If you don't need RAID (I really doubt you do), then just do this:
Get a bunch of drives (150 each):
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link)
...and an enclosure for each one (30 each)...
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link)
...then string them all together using a simple USB hub (30)...
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link)
And you have 1 TB of data accessible on your laptop for $400, and you can easily add more storage as you need it.
If you plug that USB hub in to some machine on your home network and make it visible across the network (I'm not a network guy, so I don't really know how to do this), you don’t even need it to be physically attached to the laptop.