We are having 10 PCs used by various user and presently use one network disk (a LaCie NAS) for all our data. Everything is Windows Vista and our collective IT hardware knowledge is minimal. This worked well generally. However, recently the disk freqently loses connection from the network (2-3 times per week) and the only way back seems to be the "turn it off and back on" trick. This obviously cant be any good for the disk.

I understand that there are various more sophisticated ways of storing data and was wondering what people would recommend. One of the worries is obviously disk failure (either in part or as a whole) and the lack of continued availability due to network issues. I would guess that a disk which replicates data wouldnt work as a sole solution due to the network connection, but dont know what hardware (and/or software) would/could work in our case.

In terms of size, we are looking at very small amounts, ie. less than 500 GB in total.