Mac Happy Network Storage

I have been looking for some network storage for my Mac only home network with two principal characteristics.
1 - Ethernet Interface (I'd like Gigabit if possible)
2 - Mac OS disk format
Everything I've found is NTFS or FAT32 which is a pain to use with Mac/Unix filename and extensions. Does any one know of a solution to my problem?

this may or may not get you where you want... but, i am very happy w/ this option @ work. it's cheap, effective, multi-user friendly and very configurable. however, it only supports 10/100 ethernet and not gigabit.
so, that being said, you may want to look into using the linksys NSLU2. it allows network storage via connected USB2 hds ( x2). the NSLU2 runs linux and you can update the firmware w/ a more user-friendly/configurable version had here:
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/
The nslu2 does not use HFS+, but sticks to ext3, however.
The Unslung firmware allows you ssh access, busybox, package management via ipkg, etc. the install directions are quite straightforward and there exists a LOT of online doc. with the nslu2, a 250 gb drive, and USB enclosure from an online vendor, the whole shebang can be put together for ~ US $240.00
you can setup NFS on the NSLU2 and automount volumes for use w/ psync, rsync, etc, etc. works very nicely, it's rather fast and offers a number of other pre-compiled packages for use (httpd, ftp, mysql, etc.).
another option to consider is purchasing an older G4 desktop (MDD or something similar) on amazon and placing that on your network. or you could roll your own solution running freebsd or linux for relatively cheap (not as cheap as the NSLU2, however) if you buy a mobo, a box, ram, power supply, etc.
cheers,
b
DP867 MDD and 12 1Ghz PB

Similar Messages

What is the best Mac friendly Network Storage Device?

I am having trouble with my current network storage device. It is an Iomega Stor Center ix2-200 using OS EMC Lifeline. I have it connected to my Time Capsule 7.5.2 via an ethernet cable.
I have an iMac running OS X 10.6.6, and a MacBook Air.
Both are having issues after sleep. My iMac will freeze. My MacBook Air will give a perpetually spinning wheel. Both computers do this intermittently, only after sleep, and otherwise run perfectly. Reading other posts, it appears that some network storage devices can cause this to happen.
So I want to buy the most reliable network storage device there is, to plug into Time Capsule (using USB). It would be nice if my Windows Vista computer could access it, but not a requirement. I just want to make sure whatever I buy will not cause issues with the iMac or MacBook Air.
It would be perfect it it had mirror RAID1 capability.
Anyone have experience to assure that a specific network storage device will work well?
Thanks,
-Lee
Message was edited by: Lee from Cincinnati

the answer might be a NAS with a built-in iTunes server.

Im completely new to Mac. Im swapping my windows laptop for macbook pro and looking for network storage solution which the Time Capsule seems to do. Is it possible to use this as NAS for my desktop Windows PC - windows 7

Im completely new to Mac. Im swapping my windows laptop for macbook pro and looking for network storage solution which the Time Capsule seems to do. Is it possible to use this as NAS for my desktop Windows PC - windows 7

Broadly speaking I want some sort of network storage( wireless or through my existing wifi router) that I can access files for both my windows PC and Macbook and also to access files to my iPad/ iPhone. Some sort of backup and sychronisation so that I can access certain files remotely.
Buy a real NAS.. synology or QNAP are the standard... although companies like Netgear and Western Digital and Seagate make them as well.
There is no problem sharing between Mac and PC now.. you do not even need a NAS to do that.. you simply share the hard disk directly. Mac talk SMB.. everything talks SMB nowadays.. so it is easy.
ipad and iphone are not designed to use NAS.. they are designed to backup only to the cloud or itunes.. but you can load an app like file browser if you want.
http://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowser/
Remote access to the Apple TC is somewhere between difficult, to impossible from a PC.. Apple use BTMM and iCloud but the service is not offered to PC.
A real NAS will offer HTTPS or SFTP or several other methods.. that both Mac and PC can use.
You simply plug it into the current wireless router.. it is a network device and assessable over the network. It is not necessary to buy another router.. in fact that is a waste.

Network Storage Drive for Mac OSX and XP

Hi I am a new apple owner with a MBP 17 running OSX. I also have two other PC laptops in the house.
I have a Linksys G wireless router.
What I would like to do is to have a dual HD enclosure that I can plug into my wireless router so that I can share data between my MBP and my PC laptops via the network. I would like to use dual HDs so I can mirror them for back up purposes.
My question is how do I set this up so both my MBP and PCs can use the same HD to store/share data? Suggestions on specific hardware to buy would be welcome as well.
Thanks for you help,
Vik

You should simply get a network storage drive like this:
http://westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=152&language=en
you can attach to it a second USB hard drive for backup. If you shop around you'll get better price than directly from WD.
Or you can go for Mirra which in my opinion is a much better bet as it will automatically backup folders you want and sync them between computers:
http://www.seagate.com/products/retail/mirra/index.html

Network storage drive...where can I learn about these?

I have so many questions, and frankly, the answers I've seen looking (briefly, admittedly) around these threads scare me. Gee, Wally, what ever happened to Apple as the computer you didn't have to know computer programming to use?
Now, before you all get your panties in a bunch telling me that I'm responsible for knowing how to use my hardware, I know...and I do want to know.
So what I want to know now is how can I learn about the various types of "shares", and what they mean for hooking up a network drive for backup, etc.
I have a WD 1TB drive which I believe uses "SMB", whatever that is. It's got two folders on it currently, "Public" which I can access, and "WD Backup", which I can't. I also can't seem to use it as a Time Machine drive, which is what I want to do with it. And, or course, I can't re-format it, which I'd love to do as my wife hates the folder designations on it, and would like to have one folder called "iMac Backup" on it.
Answers which don't involve Terminal will get extra points, but I've dealt with Terminal before, so take your best shot. And ask for clarification if you need it. Thanks.

Unfortunately, networking and file-sharing aren't quite so simple in part because there's decades of history and dozens of companies involved in getting it into the current state. If you want dead-simple, you can get an Apple Time Capsule or AirPort with an external drive and be done with it. However, if you really want the most from network storage, you'll probably want to read up...
WD make a number of drive, some network-attached, some not. We'll assume that you have one of their basic consumer network-attached drives.
"SMB" stands for "Server Message Block" protocol and it was the local area network file-sharing protocol developed for Windows for Workgroups circa 1992 (it was later renamed CIFS - Common Internet File System - by Microsoft in 1996 because of the rising popularity of the Internet, despite the difficulty in getting it to work in anything but a small local network). SMB/CIFS is still widely used today for Microsoft Windows networks, though much of the equipment that serves those files are built on Linux or FreeBSD and not Windows.
Access to shares on an SMB server (such as your hard disk) is controlled through a configuration utility provided with the drive or via a web application built into the device (that you access through your browser). Consult your manual. Generally speaking, however, SMB servers offer different ways of identifying whether or not you can access a share: 1) based on the computer connecting (in which case, everyone is considered the same user), or 2) based on a username/password combo. Generally a server will only operate in one mode. Shared directories can also allow or deny "guest" access (access without a password). All of this should be configurable through the drive utility or web application which you access with your web browser. Generally, an SMB server can only operate in one mode.
It sounds like the Public directory is configured to allow guest access, and I'm guessing that "WD Backup" is a share that's password-protected and intended to be used with Western-Digital's own software of the same name. You should be able to add and create new directories as necessary through the provided utility or the web interface.
You are correct, you cannot use Time Machine with an SMB file-sharing service. Time Machine will require AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) or NFS (Network File System) support. Western-Digital only has 3 network drives that support AFP and Time Machine: My Book Live, MyBook World, and WD ShareSpace. OS X also has some basic requirements about the performance and capabilities of network storage in order to use it with Time Machine, so you really want to look for drives that state up front that you can use Time Machine with them (for example, WD World Edition: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/docs/en/appletimemachine.pdf )
I'm not sure why you can't reformat the drive. This is supported on all WD products (though, if you've moved a bunch of data to it already, perhaps it would be a hassle).
You can do backups of your Mac over SMB, but it's complicated by the fact that SMB is quite old and isn't capable of storing information about the file permissions, ownership, etc. It will be reliable for data files, but not for applications, etc. There's a work-around, of course. You can create a disk image on the SMB share using Disk Utility (make sure you create an HFS+ image) and backup to that. If you go that route, I would suggest either Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to perform your backups. They are true backup tools, not versioning tools like Time Machine.

I already have a hard drive connected to my airport extreme, and ws wondering if i could use it as a network storage device

I already have a hard drive connected to my airport extreme, and ws wondering if i could use it as a network storage device. If so would I have to format it with two partitions , one for time machine and the other for network storage. Aprreciate any advice

If you have the hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme....it is a network storage device.
One issue that you may want to think about is that Apple does not support Time Machine backups to a hard drive at the USB port at the AirPort Extreme.
In spite of this, some users who try this are able to make it work. Others have some limited success and some have no success.
It's not supported....so there will be no help from Apple in the event of problems.
If you decide to proceed with this, make sure that the partition for Time Machine backups is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as other formats will not work with Time Machine.
Having a secondary backup plan would also be something that you might want to consider.

Can I share photos on networked storage device with windows user?

Ok, so I have done my research and feel kinda confidant about moving iPhoto Library to external hard drive. However my windows using husband now wants to know if there is a way he can see them too, as I have pics/videos he does not. Also is there a way to organize the photos from his computer on ExHD so I could see them in iPhoto?
I am scared to death that he is going to get into my Library file (even on accident) and jack something up to the point that I lose all my pictures, or the ability to access them, etc...
We would like to be able to share music as well, would same principles apply? Any suggestions?
ExHD is networked between the two computers if that makes any difference.?

What format is that networked storage device?
Users report many problems with Libraries that are stored on disks formatted anything except Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - these include problems importing, sharing and saving edits.
iPhoto has no cross platform ability whatever. The best you might do is to use a Referenced Library but this has problems too, so research that carefully.
Best option: tell your husband to get a Mac.
Regards
TD

What happens when two computers call the same code stored in network storage?

We have our code on network storage and have only been running code on one computer. We have now duplicated our setup and would like to use the same code to run the new setup from a different computer. We would like to run both setups simultaneously (both using same code from network storage). Will there be conflicts here or do both computers load their own copy of the vi to run from? I should say that we have no global variables.
I'm interested in the answer to this question anyway but I would also be happy to hear any suggestions (or even criticisms) on how to do what we are doing.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

You should seriously consider a source control system, which is the best solution here. That gives you one master copy of the code on the network. Each computer retrieves the latest revision from source control, making a copy on the local disk. Source control helps maintain a known good backup, and allows you to track changes and compare versions or revert to older code when something breaks.
I'm fairly certain you can open the same VIs stored on a network drive on multiple computers concurrently. Global variables are irrelevant here. Each computer will independently load the VIs into memory. The problem is if you edit and save the VI on one computer while it's open on another, and if you make edits on both simultaneously, you'll definitely lose some of the edits and could possibly corrupt your VI and lose all of them, which is why you should be using a source control system instead.
If you have the application builder, I recommend building your code into an application. You can store the application the network if you want, and run it on multiple computers.

Sync Pictures with iPad from Network Storage

Is it possible to sync photos from a network storage area instead of the HD?
If so where can i set the options in iTunes so that I can sync my photos not from my Mac but from a network drive/area?
Thanks

Hei Alfred, I set them all up to do the same thing in settings. Ie, using the same icloud account, switching on the icloud account for photos, my photo stream is on, so is photo sharing. The imac and ipad have functioned well all the time. The iphone is newer. I made sure that the iphone had the same settings for photos as the ipad, but no photos have ever gone automatically into icloud from the iphone. I have always had to do it manually. It is the same with my husbands phone and he has had it much longer. He isn't so computer literate, but I'm beginning to doubt myself now!

DVD Player do not play DVD[VOB] files when on a network storage

Hi, since installing ML [10.8] [clean install] DVD Player return an error "The media type is not supported" msg when I try to play a movie stored on a readynas NV+ network storage. The RN is accessible in finder and all movies are there, there is no username & password required to access the storage which is on public. DVDplayer is set to accept incoming files through the firewall. The file was playing normally before when the mac was on Lion [10.7] with same configuration. If I copy the file to the computer HDD, no problem. I am computer literate but not an expert. Any tip is welcome, thank you.

I have exactly the same issue on my mid 2011 MacMini which I recently upgraded to ML. I have connected an external DVD drive to check whether the country code had to be changed to overcome it. The Apple DVD-Player played the DVD fine, I noticed from the "DVD information" menu that the country code had it fact changed (4 changes left). However the next time I tried to play a file from my NAS (External HDD connected to TC) the Apple DVD-Player showed the same error message "The media type is not supported". My network setting are unchanged vs. before when I was able to play such VOB files from the NAS, my end 2006 iMac running on Lion does also play those files. What's wrong here?

Windows(7/8) mounts a network storage automatically.

Hi team,
is it possible to let win7/8 mount a network storage automatically when they receive a command?
we would like to create an application to control win7/8 to mount a network storage that user needs.
the process is our application will send commands to win7/8, and win7/8 will mount a network storage that user appoints.
Thanks,
Derek

Hi,
For changing the MAC address for Windows 7 is designed with some limitation, we cannot get over it. Thanks for your understanding.
Under Windows 7, the possible range of spoofed addresses for wireless adapters that can be set is limited. To be used by Windows 7, a spoofed MAC address should have 0 as a least significant bit (unicast) and 1 as a second least significant
bit (locally administered) in the second nibble. Thus possible values for the second nibble are limited to 2, 6, A and E.
In other words
MAC address: “XY-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX” “X” can be anything hexadecimal. The hexadecimal “Y”, written in binary format, is Y: “kmnp”, where “p” is the least significant bit;
p=0 --> unicast;
p=1 --> multicast;
n=0 --> globally assigned MAC;
n=1 --> locally administered;
So, actually MAC can be changed to any combination in which p=0 and n=1;
“Y” can be 2, 6, A or E.
So the possible MAC addresses in Windows 7 for wireless adapters:
X2-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
X6-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
XA-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
XE-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
For the wifi hotspot issue, please check this blog to see if it can be helpful.
Windows 7 Connectivity Problems in Public Hotspots
http://blogs.technet.com/b/patrickr/archive/2010/07/28/windows-7-connectivity-problems-in-public-hotspots.aspx
Kate Li
TechNet Community Support

Beige G3 Lives On - As a Media Server or Network Storage Device

I love my first mac and just can't let it go.
I have an ol' G3 266 has become my basement machine and I have been trying to figure out what to do with it, when I came to the idea that it could be made into two things that would be very useful:
- A media server for music and video connecting to my TV with Apple TV or something similar
- A Network storage device used as file server and backup system for my Powerbook, as well as a VPN.
I believe I can achieve all this my my 10 yr old machine, but I would like to get your thoughts on what would be needed to accomplish this. Here is what I was thinking:
- Several large SATA drives
- RAID controller card
- DVD Drive (currently have one installed)
- Mac OS 10.3.9 or higher (Currently running 10.4.8 with XPostFacto)
Anything else? What about processor speed and RAM?
Could be a fun project!

Did some further research...
- Need to add at least a 100BaseT Ethernet card or higher. The Beige G3 has a 10BaseT, which is too limiting for streaming of data. You can get a better PCI Ethernet card cheaply, but does anyone know if there is one that would replace the slot used by the 10BaseT card instead of using one of the three PCI slots?
- Due to a limited number of PCI slots, internal RAID is probably out of the question. I have to have a new ethernet card, an USB/Firewire card, a graphics card and a host controller, which is one too many cards. OSX seems to require that I have my ATI Radeon 7000 card to use any monitor, so I guess I can't get rid of it, even if I try to run it without a monitor. If the Ethernet card fills a PCI slot, that only leaves one open, which a Sonnet Tempo Trio could fill. This is a combined host adapter and firewire/USB2 card, so this could give me a faster bus and access to more drives, as well as several I/O ports.
Any other ideas?

How do i use my time capsule as a network storage

I have a macbook pro a windows pc and two windows laptops plus an ipad and three other tablets and I want to be able to use my TC as a network storage so that I can save most of my files on it and save disk space on each of my devices plus also make all of my files available via the TC to all of my devices.

Yes, you can do it.. the question is should you do it.. My answer to that is NO.. the TC is not a NAS. It is a basic router with a hard disk in it for wireless Time Machine backups. (If you have a desktop it is faster using a USB plugged in. cheaper and far more reliable).
Store files on the TC.
This is asked several times a day.. obviously people are struggling with their latest SSD being too small.
The TC is not suitable for network file server.. but many people having no choice press it into service as such.
Major issues.
1. No backup.. no way Time Machine can backup a network drive. No place to backup to.. So all your files will be at risk. And you will need to buy a third party like CCC to do backup.
2. The TC cannot be partitioned and mixing TM backups and data is not great. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no control. In fact the TC is so lacking in controls for even the router side.. that you cannot do more than the most basic of setups.
The following are controls on the hard disk side.
Reformat it. You can name the share. You can do a full archive of the whole disk. This will go at a speed of aprox. 30-50GB/Hr so calculate how long an archive of a full 2TB will take.
iPhoto in particular can easily corrupt its entire library with wireless networking causing a disconnection to one photo. Even if you do this;;; do not move your photo library... you have been warned!!
Even apple btw say don’t do it.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168 Although mostly about FAT32 it adds network drives.
5. iTunes can constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is slow to respond.. itunes on the computer will constantly spit out errors. Even in the midst of streaming the TC can spin down the disk due to caching.
6. Do not use any live files on the TC no matter what else you do.. if you edit files in whatever program the file must be on the local hard disk.
7. The only suitable location for most libraries is a computer. You can plug in an external hard disk.
Read pondini for some work arounds.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
8. In the case of Windows it will have the standard FAT32 4GB file size issue. Even though the disk is not formatted FAT32, it is shared to the Windows computer as if it is.

I am trying to connect a Windows 7 / 64 bit to an Epson printer on my Mac. The printer is hooked into the Mac via USB; the Mac is networked to a Linksys wireless router with an ethernet cable, as is the Windows box. Any tips on how to do this?

I am trying to connect a Windows 7 / 64 bit to an Epson printer on my Mac. The printer is hooked into the Mac via USB; the Mac is networked to a Linksys wireless router with an ethernet cable, as is the Windows box. I installed the current Bonjour printer services software on the Windows machine, and separately installed the driver software for the Epson printer on the WIndows machine. Running the bonjour wizard, I get an alert saying 'I don't have sufficient access to my computer to connect to the selected printer'.
The printer has 'sharing' turned on from the Mac end; this works with a Powerbook via the wireless connection. Sharing is also turned on in the Windows printer control panel for this printer (under properties). The Mac is a G5 running 10.5.8. When I try to print a page from the Windows machine it gets hung in the print queue.
Any advice how to proceed would be appreciated!
thx,

I am trying to connect a Windows 7 / 64 bit to an Epson printer on my Mac. The printer is hooked into the Mac via USB; the Mac is networked to a Linksys wireless router with an ethernet cable, as is the Windows box. I installed the current Bonjour printer services software on the Windows machine, and separately installed the driver software for the Epson printer on the WIndows machine. Running the bonjour wizard, I get an alert saying 'I don't have sufficient access to my computer to connect to the selected printer'.
The printer has 'sharing' turned on from the Mac end; this works with a Powerbook via the wireless connection. Sharing is also turned on in the Windows printer control panel for this printer (under properties). The Mac is a G5 running 10.5.8. When I try to print a page from the Windows machine it gets hung in the print queue.
Any advice how to proceed would be appreciated!
thx,

How to setup a usb printer on the usb port of a network storage drive

I have searched the forums and dont see any real info on this..
I have a usb based officejet 7590 , winxp, and a iomega home media network storage drive
the printer works fine when I install it on the local usb port of the laptop
BUT
its not clear how to connect it ot the usb port of the network drive.
DO I have to resinstall it as a network printer?
DO I have to resinstall device drivers if I already installed it as a usb printer for the local port?
Can I use the scan/fax functions if I do it right?
thx!

OK, I will use it as a bookstand...
Since I obviously don't know enough about networks I will stay away from 'professional' products like the Cisco products.
The user interface and the documentation of these products are clearly made by nerds for nerds...
Thanks for your help.
Paul

Mac Happy Network Storage

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for