Bill Poster

Is it possible for two PCs to share the same external hard drive connected by USB?

Cheers

Myles

iTrader: (40)

I presume it would be like a server setup. Im an IT biff but couldnt it just be connected to a router and accessed from all other PCs on said router? Or is it not that simple?

bigsinky

if the main pc is setup via a router then yes other pcs could access the usb drive

Hanley

If the USB is connected to your PC then you'd need to share it out to allow other PCs or laptops to access it.

Most wireless routers have a USB port on the back which can be used for storage, plug your disk in and configure it from the setup web page and it will appear to all network users.

Bill Poster

No USB port on the modem unfortunately, and I was hoping not to have to switch on the PC it would be attached to when using another PC.
Any other ideas out there?

Markus

As others have said, you'd share a folder or the entire drive on the external and then connect to the drive via file sharing. This will require the PC with the drive attached to be turned on when you wish to access the data.

Other solutions I can think of probably won't work via USB, for example, a NAS, which you'd connect to via ethernet, or a file server, essentially just a pc that is turned on all the time and you'd attach the drive to it (or mount it internally).

Hanley

As Markus says, NAS is really your only other option.

Bill Poster

Thanks guys, looks like it's NAS