Wireless Home Networking for Mac and PC (sounds, how to, router)

[raggedsweater]

Can I get some advice from folks about how to set up a secure wireless home network so that my wife (PC), guests (PC or Mac) and I (Mac) can share files?

Ideally, I'd like to set up in the home some dedicated hard disk space that both my wife and I can access -- guests, too, if they have a password -- where we can upload and share our photos (RAW or JPG). Would like something to which I can keep adding more storage as needed.

It'd be nice for this connection to also be fast enough that I can work with my RAW files over this network. Will it be the wireless router itself that will limit the capable download speeds? If so, which routers would be the fastest?

[harhar]

It sounds like you want a NAS (networked attached storage) for your files. NAS, Network Attached Storage, Home Sharing, Network Storage, Private Cloud - Newegg.com

You'd want a N/AC, Gigabit wireless router, but anywhere you could hardwire you should. Wireless Routers, Best Wireless Network Routers - Newegg.com

For the router settings you'd want to change your SSID to something unique, then use a WPA2-AES password for router security. You could use MAC filtering for even better security, but that would be a hassle for guests...SO...


A couple off questions/issues:

Did you want/need to access the NAS off-site/away from home? Why do guests need access to the NAS or do they?