Network Hard Drive for PC & Mac?
 

<<Requisite "I searched already" disclaimer>>

I would like to know if it is possible to use a single external hard drive (Iomega, Maxtor, whatever), with more than one interface (USB2 & FW) to backup both a PC and a Mac. Iomega was vague on the phone. Frys was clueless.

If so, how does it need to be connected? USB/FW or Network?

Thanks a lot,

Connect both: yes, the easiest thing to do is to partition it with 2 different partitions; one for the PC and one for the mac, then mount the partition you want (the Windows machine won't even mount a mac formatted partition anyway).

Connect both at the same time: no.

To connect both at the same time, consider getting a network storage adapter.

Thanks, Scott

another tip
 

another tip, is do NOT swap between connection methods. Stick with USB2.0, or FW for both and don't swap back and forth. I don't really know why this is the rec, but I hear there can be issues going back and forth from win to mac.

alternatively, you can format for mac and buy a little program that will allow you to mount HFS files structures, the mac type on your pc.

FAT32 is what you want otherwise.

If you intend to use the drive with more than 1 operating system then your best bet would be a network drive. You could get a drive enclosure and add any size drives you want or you could get an out of the box solution from any of the major manufacturers.

Is this possible? Each time I partition a hard drive, my mac formats all partitions to the mac standard (as many partitions as I wish, but all a la mac) and doesn't give me the option of any leftover space for ,say, windows standard. Am I missing something? (I'm sure I do)

I think
 

this is possible, but I don't think that one of the partitions can be NTFS, must be FAT32 regardless.

I have great luck with the Iomega NAS 100d which I picked up at Fry's on clearance for around $150. It's a 160GB network attached storage device (hard drive) which appears on Windows and Mac (and Linux) networks as a shared drive. It has built-in WiFi as well as USB and 10/100 Ethernet ports and it's expandable (just plug another hard drive in the back via USB).

The only complaint I've heard is that it doesn't implement strong security (which is really only an issue if you run an open or public network or have something to hide on your LAN). YMMV.

Iomega discontinued them in January but that only means they're cheap now! Original list was $400+, you can get it now for $122 according to Froogle. Fry's might still have them too.

More info: here

Good luck no matter what you choose.

Shane.