> - Low cost or free
> - Will allow me to share a single HD with a select group of people 
> at other locations
> - The data must be kept private from the rest of the world
> - It would be nice to be able to take a portion of the disk and make 
> it public
> - Keep the rest of my network private (can be an external router to 
> the solution)
> - Either provide internet access for my wired and wireless machines 
> or allow my existing router to do this.
> - I have a cable modem with dynamic IPs.
> - I am moderately Windoze astute (oxymoron?) and have very basic 
> Linux abilities.
>
> I've been following this thread and checked out most of the 
> products.  The dynamic IP serving seems to be an issue with most (or 
> maybe I'm not seeing the solution).  I found no-ip.com which 
> provides a free IP forwarding system for windoze, but I'm not sure 
> if there is a better solution.

An http server meets all the above needs on a read only basis.
I'm using Apache to do this now under windows.
Mine is working well with no-ip
See

        http://others.servebeer.com

This is mapped as W: on my network. You can (hopefully :-) ) see only 
files which I have made public.

Not as flexible a service as the full VPN I am seeking (and which 
several answers have addressed) but accessible with no special actions 
from the remote locations. Apache passwords allow you to make 
information private or public as required. This requires only free 
software and no extra hardware beyond the existing DSL modem router 
and the PCs on the network. While you can dedicate a PC to running 
Apache if you wish, it also runs stably on a desktop PC which is in 
general use.




            RM





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