Sharing a USB external harddrive connected to PC across a wireless network?

moromir

Hoping someone can help -

I have a usb external harddrive (Toshiba) connected to my PC, the PC connects to the internet wirelessly.

I also have a netbook which connects to the internet wirelessly.

Is it possible to make the external harddrive accessible wirelessly to my netbook?

The netbook is running Windows 7 and the PC Windows Vista.

Whenever I google it I keep being told to select options that simply don't exist on my computer!

I'm getting quite frustrated with it - does anyone have a drive-sharing 101 they could share with me?

fwor

There are a few things that can stop it working. One thing to check is the settings of Windows Firewall - assuming it's running, you need to check that File and Print sharing is ticked as an exception.

moromir

Hi Fwor, its not that its not working, its that I can't even get started on how to even set the drive up to share it because all the how-tos' talk about options that are nowhere to be seen on my computer!

googler

What options do the how-tos offer, and what do you have available?

i.e. If they suggest selecting 'Sharing' from a menu obtained by right-clicking on the drive, are you missing 'Sharing' from that menu?

Without detail like this......


Try this one;

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/how-to-share-a-folder-the-xp-way-in-windows-vista/

Lucero_2

Right click on the drive, choose "properties" then choose the "sharing" tab.

Then, click Advanced Sharing. In the box that appears, click the text box that says "share this folder". Choose a name (other than what appears in the box). Call it HomeShare or something, then tick "Permissions". For ease, tick, with "Everyone" highlighted, click "Full Control Allow. Then Ok, out of all the boxes.

When you view the drive in "computer" you should see two little heads next to it, that's it being shared

To access it from the other PC, either map a drive, or, open the run box and type [URL="file://\\192.168.1.x\HomeShare"]\\192.168.1.x\HomeShare[/URL] (where 192.168.1.x is the IP address of the computer with the USB drive attached to it).

That should work fine.