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networkable hd for macs
- Thread starter joshwest
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LaCie makes a line, as do Maxtor, Buffalo, Granite, Tritton and others.
The biggest issue by far for Mac-only shops is that they usually require a PC in order to set up and to do major maintenance like upgrading the drive's firmware.
Even though they advertise "Compatible with Mac OS X" that means that they are file read and write compatible, NOT that all possible functions can be done from a Mac.
A secondary issue common to every storage system that uses smb:// is that there are restrictions to the filenaming conventions, and restrictions to the max. size of files.
The biggest issue by far for Mac-only shops is that they usually require a PC in order to set up and to do major maintenance like upgrading the drive's firmware.
Even though they advertise "Compatible with Mac OS X" that means that they are file read and write compatible, NOT that all possible functions can be done from a Mac.
A secondary issue common to every storage system that uses smb:// is that there are restrictions to the filenaming conventions, and restrictions to the max. size of files.
CanadaRAM is right. I have a SimpleShare one that claims to be Mac-compatible, but it has a 2GB filesize limit on it. I've never had a problem with that, as it was mainly used to share MP3's, though, and short videos.
I use a buffalo linkstation.
Setup using a web-browser from any computer. Only had 1 slight problem with a really long filename but I use it frequentlyfrom my mac Mini and Windows machines.
You can choose between 'Mac only' 'Windows only' or 'Man and Windows' when creating shares.
There is also custom firmware and setups available on the web - the linkstation runs a version of linux
Setup using a web-browser from any computer. Only had 1 slight problem with a really long filename but I use it frequentlyfrom my mac Mini and Windows machines.
You can choose between 'Mac only' 'Windows only' or 'Man and Windows' when creating shares.
There is also custom firmware and setups available on the web - the linkstation runs a version of linux
Yeah the SHARING isn't the problem, its the initial setup if you have to discover the device's IP address (like if the dim bulbs at Buffalo left it turned on DHCP rather than the initial address in the manual...) or if you ever have to upgrade firmware, you're up a creek in a Mac-only environment.Jowl said:
Hector said:
.. and keep it in the garage (noisy?)
I think some of the network drives have a file size limitation because they use FAT32. I believe the Buffalo's work with Linux and EXT3, so there's not file size issue (perhaps some illegal file name characters though?)
I was considering the Buffalo Giga-Linkstation, especially as you can hack it to run Slimserver as well. For the money though, I may just look around for an old tower (G4 or PC) and build a storage/media hub using that.
