need input on NAS

[scott pruett]

situation: I have two work computers, a Powermac G5 (OSX 10.5) & an Alienware laptop (WinXP Pro). I need a way to share files between the two, and I need a lot more bandwidth than WiFi can provide. Both machines have 10/100/1000 ethernet connectivity, so it makes sense to tap into the gigabit networking capability to do so.

questions:

What do I need to set up a network between the two? I don't need Internet access w/ this. I'm already connected via WiFi to a 10/100 router/WAP to cable. No need to replace that hardware (which is on another floor anyway). Can I just get a gigabit switch & connect both computers + a NAS unit (+ maybe even a print server) to it?

What's a reasonably-priced (i.e. as light on the wallet as possible, yet not compromising quality) way to do NAS? I'm looking for around 1TB of storage. I don't need anything fancy, just something that's reliable & fast.

Thoughts?

Thanks...

 

[steveza]

From the networking point of view, get a decent gigabit switch and connect the Ethernet/LAN ports from the Mac, PC and NAS to it. You will have to assign static address to the 3 devices on a private network range that is different from the one used by the wireless network. You could use the following settings for the NAS (as an example):

IP address: 10.1.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: blank

Use 10.1.1.2, 10.1.1.3 etc. for the other machines.

When you connect to the NAS from the PC or Mac use the IP address as the server name e.g. \\10.1.1.1\<sharename>

 

[scott pruett]

excellent, thanks.

how about if I wanted to drop add'l storage into my G5 & connect my XP machine to it as a network drive? Is that possible or more effort than it's worth for daily use?