The link I sent would connect to your router, assuming there is an available CAT5 port on the router. I know, your eyes just glazed over. If you look at the router, it has cables running to the back of each PC. Those are CAT5 cables. The link I sent needs to connect to the router using a cable like that. If there aren't any open CAT5 ports on the router, then you'd need to buy a switch, but let's not get ahead of ourselves on that just yet.
If the router has an open CAT5 port (same type of connection the PCs are using), then the NAS device goes there. The NAS could plug in and sit right next to the router and then all of the PCs connected to the router could see the NAS on the network.
Originally posted by SeitseThe NAS devices will come with a set-up disk. You'll run the set-up from one of the PCs on the network that will let you name the NAS, assign it an IP address (it needs one), and set up user accounts on the NAS. You'll have to decide if everybody has access to everything or are there subfolders that belong to different people that others can't access.
Ok, I think I get it: Yes, the router still has free holes on the back.
After I connect it, using one of those LAN cables (like the ones the PCs use to
connect to the router), will the thing appear on every PC's screen as any other
disc? Or do I need to install something else?
Then people on the network will go to My Network Places to see the NAS. If you've set up accounts, when they try to access, it will prompt for usernames and passwords. When the NAS shows up on their computer, it is possible to map the device as a drive letter on the local PC. I know, eyes glazed again. What that means is when they fire up the computer, it would automatically log them in and they'd have their normal C drive and let's say an E drive that showed up and that was their folder on the NAS device.
Somebody check to see if he's still breathing...
Originally posted by SeitsePerfection!
Ok, so I get it now:
1. I ask the office administrators to assign me another IP address, so that goes for
the device.
2. The computer from where I did this thing becomes some sort of the "master user",
which controls the device's permissions and etceteras.
Correct?
Except in the NAS scenario, it doesn't matter if the computer you used to set it up is on or off, all the other computers can still get at it and do their thing.
You're welcome. After you actually get your hands on it, it's pretty self-explanatory, too. Once you wrap your head around the concept, you'll be like 'this is easy'.
Do the same people always use the same computers or is it like a shared space where multiple people use the same computer? If it's same people every time, then the mapping works a little more easily...
I've never used the Buffalo product, but the documentation says it comes with a utility called Memeo for doing automatic backups. You'll likely need to install that on each of the PCs after you get the folders mapped. Then the Memeo application would copy everything from C:\My Documents (for example) to E:\seitses_docs automatically.
Originally posted by Crowleyonly one host on a USB network. not four.
Does anyone know what would happen if Seitse connected 4 PC and a external drive to a USB hub?
What would melt?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usb
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a specification[1] to establish communication between devices and a host controller (usually personal computers).
....
A USB system has an asymmetric design, consisting of a host, a multitude of downstream USB ports, and multiple peripheral devices connected in a tiered-star topology. Additional USB hubs may be included in the tiers, allowing branching into a tree structure with up to five tier levels. A USB host may have multiple host controllers and each host controller may provide one or more USB ports. Up to 127 devices, including the hub devices, may be connected to a single host controller.
Originally posted by zeeblebotI am the local admin 😕
why not get the admins to install all this?
you probably need admin rights to set up some or most of this stuff, anyway. like memeo.
Our IT guys are in London. We're such a small office and so far away that it just
doesn't pay incur in the bureaucracy and to bear the expense. So I have to kind of
scratch it with my own nails an keep the budget screeching from the ends.
