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carfac

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 18, 2006
1,241
29
Hi:

I need more storage... but I do not want to just plug a drive into a Mac. I have a network, and I want a network storage device, something my iMac AND my laptop and another WinXP can all access when needed. I am thinking that something that just plugs into my router would do the trick, but I guess a server, not just a HD.

Is there such a device, and if so, what works well, cross-platform?
 

afornander

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2006
286
0
;) the best (and most simple) way would be to get a router from your local wallmart, target, best buy, ext... with a usb port it the back, then buy a usb external HDD and connect it to the router!!! :D
 

carfac

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 18, 2006
1,241
29
And that will work cross platform? Great. What format do I need to format the HD? ANything else I need to do, or will it just show up?
 

blodwyn

macrumors 65816
Jul 28, 2004
1,147
1
Portland, Oregon
carfac said:
And that will work cross platform? Great. What format do I need to format the HD? ANything else I need to do, or will it just show up?

Most of these SAN devices run small Linux servers internally, so they normally format the drive to a Linux filesystem format. This is more or less transparent to you. A couple of gotchas though - SMB doesn't like some characters in the filename so some of your files/folders may need renaming, and most of the cheaper SAN devices are chronically slow for data transfer, i.e. feels like USB1.1 speed.
 
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