Media Server
The popular belief is that servers are usually meant for the office. No rule exists that actually says so, this belief just came into play because that was the norm. Due to the costs of server technology and the kind of applications and purposes which they were used for, only companies and their offices had use for such servers.  However, recent developments have resulted in a deviation from this popular belief. Reductions in the cost of server technology and the  increasing popularity of the home network have meant that servers built for home use such as variations of the newly developed media servers, have become a necessity in the modern home.

Media servers for home networks are often advertised as a smarter way for people to share, organize and secure their videos, photos, music and other files in a centrally accessible location. Such media servers provide a number of other benefits other than the simple sharing of files, they save unnecessarily wasted space on individual PC's by allowing connected PC's to offload most of their file storage responsibilities to such central locations. They are created in a way which makes them simple to use unlike servers created for the corporate environment which are substantially more complex.

Various features come with  media servers and one of these popular servers is the Windows Home Server edition. A Server running this operating system automatically backs up PCs which are connected to it on a daily basis. This way there is  a simple path of recovery in case home users lose their files , suffer hard drive crashes or any form of mishap which may result in a loss of data.  You also get a personalized web address for sharing your photos and videos.

Server software may come bundled on devices from popular manufacturers such as HP. Other manufacturers have different editions which start with an expandable storage capacity of 500GB, some have  a lot more storage space but what you choose depends on your own particular needs as well as that of your family.

Media servers also allow secure access from remote locations in order to help users of home networks access their files regardless of where they may be. Such access is also  offered under secure conditions that prevent other unauthorized persons from getting access to your private files and those of your family members. Alternatively this option for remote access can always be disabled assuming you do not feel comfortable with it.