I have been thinking about getting a network hard drive to store all my junk, so that my three home computers can share it equally. (for example, now if I download a song on one computer, I don't have it on the others and have to transfer it.) Looking around a bit, it seems like they are ethernet based and cost only a few hundred dollars. Anyone use them or have any opinions?
if you have an old computer laying around, install linux on it, stuff it with hard drives, and presto! network attached storage. first google result for "linux network storage" which is just a quick and dirty example: http://www.linux.com/feature/53511
Check out the iomega ix2. It is a plug and play dedicated Ethernet storage device. It's very small but still contains 2 hard drives that can be set up to mirror (back up) each other, or as one virtual drive. I have had one for a couple of months and love it. There are two versions, 1TB and 2TB. I got the 1TB (500GB mirrored) and use it to back up every computer in the house and to share photos with the other 5 computers on the network. It can also be used to share drives and printers that are plugged in to its 2 USB ports. I paid $239. It takes very little set up; I was up and running in about 15 minutes. It will show up as a network drive in Windows or as an NFS drive in UNIX. http://go.iomega.com/section?SID=abdbdd84cea8dd402e0a97a45b9939b635d:4790&secid=40399
For that matter, you can share folders (and files) using Windows XP or Vista too. Why buy an extra gadget for that? Designate one of your computers as the "server", sort-of. Either use the harddrive that's on it, or hook up an external USB hard drive to it. Create a "shared" folder. On the other 2 computer, simply map your network folder from your "server" computer.
Yes, I do share folders and it works fine. I wondered if it might be more efficient to consolidate it all, though, in a 1.5TB (or so) drive. (thus my question) I have a few 500GB USB drives and several smaller old drives connected to the desktop that the notebooks can access. and NO it isn't all porn!! I am a packrat for video lectures, science books (around 40,000) and other stuff. I don't trust the internets to satisfy my future viewing needs, (stuff disappears) so I download all the stuff I like. (for example: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MIT&view=playlists Check out the Walter Lewin physics series if you are at all interested in science. They are amazing) The linux box is an interesting idea, but I don't have spare drives that are "modern"
The new ADSL2+ modem/router that I have, made by Siemens, has a USB connection for plugging in an external drive for use as a network file server. It also has the option of making the drive a webserver, so you can access all of your files from the internet. I think this makes good use of the router, which is turned on all the time anyway. The only drawback is that the router is only 100Base-T, so if you already have a 1000Base-T network, it may be too slow for you.
ASUS WL-500g have same thing. you can plug any external HD. on top of that-you can share it on LAN or WAN http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/33-320-030-06.jpg