External Hard drive via ethernet question

[RedCroissant]

I am looking at getting more storage and was wondering whether or not I could connect an external HDD to my iMac via ethernet and still use it the same way I would if it were connected through usb or firewire.

Thanks for any answers I might get.

 

[robbieduncan]

It will mount as a network drive. This may present itself somewhat differently to a local disk on USB/Firewire (as the native file system will not be exposed, rather SAMBA or AFP will be used to mount). This will result in a number of limitations, for example Time Machine will not be willing to use that device.