Home Network

Alright, so I just got DSL hooked up today and have bought a wireless router to connect everything. But since I've never delt with networking before, I'm curious as to what I need to do.

The main idea is to allow both computers to access my external 1 TB hard drive. Currently its hooked up to the main computer, but do I need to connect it directly to my router to allow both computers to access it? Sorry if it seems like a dumb question.

Also then, in the future, anything else like a printer, etc - would those need to be hooked directly to the router as well?

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Originally Posted by guitarchitect7

but do I need to connect it directly to my router to allow both computers to access it?

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No. Just share the drive.

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Originally Posted by guitarchitect7

Also then, in the future, anything else like a printer, etc - would those need to be hooked directly to the router as well?

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Again, no. Just share the printer and your laptop (I am assuming) that accesses the wireless network can find it.

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Originally Posted by ISUFan22

No. Just share the drive.



Again, no. Just share the printer and your laptop (I am assuming) that accesses the wireless network can find it.

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Thanks, I'll try it tomorrow and report if I have any luck.

Just to make sure here, what would I end up doing on my comp #2 then to access the shared external drive? I navigate to network places I suppose and try and locate the drive?

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Originally Posted by ISUFan22

No. Just share the drive.



Again, no. Just share the printer and your laptop (I am assuming) that accesses the wireless network can find it.

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That's one (er two) ways to do do it. But, if you don't want to have the one pc (that has the external drive and printer connected) running all the time then you'll want the external drive and printer directly on the router. That's assuming they are both network ready.

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Originally Posted by 1100011CS

That's assuming they are both network ready.

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And the router accepts that kind of connection.

Which is doubtful

If, and this is a big if, both the printer and external HD are networkable you should be able to plug them into the router. The router doesn't care what's connected, it's just transferring packets. If they're not network ready, the only solution is to plug them into one computer that you'll keep on all the time and share the HD and the printer on the network.

If you either have XP or Vista the computer itself will walk you right through the networking process. I run Vista and it took me a grand total of about 15 minutes to set up the network on my desktop, tell the desktop to share the external drive, printer, and what folders I wanted my laptop to access, and have the laptop recognize the network and locate the tower. It was a very simple process.

If you have Vista on one XP on another, there can be some file sharing issues which can be resolved via some quick searching on Microsoft.com.

Happened to me. XP needed a patch. This was when Vista was fairly new, but if you aren't getting your updates, could be an issue. Just and FYI as this one had me stuck for a few days.

Now you just wait for that worm to activate and destroy all your work.

Thanks everyone for the help. I will try it tonight. I actually did run the network wizard this morning for my XP machine, but don't know how well that actually worked. I will be running the Vista version for computer 2 tonight and see if all communicates together.

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Originally Posted by dmclone

Which is doubtful

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Yup, which is why I did not mention that.

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Originally Posted by ISUFan22

Yup, which is why I did not mention that.

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Any new router would be able to handle networked HDs or printers just fine.

As noted, the printer or HD must be ready for that - which is doubtful.

Get an Apple wireless router and you can plug your USB devices right in and share them with any computer on your network, including Windows.