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External Network Hard Drive for Home Network

A

aeneid

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 20, 2011
63
0
California
So I've got a ton of movies, and music at home. Well not a ton, but a decent amount that it's made my MBP 250 gig hard drive full. Plus I have more dvd's to rip from the cd to add to my cd less collection. I want to set up a home network drive to access all of my media from. Basically I was thinking of going out and buying a network external hard drive, where I'd put all my media onto that hard drive, and then connect it with an ethernet cable to my wireless router. Then any computer on the network could access that music, video, or w/e I have on it. My network is already password protected, but would there be a way to lock the drive as well? I have a MBP, and soon I'm going to be getting either a Mac mini or iMac to go along with a MBA. Knowing how little space the MBA has, a network drive would strongly benefit it, plus I'd open up a ton of space on my MBP drive. Does anyone have any suggestions for an external hard drive with network capabilities? or any other suggestions?

Thanks
 
Look into NAS, it's network access storage and you can get a drive fairly cheap depending upon your size. I have one hooked up myself and it's pretty nice.
 
I've seen those before and they are quite expensive. Just 1 TB is 160+. To get 2 TB its like 300. I was wondering whether or not you can get a plain external and make it a network drive some how. I know it seems weird but I feel like it's possible and a friend mentioned it but I never looked into it. Plus they are much cheaper. I can get a 2 TB drive for 140 ish on Newegg. Hmm. Maybe another router with a USB port then....Dang that's probably another 50$. I guess NAS are worth it, but I can always get 2 by 2 TB and usb hub for the router and run it like that since, a 4 TB NAS is like 600$ from what I've seen so far.
 
My setup: iMac, Air, Timecapsule and a couple of :apple:TVs, iphones and iPads. I need a solution for some storage for my pics, videos and to stream.


Plan A: Go with a NAS running some iTunes emulation software streaming to a :apple:tv. This seems to be the logical solution but is somewhat beyong my technical skills to setup/manage. $600 ish??

Plan B: Get a RAID enclosure from OWC with a Quad interface...already have 4 matching 750Gb 7200RPM drives laying around. I will hook it to my iMac via firewire800 to work through loading my DVD library and then move it to be connected via USB to my Time Capsule. Hopefully the access speed from the TC via USB2.0 is suitable for streaming. I would need to replace the :apple:tv in my HT with a Mini and have it serve up the files from the external drive. $300ish plus a Mini....pricy but I get the Mini and can access the drives from my iMac for additional storage needs.

I guess one of the more interesting features of a NAS is to be able to stream from the NAS to a :apple:tv without having a computer running....you should look in to your additional requirements around streaming and see if the NAS offers some additional benefits.
 
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Look into the dns-320. I use it to perform time machine backups of 4 mac computers, steam 1080p movies to my tv and computers, i also use its ftp server to access all my data on my MBA while on the road.
 
It sounds pretty good. just sucks that it doesnt come with a HD already. I like the FTP use, that would come in handy when I go away. How fast is it? And what drives are you using right now? I'm curious because I have ATT internet that's crappy as **** and i get only 2.5 mb/s down and I fear that no matter what I get it'll be slow as heck. Considering how this works and any NAS, I'm actually considering installing Windows onto a drive, and then just accessing it through the network by connecting to it on boot up. I wonder if that's possible with a Mac on startup. I'll have to look into that. I just don't have the resources for getting 2 drives and a storage unit. that's why the device i posted made a lot of sense at least to me. are there any other units that are similar to the d-link that may or may not be cheaper?

Cheers
 
Seagate 2T Ethernet drive

aeneid said:
After looking at newegg, I found something I like. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148614
Check that out for yourself. You can change out the drives eventually if you need room by just buying a go flex drive. Those are just general external HD, the link i gave is a go flex HD and the network base. and its cheap. For right now thats what im getting.
Click to expand...

Don't even think about this as a NAS solution. I've been battling this MF'er for months. I finally bought a FW 800 mount for it and am using it for wired TM backup only, after formatting it HFS.
 
So I should get an official NAS? One that is actually a NAS..Dang I guess the D-Link is good. I'm kind of happy with the idea of FTP. Thanks for the heads up on your issue, but what exactly is your problem with it?

Cheers
 
To many issues to list with Segate

Seagate worked well out of the box. For a couple weeks I could back up with TM, moved all my DVD's over and could watch them on iPad via File Browser.

Then the MBP couldn't see it anymore. I bought the FW 800 mount for 20$ and formatted it HFS+. Used it for a few weeks as direct connect. Installed new TC 2T and now the drive can't be backed up by TM via FW... Huh?

I'll try a couple more things like reformat and hang it off the TC USB. But if that fails, it's going back to Costco for a refund.

I think there is some firmware installed that doesn't allow me to reconfigure the drive so it will work without the Segate software installed.

BTW, Costco has a Segate 2T USB 3.0 for 99$. I might buy that and use the FW 800 mount for TM, CCC and redundant music/photos/DVD storage/backup.
 
Sounds like it's just an issue with the firewire connection. From my understand that set up where the drive goes into the network port(er) is through sata, so your firewire base should be firewire to sata? IDK just seems too difficult. I'd return it and get something else. A lot better options to us with TM.

Let me know what you find. I need to get 20 gigs off my computer of music, and dvd's. It's bogging me down.

Cheers
 
Thanks for the link. I like the design on the drive itself. The black and blue is pretty awesome. The only thing I'm concerned about is the interface use on something like that. Can you take me through how you go about streaming media from it or adding media to it through your internet connection. For example would it be like a finder drag to the drive, or do I have to go into their stupid interface online? Let's say I'm downstairs and my MBP is hooked to the tv, and I want to stream a movie, how do I access it off of the drive? Can I access it off of any device, say like an iPod Touch? Thanks!

Cheers
 
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