Hi

This may be the dumbest question in the world, but I am sure if it's
possible many people would do it. I am a photographer and like many
of my photo addict brethren, I have perhaps a terabyte of storage in
the form of powered xternal usb drives. These are clunky, heavy things
and I hate hooking up USB cables to them every time I backup. Also,
over time, my USB ports on my PC have become somewhat worn from just
connecting and disconnecting so many times. When I am transferring
files, if I just move the laptop (it's on my lap, right?) it goofs the
USB connection and I have to start over again. VERY frustrating. I
NEED wireless.

So I am thinking "Bluetooth USB" - it's like a USB cable, but with no
wires. So, in this way I am thinking to buy two of those cheapo USB
Bluetooth adapters. One goes in the USB port of my laptop. The other
goes into the usb of the external drive. Will this work or I am
really misguided?

Hoping for a positive answer.

Thoma

spydersweb34 wrote:
Why not set up a static computer to act as a network storage server.
Keep the USB drives permanently connected to that. Than transfer your
files / backup over network, wireless (real)wireless or wired.

the static computer can be any old box as long as it excepts a network
connection.

or this

http://www.usbgear.com/USBG-SA800.html

In
news:7e333244-aaaa-47d3-9d26-d5f05b976d96@26g2000hsk.googlegroups.com,
spydersweb34 typed on Fri, 2 May 2008 04:29:51 -0700 (PDT):
Well yes and no! Meaning I don't think it is that easy. How this is
normally done is networking another computer through WiFi. Although I
have seen WiFi routers that you can hook up external hard drives too.
And I am not sure, but that might be your best option.

AirPort Extreme has AirPort Disk: USB hard drive sharing
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/10/airpo...drive-sharing/

Seagate unveils "D.A.V.E." drive with Bluetooth and WiFi
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/30/s...ooth-and-wifi/

You can do a search for "wireless hard drive" on Google and find lots of
different things for your needs.

--
Bill

spydersweb34 <thomas.kirtley@gmail.com> writes:

Bluetooth is approximately a factor of 500 slower than USB2. Forget
it.

Wireless G or N is still slower than the USB2 that you're used to, but
not by nearly as much. You might be happy with a setup that has a NAS
storage device with a SMB server connected to a wireless access point.
That will let you open the external drive in Explorer and copy stuff to
it.

This is certainly practical to set up at home, where you may well have
other uses for a file server and a wireless network set up all the time.
It's less practical on the road, because it's more pieces to carry
around, and more expensive to lose them.

Dave

I had no idea Bluetooth was so slow!! In the meantime, I also called
the 800 on-line sales departments of several big PC vendors (Bestbuy,
Compusa, etc). The real surprise there was the non-level of knowledge
about Bluetooth. The information presented above was nowhere in
evidence. But back to the issue, basically what I am hearing is that
to have wireless drive access I must physically connect the drives to
a file server, then setup a wireless network, connecting the two PC's
via wireless G. I suppose this also implies that I have wireless G on
my laptop, since it is the source of the files to be backed up It's
nice to know this, but I am in Africa and old PC's aren't exactly
lying around here, at least in my house. Relative to this, I talked to
my sister yesterday. Her Windows operating system had gone kaput and
they were going out that day to get a new one. I asked her what she
was going to do with the old PC. "I will throw it in the trash. It's
no good." I told her that here, they don't throw them away. it would
be repaired - probably for about $15 or $20. Back to the issue, I
suppose I can live with USB cables for a while longer. What I am sure
of is this - because I think I need this wireless solution, there is a
demand. I think this is especially true of photographers because we
daily generate significant amounts of new files that need backup.
Someone will come up with a viable and economic solution for this.
Thanks to all of you for the great feedback! I have learned a lot.
Thoma

One more question has occurred to me. Suppose I do get a wifi router
and hook up another PC and create a small wireless network. What
sorts of file transfer speeds are possible with this setup?

spydersweb34 wrote:
You should start here:

http://www.ehow.com/how_108552_network-computers.html

In
news:f570504d-b0e8-4528-aee6-eaf46a24d18b@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com,
spydersweb34 typed on Sat, 3 May 2008 04:55:18 -0700 (PDT):

Well when Bluetooth 3.0 is released, this will change.
http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/S-...th.html?page=3

Doesn't surprise me one bit. It is hard to find good help when you pay
them peanuts.

Yes and no. You don't need a second computer really. There are wireless
routers that you can connect USB hard drives too.

How are you contacting Bestbuy and Compusa again if you are living in
Africa?

Does that mean you are not originally from Africa?

There has been a solution to this since the invention of WiFi.

--
Bill

After reading and considering the various posts, I did a simple Google
shopping search for

"wireless G" external hard drive

And voila, problem solved.

There are lots of wireless drive products out there.
Looks like they are drives with built-in wireless G
routers. They have transfer speeds equivalent
to 100 base-T ethernet.

Here's a Level One Wireless G 802.11g/b USB
2.0 Access Point with Built-In 2.5" IDE Hard Drive Storage Bay,
WAP-0007

http://www.unityelectronics.com/product-product_id/4591

and here's one with 120 Gig HD
http://unityelectronics.stores.yahoo...ewi16ndex.html

I couldn't have imagined it would be this simple.

But this leads to another thought -
I would like to have regular wifi access at the
same time I am floating about
in my African mud hut, wirelessly
transferring files to the hard drive
which is out by the elephant compound.

question - It is possible to
connect to TWO Wireless G routers simultaneously?

Thoma

I found something faster / better.

Netgear WNR854T RangeMax NEXT Wireless-N Router - Gigabit Edition
http://tinyurl.com/62lmgd

looks like it uses "draft 11n technology"
to transmit multiple streams of data in a single wireless channel.
much faster than Wireless G but at about the same
price as the above solution. Supposedly this has
ten times the speed of G Wireless.

here's a fullscale test of this unit.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/netgear_wnr854t_0

it mentions other, competing ones too.

Thoma

oops should have read the whole review

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/netgear_wnr854t_0

at the bottom, a poster writes

"The only ding you gave this product was a minor complaint about
range. I purchased 3 of these devices for home and business based on
the review, and incredibly, all 3 have died.While I realize it may be
tough to determine long term reliability of a product in a few days of
testing, the massive consumer backlash (see amazon newegg or myriad
other consumer review sites containing hundreds of one star reviews)
regarding the quality of this product should prompt you to reconsider
the very positive review you gave this product."

I suppose this new Wireless N is bleeding edge.

"spydersweb34" <thomas.kirtley@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:e233956a-d41d-4a0b-94b7-0b6b6d35439e@b64g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
I got the Netgear 854T when it first came out about a year ago. It does a
great job and has been running 24/7. Is it possible that his 3 died due to
some external fault such as line voltage fluctuations?? All my equipment
runs off of UPS's.