Network Storage

[MacHiavelli]

Hi

I'm in the UK and currently work with 3 Win XP Pro machines (2 desktops and 1 laptop), one of which acts as a server centrally storing all working files (Word, Access databases, Excel, etc).

I want to buy a MBP and I know the MBP can open/edit/write to the files on the XP machine that stores all the files.

But I am thinking of getting a separate network storage box and just having that attached to the router and then using that for the PCs and the MPB to access.

I want the MBP to be able to access the network storage box through OSX (Leopard) and through a Parallels/VMWare version of XP Pro running on the MBP.

Just wondered if anyone could give any advice about what to look for when buying such a box and if there are any config issues to consider with the MBP accessing the box through both OSX and XP Pro.

Thanks in advance.

 

[The Stig]

You can access shared drives on a PC from a Mac. That isn't a problem, but the HD needs to be formated in Fat32 so you can read and write. NTFS will not work out of the box unless you purchase software for your Mac.

So if you have a fat32 drive on his winxp server and share it on the network you can mount it on your Mac and away you go.

The Stig

 

[Kinetic]

As stated, you'll have to format it (if it's not already as MS Dos format which is FAT32). I think there's also a 4GB limit that any one file can be. So, I think you can't have any files over 4GB on it (like a large movie file).

 

[TheChillPill]

I have a mixed network of Mac, Windows and Linux systems and they all connect in to a HP Media Vault with 2x 500Gb Drives. All three systems see everything on all drives and can write to them without problem.

I can highly recommend the media vault - great as a fileserver, print server and media server (for streaming media across your network).

Off the top of my head, they are around £250 (possibly cheaper now - bought mine around 6 months ago), but come with one hard drive already installed.

 

[MacHiavelli]

I have a mixed network of Mac, Windows and Linux systems and they all connect in to a HP Media Vault with 2x 500Gb Drives. All three systems see everything on all drives and can write to them without problem.

I can highly recommend the media vault - great as a fileserver, print server and media server (for streaming media across your network).

Off the top of my head, they are around £250 (possibly cheaper now - bought mine around 6 months ago), but come with one hard drive already installed.

Many thanks to all.

TheChillPill - for the HP Media Vault, I take it from the comments from others that the format is Fat 32. Does that mean you have lots of partitions?

Cheers

 

[TheChillPill]

Many thanks to all.

TheChillPill - for the HP Media Vault, I take it from the comments from others that the format is Fat 32. Does that mean you have lots of partitions?

Cheers

No, its definitely not Fat32 - I can't say for sure what format it is in, possibly NTFS. I suspect it works because its network storage (and thus there is software in between).

All I know is that it 'just works' - the way I like it

 

[MacHiavelli]

Many thanks ChillPill - I'll take a look on the net to see where I can get hold of one.

Cheers