I bought a Hawking Technologies HNAS1 (www.hawkingtech.com) Network Accessable Strorage Unit and put a 200 Gig drive in it.. really cheap.. It runs samba and at this point I can connect to it with my Windows machines, my Linux Machines and my XBox, but being a OSX noobie, I am having trouble connecting, but it is a great product otherwise.. I will post If I can figure out how to connect to it with my Mac..
200 Gig NAS cost me $300 CND.. Kevin -----Original Message----- From: Sovereignty [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, September 09, 2005 10:16 AM To: Mac Canada Subject: Network hard drives Calling all strawberry blondes and others...... "My brain is so loaded, it's nearly exploding.." I'm debating between adding an external firewire drive or paying a bit more for a network hard drive. I already have a multi-port router, extra hard drive, etc. so (I'm assuming) the only expense is the enclosure. I'm going to be adding either one to a LAN with potentially -- (1) iMac DV 500mHz with firewire 400 and USB 1.1 ports -- OS 10.3.9, maybe going to 10.4.x (2) iMac/SL 350 mHz with only USB 1.1 ports -- 10.3.9 and 9.2.2 (3) Powerbook 5300 with neither USB nor firewire ports -- speeding along with 8.6 (4) occasionally a WinXP laptop There will be occasions when I'll be transferring files via the net to those with running OS X and WinXP. If I'm understanding the differences between firewire and network for file sharing, giving access to a firewire drive would use the CPU, give un/limited access to parts of my hard drive to those transferring files if I'm not careful, and take part of the bandwidth between the computer and the router. On the other hand, giving access to a network drive would free up the computer CPU, keep everyone off 'my' hard drives, and bandwidth would remain between the router and the network drive. (I understand that bandwidth from the router to the ISP/net is going to be shared regardless which option I choose.) Firewire = direct connection to only the iMac DV with the firewire port (or WinXP etc) Network = direct connection to any((?) computer that had ethernet capability I'm looking at two specific network enclosures at tigerdirect.ca. I've listed the specs below but have some questions that haven't been answered with the manufacturers' websites and downloaded pdf's. Can I have more than 120 GB in a network drive or am I limited to smaller drives to match the computer/systems on the LAN? One of the specs below leads me to believe that I wouldn't be able to partition whichever drive I put in the enclosure since the enclosure 'supports one user-selectable hard drive' and partitioning makes multiple 'virtual' drives. Can I have a Mac format on the network drive or will I have to format to FAT-32? (WinXP users could load MacDrive to access the Mac format which is the preferred format for me.) The second enclosure, Hawking, seems to come preloaded with software/firmware similar to Rumpus for Mac (currently selling for $249 USD!) The Hawking specs don't list compatibility with Mac, but would VPC work for configuring the drive (to FAT-32?) and/or should I have a Windows box doing the set-up? If I go the route of using Windows, does anyone know if the 'user-friendly web interface' means I can do any of the managing from a Mac? (I would assume so but 'assume'....) And I guess the last question for now.... does anyone have a better recommendation for a network drive enclosure that is perhaps more Mac-friendly, and possibly more affordable software recommendations that would allow browser access to the files? (I loved Rumpus when I trialed the app but the price tag... ouch.) Thanks, specs for the two below Sov One --- INOi HD363N 3.5" Aluminum Network Hard Drive Enclosure with Built-in FTP and SAMBA Servers <http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1 488338&Tab=0&NoMapp=0> * Supports DHCP server, DHCP client or fix * Supports one 10/100Mbps Ethernet port * Password management provides secured access to HD and the Web management * Easy to set up and manage. No need to configure a PC to share files The other -- Hawking Net-Stor Network Attached Storage Enclosure <http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1 503202&CatId=0> yada yada...... can also be configured to allow the transfer or backup of files directly over the Internet via the web browser or FTP. It supports all standard 3.5" IDE Hard Drives of up to 250GB (hard drive not included). The Smart Setup Wizard makes installation of the Network Storage Center simple and the user-friendly web interface makes it easy to manage. Features * Share and Back Up Video, Music, & Data Files * Functions as Both File Server & FTP Server * Supports All Standard 3.5" Internal IDE Hard Drives of up to 250GB * Managed Access via 3 Pre-Defined User Levels * Easy Installation via Smart Setup Wizard * Web-based user interface for easy configuration and management * Supports one user-selectable internal high speed ATA/ATAPI-6 hard drive * Replaceable hard-drive feature * Auto-Networking Configuration Utility for Windows OS * Compatible with Windows 95/98/98SE/ME/XP/2000/NT4.0 * Built-in hardware button for Factory Default Reset (if necessary) * Supports static IP addresses Systems Requirement: IEEE 802.3 10Base-T Ethernet or IEEE 802.3u 100Base-TX Fast Ethernet -- What's the difference between Vietnam and Iraq? Bush knew how to get out of Vietnam. -- -- Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Mac Canada info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/mac-can.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:mac-canada@mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-canada%40mail.maclaunch.com/> -- Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Mac Canada info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/mac-can.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:mac-canada@mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-canada%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
