Appreciate your input Kaveman.
I certainly don't mind change (I work as an IT Change Manager!)...I just want to make sure that don't end up in a situation whereby I lose access to my new iMac for some unexpected reason and simply cannot work on any other system because I am "sewn" into a Mac specific format or way of working - that would be a nightmare.
Let me explain - up until now I have had a Windows PC and I have done daily file sync operations to an external NFTS hard drive. If my main Windows PC fails, I can then simply take the external hard drive and plug it into any of the two other PC's in the house and access all of my data immediately. I find this reassuring because I also run a small web design business and my customers often need "same day" updates on their sites. I cannot risk losing access to their site data / images or the ability to upload them and so being able to switch to other PC's is reassuring. (Incidentally, I actually have a second external NTFS drive which I physically alternate with the first and keep offsite in case of fire / theft.)
On my new iMac, I have already ruled out using "time machine" for file backups as (by all accounts) the application dumps data in a proprietory disk image format. Therefore if my new iMac dies and I have to wait a while for a replacement, I cannot simply plug the time machine's external disk into one of my other windows PC and resume emergency working (unless I'm mistaken!). However, I have managed to found a file sync tool for the Mac called "goodsync" which looks like it might let me maintain synchronised data on an external hard drive in it's native folder hierachy - without it trying to use an Apple specific file archive.. I have yet to test this out though and I don't know what external drive format would prove best for emergency readability with Windows (in the event of the iMac failing).
I DO want my new iMac to repalce my old PC.
As such, I have three main "esessntial" requirements:
1) I have a dozen or so websites which I update/upload using Dreamweaver. I store these websites in a carefully managed hierachy of folders. I need the ability to navigate quickly and easily around the folders and see any and all images as thumbails. I need the ability to move files immediately in both Dreamweaver and also the file manager without worrying about one application conflicting with another because I have upset it's proprietory indexing system or whatever - I just need to work with the raw files and have total control over them.
2) I have four CCTV cameras in my house which dump their images to a NAS device. I need the ability to connect to this device "at any time" and see the latest images as they get saved by the cameras. I also need to be able to delete old images on the fly. I do this every day. Because I look at thousands of images each day, I need to see them as thumbnails in a folder which I can quickly scan / step through at any time I like (without trying to use some application or other that needs to index and store them in a database).
3) I have a carefully structured hierachy of folders containing about 25,000 photos - old family scans along with newer digital photos, etc. I simply want the ability to quickly and easily navigate around this structure, adding new photos, moving and renaming others, etc. Similarly, I wan't to know that the source folders containing these images will remain totally intact and navigable by other systems should the daily synchronised backup disk get plugged into another Windows PC and accessed in an emergency.
Like I say, it's important for me to have the "fall back" plan of simply grabbing my daily synchronised backup disk and plugging it into another PC if necessary. Hope that sounds OK.
Of course I can keep using BootCamp and do all of the above really easily in Windows 7, but I want to find a way of moving forward which is as good (or better!) than my current way of working
