Map External drive to network

[aceracer195195]

Hey everybody,
A (relatively) new mac user here. I received my mini almost a month ago. After getting used to it (been a windows user since before 3rd grade!) some technical questions have arrived.

I have an external drive that I use for my media. Music, pictures, movies, etc. Sense i bought the mac for media i want to keep the drive connected to it all the time, but i still need access to the external drive on my pc. How can i network my external hard drive so i can access it on my pc?

If it helps: the drive is already formatted in NTFS, connected via USB, and i've already mapped an extra internal drive on my pc to the network & the mac picks it up instantly.

Ace

 

[richard.mac]

firstly is your mac in your PC's workgroup? to check this (assuming you have Leopard) open system preferences -> network -> aiport, ethernet etc. -> advanced -> WINS and check the workgroup name is the same as the PCs.

second make sure you have file sharing ticked in sharing. then open options and check your username under SMB and supply your password.

then on the PC open an explorer window by pressing "winkey+E" and then open my network places -> entire network -> microsoft windows network -> "workgroup name" and you mac should be listed there. open it and supply your mac's username and password and all your hard disks should be listed there.

 

[aceracer195195]

It worked! Thanks for the help!
Ace

 

[richard.mac]

no worries man! i literally just found that out myself a coupla weeks ago.

 

[aceracer195195]

I'm trying to set this up again (pushed the wrong button while helping a friend & my pc hard drive went empty) but for some reason windows can't locate the workgroup and the mac won't keep the workgroup name in the field. Any ideas?

Ace