A very simple, inexpensive, and fast way to share files at home is with networkattached
storage??”disk drives that can be accessed directly over your local area network
(LAN). Ximeta, Linksys, and other companies offer such devices (an example from
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28 Project 5
Ximeta is shown in Figure 5-1) as either complete network interfaces, including the
disk drive, or as network-enabled drive enclosures that you install a disk drive into.
Inside most USB, IEEE-1394/FireWire, and network-attached storage units is simply
a normal IDE or SATA disk drive and a set of electronics to convert the external
connection into the appropriate disk drive interface (see Figure 5-2).
Step 1: Connect the Storage Module
The easy part of installing your new shared network storage is connecting it to your
network??”simply attach the power cable and connect an Ethernet cable to your network
switch, as shown in Figure 5-3. You will be able to format and configure the
drive after you install the software for it.
Figure 5-1
Ximeta??™s NetDisk
network storage
enclosure with a
self-installed disk drive
Figure 5-2
The secrets of a
network-attached
storage drive are a small
internal CPU board
and a standard IDE or
SATA disk interface, and
a normal 3.5-inch disk
drive.
Shared Network Storage Without the Server 29
Although these units usually have a USB connection so that you can connect them directly to
a computer as a portable disk drive and format them for your operating system, it is best to
start out configuring them as network storage so that your operating system??™s disk management
drivers do not get confused when they encounter the new network drive.
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