On 9/9/05, Sovereignty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm debating between adding an external firewire drive or paying a bit more > for a network hard drive. I already have a multi-port router, extra hard > drive, etc. so (I'm assuming) the only expense is the enclosure. I'm going > to be adding either one to a LAN with potentially -- > > (1) iMac DV 500mHz with firewire 400 and USB 1.1 ports -- OS 10.3.9, maybe > going to 10.4.x > (2) iMac/SL 350 mHz with only USB 1.1 ports -- 10.3.9 and 9.2.2 > (3) Powerbook 5300 with neither USB nor firewire ports -- speeding along > with 8.6 > (4) occasionally a WinXP laptop > > There will be occasions when I'll be transferring files via the net to > those with running OS X and WinXP. > > If I'm understanding the differences between firewire and network for file > sharing, giving access to a firewire drive would use the CPU, give > un/limited access to parts of my hard drive to those transferring files if > I'm not careful, and take part of the bandwidth between the computer and > the router.
Unless you're doing a lot of file sharing (>10 MB/min _all_ the time) the CPU load will be low and you will NOT be giving unlimited access to your HD. *You* choose what directories, and even files are shared. Bandwidth between computer and router is not an issue! > On the other hand, giving access to a network drive would free up the > computer CPU, keep everyone off 'my' hard drives, and bandwidth would > remain between the router and the network drive. (I understand that > bandwidth from the router to the ISP/net is going to be shared regardless > which option I choose.) Before I start, I'm guessing that you're looking at two alternatives: 1. buy a FW drive and use your iMac DV/500 to share it over the network; or, 2. buy a network device and serve it, using its own connection to the router. I'm also guessing that your router is 100 BaseT. Re: bandwidth from iMac to the router -- this is not really a problem as your iMac DV will communicate at 100 Mbps. This is *fast* (I'm limited to AirPort 11 Mbps ;-). You can easily browse the web and serve files (smaller ones... <10 MB) without noticing the load at all. If you're going to be sucking 100 MB+ off the server on a regular basis you may notice some activity, though, since the data will be stored on the FW drive it won't be much at all! The big consideration in choosing between a network device and a FW drive shared by your iMac is what you need it for. If your primary reason for getting a shared drive is to *share* files via the network and via the internet then you are better off with a network device. It's *always* on, it requires little configuration (it'll be a case of: insert HD, turn it on, login to the web server via Safari (or FireFox or Camino or IE), answer a few questions, set up accounts, logout, start using, never touch). If you'd *like* to be able to share files _occasionally_ but need a fast, portable storage device then the FW is a good choice. Unfortunately, it's not going to hook up to any of your other computers. Also, keep in mind the size of your files. 100 Mbps (100 BaseT) will move over 1-2 GB/hour (whether it's on the network device or served by the iMac). Your 5300 will only work at 10 BaseT over ethernet so your max throughput is <1 GB/hour (on a good day) and will really tax your 5300's CPU/HD (chances are you'll fill up the HD pretty quickly ;-). > Can I have more than 120 GB in a network drive or am I limited to smaller > drives to match the computer/systems on the LAN? One of the specs below > leads me to believe that I wouldn't be able to partition whichever drive I > put in the enclosure since the enclosure 'supports one user-selectable hard > drive' and partitioning makes multiple 'virtual' drives. It seems like the writeup for both network devices says 250 GB limit! As for partitioning... you wouldn't do that in the network device. On a FW drive you can partition to your heart's content. You could have 60 GB for network serving and 60 GB for your own use on the FW drive. > Can I have a Mac format on the network drive or will I have to format to > FAT-32? (WinXP users could load MacDrive to access the Mac format which is > the preferred format for me.) Network devices will NOT use the Mac format for their HDs. They may not even use Windows!!! (it's possible they use extfs2 or 3... a Linux format). File sharing occurs via SMB, a reliable, tested and widely used file sharing protocol that Mac OS X 10.2+ supports brilliantly (there's a Samba client available for earlier Mac OS Xes). However, the network devices are *not* going to be file sharing compatible with Mac OS <=9 since, IIRC, there are no SMB (Samba) clients for Mac OS 9/8.6. You *will* be able to access the network device via FTP using any OS (including the Apple II ;-). > The second enclosure, Hawking, seems to come preloaded with > software/firmware similar to Rumpus for Mac (currently selling for $249 > USD!) The Hawking specs don't list compatibility with Mac, but would VPC > work for configuring the drive (to FAT-32?) and/or should I have a Windows > box doing the set-up? > > If I go the route of using Windows, does anyone know if the 'user-friendly > web interface' means I can do any of the managing from a Mac? (I would > assume so but 'assume'....) Chances are, yes, you can probably manage from a Mac (features may be limited if not using IE but probably not). Why don't you do some google searches on: Mac web access INOi HD363N? > And I guess the last question for now.... does anyone have a better > recommendation for a network drive enclosure that is perhaps more > Mac-friendly, and possibly more affordable software recommendations that > would allow browser access to the files? (I loved Rumpus when I trialed the > app but the price tag... ouch.) Browser access? Do you mean to use MS Internet Explorer to access the files? If so, *both* network devices do allow that since they have FTP access and a lot (most?) of browsers support read-only FTP access and a few (MS IE for Windows, for e.g.) support FTP write as well. I realise I probably haven't made it much easier for you to decide b/t FS drive or network device but there are a number of issues... Plus, if you're adventurous, you could use the iMac SL as a Linux server and have full Mac AppleTalk and Samba and HTTP and FTP services. PS If I didn't already have a Beige/G3 doing duty as a Linux network/internet server I'd seriously consider one of these network devices (I need Apache HTTP and PHP services so the Beige/G3 is better for me ;-) Eric. > INOi HD363N 3.5" Aluminum Network Hard Drive Enclosure with Built-in FTP > and SAMBA Servers > <http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1488338&Tab=0&NoMapp=0> > Hawking Net-Stor Network Attached Storage Enclosure > <http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1503202&CatId=0> -- Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Mac Canada info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/mac-can.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-canada%40mail.maclaunch.com/>
