either plug it directly into the router at home, or use a WiFi dongle.

This is what I plan to do as soon as I have some spending money. In the mean time, here are a few sites I am reading up on:

http://www.zdnet.com/raspberry-pi-11-reasons-why-its-the-perfect-small-server-7000025206/
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/raspberry-pi-perfect-home-server
http://www.maketecheasier.com/turn-raspberry-pi-into-file-server/