Thanks OFO, good input. Where would a RAID controller factor in to option 2, and what's a good one? And if I set up option two, how can I access that desktop true my laptop?
Just to give a quick example of my setup. I have a desktop that I have installed Windows Home Server on. $100 for an OEM copy from Newegg. Plugged into the desktop via an included RAID card that came with enclosure:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816111141 I got it for $300 a while back. Inside that enclosure I have it filled up with drives.
Windows Home Server (WHS) uses a pseudo-software RAID that does what you are looking to do. Add XX drives, if one fails then you have some redundant backup on other drives. So for example I have say 10 folders on my WHS enclosure. Movies, music, FLAC, pictures, etc. I only have my family pictures and personal files set to duplicate. If I lose a FLAC I know I can get it on the net. Same goes with movies. Easy to replace. My family pictures not so much. So in that sense this let's you maximize your storage space. It also will backup all of our laptops and computers to the storage enclosure at times we specify. Another thing to note is that you can add external USB/FW drives to your WHS machine and use those drives in your storage pool as well.
I stream FLAC's, movies, recorded tv shows, music and all sorts of things via my WHS. Mine is using wired as well as wireless connections without problem. In your situation with a laptop I would assume you'd do this wireless. Oh and it sets up a web link directly to your server so you can access it's contents from anywhere.
The system requirements for WHS are pretty low so if you have a desktop not being used or know someone with an older one then you have a prime candidate for WHS. Also WHS is made to run headless (no monitor, keyboard or mouse). Set it up once and stick it out of the way. It requires less that 15 minutes of maintenance a month all from the remote interface.
Hope some of that makes sense.
Here is a snapshot from last month with my original enclosure attached with 8 1.5TB drives in it as well as a 500GB internal in the desktop i'm using.
So you can see each drive and it's status all from the WHS interface. I have added a second enclosure since this screen grab. Same unit but 8 2TB drives instead. I'm running almost 29TB of storage space now.