[Soundy]

DD-WRT does VPN - get a router that supports it and you're good to go.

Basically what it does is let you make a connection into your home network from a remote location, so your laptop (or whatever remote computer you're on) thinks it's on your home LAN, giving you full access to your network. It's stupidly easy to set up with DD-WRT.

I'd suggest checking the forums at dd-wrt.com, particularly about the USB drive issue: I have it set up on an ASUS RT-N16, which has two USB ports, and while it works great with the printer, the drive setup has been a little trickier (not that it worked that well with the original ASUS firmware either). They have have some suggestions for routers that will handle it better.

Actually, a better suggestion would be a network-attached drive, and just bypass the USB issue altogether.