Local Network (Ethernet) Hard Disk

Question

I have seen information suggesting that it is possible to network a large hard disk on an Ethernet network to archive graphic content so that all computers are able to access it without a server.
However, setup and software was not explained.
Also, the hard disk suggested was an HP and I am not sure that is the best. Who has had experience with such a setup? Would something like the Data Solutions 2 degrees frost (www.2degreesfrost.com) be a choice that would connect directly to ethernet?
Frank
MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   I also have a G3 and G4 iBook and a G5 Tower. The G3 runs system 9 yet.

Answer 1

Well, unless you have an External HDD that has an Ethernet port on it (to connect to your Router) or a USB port (to possibly try and connect to a USB port on a Router), then it can't be done with your normal equipment.
If you have a USB port with cable from an External HDD and have a USB port on your Router (mine has one, the small A type port I think, the same as our Printer's USB port) and I know that can be used to connect to the Internet/Network from computer to Router, so it has a chance of being able to connect to the Router from an External HDD.
The 2 main problems/concerns about this are that the USB port may only be 1.1 (most likely there on the Router for use as a Printer port and 2.0 speed not needed as quite a few printers have only 1.1 USB ports on them. If it worked, speed would be slow. The other problem is that if you did try this, you may not be able to get the USB port on the Router working with the External HDD as your Router may need to have a special USB Device Driver installed on the "computer" that wants to use the USB port on the Router (again, my 2Wire brand Router that I got when I signed up for AT&T (SBC) Yahoo DSL also needs this to allow the Router to recognize the connected device on the other end of the Ethernet Cable).
If your Router has a USB port that was made to be a connection for a Printer (acting as a Print Server), then you might get lucky and not need a driver for this though you may need to configure things in your Router's System Settings which may not allow anything other than a Printer, all you could do is try and see what works or not.
The main 2 ways that people connect Hard Drives to a Network (without having them being connected to a specific computer on the Network as an External or Internal Drive) is to either purchase a NAS (basically an External HDD that also includes an Ethernet port on it (and comes with cable) to attach to your Router, and usually has a couple USB ports on it as well, for another External HDD or 2 to be attached to the NAS or for Printer to act as a Print Server.
Buffalo Tech. is a pretty good brand of above average External HDDs, NAS units, SAN units and so on... I got my basic 250 GB Buffalo Tech NAS at www.tigerdirect.com for $199 back in Sept, and it is great. You can change the settings for how you want to use it, for example, you can have it automatically turn off at a certain time/turn back on at a certain time, meaning you can have it save power during your sleep hours without having to do anything. Or you can have it auto- on schedule- Backup the whole NAS drive to an attached USB HDD to always have that backup around, you can have multiple access settings as well as listed below.
You can set up different "users" and "passwords", or a specific "all" sharing folder for all allowed computers and a "windows" folder for only Windows systems to have access to, as well as having a "mac" folder for only Mac systems to access, therefore being able to sort/separate the items on the NAS by what computer systems they might be used on -universal file types can be thrown in the "all" folder for both windows and macs systems to access.
You can also let your NAS through the Settings, be able to accept FTP so that you can give someone your URL address -your ISP internet number address thingy with the network location name -computer's name or NAS's name etc- and the proper user name and password, and they can then remotely access your NAS (or whatever areas of the NAS that you let them) from anywhere that is connected to the internet.
You can also Set certain Permissions and Authorized Users for different folders on the NAS, which allows a specific person to choose to allow only certain "computers" available on the network, meaning you can create areas that are blocked from, let's say, a child's/teenager's computer so that they don't have access to any adult content stored on there that you may want access to from your computer.
Ok, that was way long. I still have one other option to list, which is basically the same as the NAS idea, except you might not get the bonuses of using an actual NAS...
You can find little units that aren't cheap (usually seen at around $70 or more) which let you take anywhere from 2-4 USB External HDDs and connect them to this unit, which then has an Ethernet Port on it which lets you connect it to your Router. The unit might also have a "built-in" print server, so that you can plug in a USB Printer to it as well. Since these units are not part of the Hard Drives, Your Router, or any Computer (all which you will need to have already, or will purchase afterwards if needed) this means that they are probably harder to have access to/control over in the way of settings... Less features available that a NAS unit might be able to do, but is cheaper than a NAS (which does come with a built-in HDD of up to 500-750GB now) and is perfect if you just want the connectivity aspect and already have 1 or more USB HDD that you want to be able to reuse in this manner.
So there are several possible options available, depending on the amount of $$ that you want to spend, what you already have and would like to use in the set-up, and if you want to try and test out the cheaper ways first to see if they work or not, or if you just want to buy something and attach it (install any needed software/drivers) etc. I will add as a note that some NAS say that they have 2 USB ports on them, which they do, but also state that you can connect up to 2 USB HDDs or a Printer to the device. This is missleading, as some (which you may only find out from the Manufacturer's Website, or in the Instructions Manual etc) can actually only handle one USB HDD and one USB Printer. The NAS I have is like this, the USB port on the back is for USB HDD only, and the front panel USB port is for USB Printer only. So no 2 USB HDD at the same time... Also, printers that will actually work as a print server through this will vary. Check the Manufacturers website (Mine was not listed, so I emailed them. They said it was not tested by them, it may work and that as long as it wasn't a multi-use printer -as in printer, scanner, copier, fax etc all in one- that it could work). I then took my question to Canon (my Printer manufacturer) and they has no idea. It ended up not working, which I suspect is because of my needing the iPixma Device Drivers to install on my computer, and the NAS can't access the drivers needed. My printer shares on the Network just fine when installed and attached to one (our main) computer, and I can even have it do an auto turn off after 15 minutes of inactivity and turn on again when needed, the only problem is then needing to have that specific computer turned on when wanting to print (or we just go and use that computer when anything needs printing...
Ok, again, waaaayy too long. Sorry about that. I tend to ramble on quite a bit, not like you haven't noticed already.