Basic question about shared storage options

[Hugh_Mungus]

I'm trying to figure out a good - and inexpensive - way to store data so that it can be easily shared by all the computers on my home network. I have a desktop, three laptops and a phone that are all on the same home network and I'd like them to be able to share videos, music, documents easily. The desktop is running XP, the laptops are running Win 8.1 or Win 10, and the phone is Android. Ideally, I'd like the storage to be external to all of the devices but visible to all. I suppose I'm looking for an external hard drive that can be readily accessed by each of the devices. I have a 3 TB drive in the desktop that could be the starting point for this. I don't expect the data on the shared storage to be accessible to all devices except when I'm at home but I'd like to avoid having to have wires joining everything together when I am at home. I can live with the phone NOT having access to the shared data if that's too hard to do. Suggestions?

 

[USAFRet]

Assuming all these devices are on the same LAN (connected to the same router)....share a folder on whichever drives you wish to be accessible.

For instance...this is from my main PC. These are shared folders, on a few different drives, on the house server

The 'O' drive here is local to this PC, but the others are all on a whole other PC across the room.

 

[Hugh_Mungus]

A belated thank you for your answer, USAFRet 🙂 I had a feeling something like that would be the best solution. Unfortunately, my 3 TB data drive is on the XP machine which isn't booting right now. I'm obviously going to have to get it working again, something I've been putting off for a while. I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and get on with it 🙂

I was toying with just removing that drive and putting it in some kind of enclosure where the rest of the network could see that but I'm not sure how to even do that. Would it just sit in a box and then connect to one of the laptops via a USB cable and then be visible to the others by virtue of being in the same Homegroup?

 

[USAFRet]

You could take it out, put it in an external USB enclosure, and share it out on the LAN.
One of the drives (2 of those drive letters, M & X) I listed above is a USB external 2TB.

 

[Hugh_Mungus]

Just some followup questions about the USB enclosure approach....

1. Is "USB enclosure" what I'd look for if I buy one online or ask for it in a store? If not, what is the term I should use or search on?
2. Does a USB enclosure have its own separate power supply? In other words, I'd have to plug it in and would need an outlet on my power bar for that, right? Or does it piggyback off of one of the computers?
3. Does the USB enclosure have any kind of operating system? I'm guessing not and that it just has a USB cable that you plug into one of the computers like inserting a flash drive, then it's visible to the whole network.

 

[USAFRet]

Just some followup questions about the USB enclosure approach....

1. Is "USB enclosure" what I'd look for if I buy one online or ask for it in a store? If not, what is the term I should use or search on?
2. Does a USB enclosure have its own separate power supply? In other words, I'd have to plug it in and would need an outlet on my power bar for that, right? Or does it piggyback off of one of the computers?
3. Does the USB enclosure have any kind of operating system? I'm guessing not and that it just has a USB cable that you plug into one of the computers like inserting a flash drive, then it's visible to the whole network.

1. USB hdd enclosure
Like this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LS5NFQ2
(no idea if that one is great or suck, but just an example)
Be sure you get a 3.5" instead of 2.5"

2. Yes, its own power supply, plugged into the wall or surge protector

3. No OS. It's just an external drive, controlled by whatever system and OS it is connected to.
Just like plugging in a very large USB stick.

 

[Hugh_Mungus]

Excellent! Thanks for those answers. I'll take a run at getting the desktop going but that enclosure is going to be my fallback plan if the desktop gives me lots of problems.

Why are you suggesting 3.5 inch over 2.5 inch for the enclosure size? I would imagine 2.5 would be tall enough for the hard drive. Mind you, I might go for something bigger that that, possibly something that would hold 2 or 3 drives. (Eventually, I'll fill up that 3 TB drive.)

 

[USAFRet]

Excellent! Thanks for those answers. I'll take a run at getting the desktop going but that enclosure is going to be my fallback plan if the desktop gives me lots of problems.

Why are you suggesting 3.5 inch over 2.5 inch for the enclosure size? I would imagine 2.5 would be tall enough for the hard drive. Mind you, I might go for something bigger that that, possibly something that would hold 2 or 3 drives. (Eventually, I'll fill up that 3 TB drive.)

HDD 'size' is actually measured by the platter size. Width, not height.
2.5" is a typical laptop drive, 3.5" is a typical desktop drive.

The actual drive case is slightly larger. But 3.5 or 2.5 is the number you are looking for.

 

[Hugh_Mungus]

Thanks for clearing up my confusion about the 2.5/3.5 dimension 🙂 You were right. I didn't realize this was the width of the drive rather than the height.

I've been looking at some of these enclosures since you got me started and they're pretty cool. I wish they'd handle older drives too. I have a variety of hard drives from old computers that I'd like to go through to search for files but most of the drives are pre-SATA. It looks like the enclosures won't work well with pre-SATA drives, right?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for clearing up my confusion about the 2.5/3.5 dimension 🙂 You were right. I didn't realize this was the width of the drive rather than the height.

I've been looking at some of these enclosures since you got me started and they're pretty cool. I wish they'd handle older drives too. I have a variety of hard drives from old computers that I'd like to go through to search for files but most of the drives are pre-SATA. It looks like the enclosures won't work well with pre-SATA drives, right?

This one specifically works with SATA and IDE drives:
http://www.amazon.com/Sisun-Docking-Station-Reader-Black/dp/B009F7TXMK

I have a cable arrangement that does the same. Similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-30504-Serial-Adapter/dp/B000UO6C5S

 

[Hugh_Mungus]

Fantastic! I really appreciate all your help in this matter!