I am unable to share files satisfactorily over my home network between Mac and Windows

Please advise.
I have an iMac with a LaCie Thunderbolt external hard drive and a Windows 7 laptop connected via ethernet network to a Belkin router with a WD MyBook Live Duo attached to it via USB.   The iMac also has a virtual PC in it using VMWare.
I have never been able to get file sharing to work satisfactorily across the network.
From the iMac, which is now running Yosemite, I can access the laptop and the external hard drive fine, but connections to the WD network drive are very slow and unreliable.
From the laptop, I can access the iMac and the WD network drive OK but while the LaCie share formatted for windows is visible, I am unable to open the individual files. 
I was advised that I need a server.  I have therefore bought and installed OS X Server on my Mac but I don't understand it and have absolutely no idea what to do to make it work.  I open the LaCie share for example and cannot change anything - I get the message " 'Ignore ownership on this volume' is turned on for the volume containing the Share Point.  All permissions will be ignored.  This can be turned off in the 'Get info' window in the Finder."  Except it can't, because there is no such option in that window.
I can find no help  anywhere for this.  Please tell me how I set my network up so that files can be shared freely across it.

Poor show Apple
Apple personnel aren't here.  We're all just users like yourself and apparently there's no one here who's seen your post and can offer a solution.

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