File Server For Both Mac OSX and Windows?

Hello All,
With HP discontinuing theier HP Server line, I've been browsing around for quite some time at a good box to use as a file server. My windows Home server is about to die i feel, and most PC based servers seem just as pricey as me acquiring a Mac Pro Server with Two 1TB Hard Drives and using OSX Lison Server.
However, before I take that plunge I was really wondering if anyone had had any success or stories that they can share about using a Lion Server with windows 7 PC's.
I use a MAC, but everyone else here uses windows. On my the home server box we bascially store all of our digital photographs, personal files and such as a backup. Granted the Apple time machines and mac mini's can be used as the same but you loose the redundant hard drives and stability of comintuing to upgrade if you run out of space.
So I'm hoping that its positive and pretty much flawless where the Mac Pro with Lion Server could just save and serve files galore without slow down or problems. With my past mac experience that's usually not the case. I just want to replace that box, have a new box that can store files off of the independent machiens with a here or there additional backup on it as needed.
The other plus if I take this plunge is I have a Mac Pro box for greater functionality at home over my Macbook Pro! So yeah, a little perk for me...
Thanks in advance for any news you can help or offer me... I know I'm probably asking something that a ton of others may have alredy asked and sorry for the duplication if thats the case

Mac OS X Server can do all that.
You can keep All the user accounts on the Server, or you can just use it for File Sharing. Does Windows SMB or Apple File System sharing without issue. Disk Utility can create Mirrored RAIDs right out of the box, that expensive RAID card is only needed for RAID 5.
I run a Server at home like a School Server with ALL User files on the Server (you log on at any Mac and your files appear, because they are on the Server). User files are on a pair of Mirrored RAID drives, and I use Time Machine to automatically back up all the User Files on the Server once an hour. Gigabit Ethernet Switches provide "Hard Drive-like" file access.

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If you partition it you must use a Mac disk utility and use the HFS+ ie standard Mac format. And GUID partition table not windows type.
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There is no media server in the TC.. it is merely disk storage.. you can serve files from it to a media device.. but the TC itself is dumb as dumb.
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Message was edited by: demax
Message was edited by: demax

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Message was edited by: demax

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