Turning hard drive into a network drive

Ramz_3

Hey, i'm wondering if theres any way I can turn my old PC hard drive into a network drive to plug into my router via ethernet. Anyone got any of those bright ideas?

MercilessKiller

A brand new box has just been released on netgear which I'm definitely going to be buying. But beware, not cheap.

Its a NAS Enclosure that allows up to 2 hard drives. Nas = network attached storage.

Tis pretty sexy!:
http://www.reghardware.com/2007/07/12/review_netgear_sc101t/

I dont know the cheapest place to get it though but its around £120 but worth it!

Ramz_3

£100 at Amaazon.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-SC101T-Storage-Central-Turbo/dp/B000S2CYJA/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/026-5428409-4020401?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1184343555&sr=8-1

MercilessKiller

Ah looks like its Sata only! Apologies!

(If you have an old drive, chances are its IDE? you could just get a standard NAS enclosure for about £30 off ebuyer)

albertross_2

yes, just set up file sharing, and map a drive to \\pcname\c

Ramz_3

albertross wrote: »

yes, just set up file sharing, and map a drive to [URL="file://\\pcname\c"]\\pcname\c[/URL]

Yeah I was thinking about doing that, but then i'd have to leave the PC on whenever I wanna share files which would be quite annoying and energy consuming.

albertross_2

A nas enclosure is the answer then, It will use some power, but not as much as a PC.

cheap nowadays

cledor

If you want to network IDE Drives take a look at Netgear SC101 Storage Central around £60 from eBuyer http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/95885

japsybapsy

Another option is the Linksys NSLU2. Get an external drive enclosure and away you go. Even better with this device is there is an online community writing alternative firmware for this device which allows you to turn it into a webserver, itunes server, DLNA streamer and many other uses as well as bog standard file sharing. See http://www.nslu2-linux.org/.

cigar_2

I bought one of these and put my old IDE drive into it. It's quick and easy to setup, but there are problems accessing it with Vista - I have upgarded the firmware but still cannot access the device using a Vista PC. Never mind - works OK with my XP laptop and can still connect to my Vista PC via USB if needed. Some people have reported slow data transfers on these devices - worth baring in mind if you want to transfer a lot of data (unlike me).

patwa_2

This is pricy, but you can cut the cost down unless you really need 2TB of space. Infrant Technologies make enclosures with high functionality that are solid as a rock. Maybe you could pick one up cheap on eBay or elsewhere but it's the best all-round NAS I've found, beats the Buffalo Terrastation, Linksys and Netgear models.

H.