Shared Storage Solutions

[Fawbish]

Wassup guys.

Right, I'm looking for a solution that is fairly simple, fairly cheap.

It's not a problem as such, but I'd quite like to be able to store a lot of my stuff/media on a seperate device. Theres me and my mate living together and both have a laptop, theres an x-box and a fat 42" TV.

Is there a cheap/easyish solution without buying a server and learning how to set one up?

I'd like to do it wirelessly and even have it automated to use the external storage first, so the laptops also run quicker.

Is it simply a case of looking for the cheapest wirelessly enabled storage? Any direct suggestions with experience with anything (or a solution that you know of that matches the criterion) would be great.

I'm not particularly down with networking above setting up a router and streaming media to the xbox But dont particularly have time at the moment to set aside and learn - though want to eventually.

Cheers people.
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[chris-red]

You can get a network drive but the speeds over wireless aren't brilliant HD content is a definate no no and unless you are have an N spec wireless connection or very good signal normal video can be a bit crap.
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[The Shaggy D.A.]

I've an old Buffalo LANDisk plugged into my router, it just shows up as a networked hard drive on all my PCs.

Trying to find an equivalent, there's this, but I'm sure something could be sourced more cheaply :-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/152834-Iomega-Network-USB2-0-Silver/dp/B003D0R69C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=computers&qid=1282727683&sr=8-1
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[Fawbish]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

Yup, it appears as a shared directory, so I've got it mapped as the L: drive on all my PCs. It does have a manager proggy with it so you can set up more user shared areas, but since there's just the two of us, I leave it as one big repository of crap. Mine's also got a couple of USB ports which apparently can be used for hooking up more storage and/or attaching a printer to, but I've not used that facility.

It's really a mini pc running a bespoke Linux setup, some people like to flash it and run it as a proper server :-

https://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/Main_Page
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Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[herulach]

Something like shaggy says would be ideal, don't worry about wireless, so long as theres space to connect directly to your router. And ideally run a cable to the xbox, I imagine thats where you stream most HD stuff to?

This buffallo one links in nicely with windows & xbox, integrates with your iTunes library and has a bittorrent client.

If you want something upgradeable this netgear one comes with a free 500gb hdd, and should do more or less the same stuff but easier to back up.
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[Tarmacsurfer]

I wouldn't touch the Stora, not great hardware to say the least.
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[_Will_]

One of these, USB wireless n hub

Connect to external hd, bingo!
Also let's you plug in pen drives, printers etc, should do the trick.
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