Hi everybody,

I need a little bit of advice. I've got a few computers around the house
which I use for work and pleasure. I'd like to be able to access my work
related files from any computer around the house, and for the person i work
with to be able to work on files from a folder while I work on others (I'm
aware it would be near impossible for us to work on the same file at the
same time, but I don;t think we'd need to anyway so that's not an issue).

I've realised a networked drive would be good for this, having a drive
shared between all machines. I've looked at network attached drives which
look like they could be an option...like
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...ationKey=11159
would something like this be a good option?

I also have another computer withich is on 24/7. It's used as a media server
for the house and usually runs at about 5% to 7% CPU load an 88% memory
usage. I thought another option would be to add an external HDD to this
machine by USB2 or Firewire (case is too small for another internal drive)
and share the drive over the network, mapping it as a network drive on the
other machines. I've looked at a drive like
http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx...ionKey=1115 4 .
Would this option be as good as a seperate network attached drive or would
accessing it across the network be slower than a seperate NAS drive?

Thanks for your help everybody )

Ben

"Ben Jones" <ben@hippynet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:kdz3f.112565$RW.3054@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.u k...

Data transfer would be more likely limted by your LAN connection, unless
you're on Gigabit. Gigabit would get you about 650mb/s transfer, USB2
480mb/s, Firewire 400mb/s, T10/100 about 70mb/s.

A NAS drive would be always available (as long as it is switched on), a
USB/Firewire drive only when the machine it is connected to is running.

Between USB and firewire, USB2 is faster, but has a higher processor load on
the host machine. If you're running at 5 to 7% usage, it's not going to be a
problem. The new firewire standard has a scorchingly fast trasnfer rate, but
I don't remember what it is - you're still probably going to be bottlenecked
on your LAN connection though.

HTH

Dan







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"Dan Evans" <mailer.daemon.harvest@danevans.com> wrote in message
news:434ee44b$0$1876$a8266bb1@news.titannews.com.. .
Thanks for your help Dan )

Since I've got one machine on 24/7 I think I'll get a USB2 drive. That way
all the machines can access it at the full speed of the LAN but at least one
machine can have fast access too. They're cheaper than a NAS drive too so
it's the best option financially too.

Cheers Dan )

Ben

"Ben Jones" <ben@hippynet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:CW44f.27461$ey6.12374@fe1.news.blueyonder.co. uk...

That's what I would do in your case.

NP

Dan







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