Another network help thread

[HOOT]

To start I have one desktop, one laptop (both Vista), one printer, one external HD and a wireless router.

What do I need so that I can share the external HD and the printer with both computers? The printer and external HD will both be hooked up to the desktop but want to be able to access them with my laptop when I am home.

As of right now I am just taking a flash drive from my laptop and putting it in my desktop to share or print stuff but this can be pretty annoying at times.

I'm wondering what my options are for completing this task. I'm trying to get all my downloads and saved info to go to the external HD so if my latop isn't on I don't have to turn it on if I need something I normally have on there. A bonus would be some way of getting the info from the external HD from the internet with the laptop if possible but that sounds difficult.

I'm not much of a network/techy guy when it comes to computers so easier the better. Are there any good programs that I could use? Or is network sharing the best solution?

Thanks CP!

[Rathji]

There are a few solutions to do what you want to do.

1) Hook up your printer and external drive to your desktop. Set both the drive and the printer to be shared. Check here for most of the details. This requires your desktop be left on all the time.

2) Purchase a router that is also handles print and file serving. The d-link branding is called Shareport, but all major router manufacturers have a similar product. You would then plug all your USB devices into a USB Hub (like these ones), and the hub into the router.

This method is probably the best, but also costs the most money.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Rathji

There are a few solutions to do what you want to do.

1) Hook up your printer and external drive to your desktop. Set both the drive and the printer to be shared. Check here for most of the details. This requires your desktop be left on all the time.

2) Purchase a router that is also handles print and file serving. The d-link branding is called Shareport, but all major router manufacturers have a similar product. You would then plug all your USB devices into a USB Hub (like these ones), and the hub into the router.

This method is probably the best, but also costs the most money.

How bad is it for a computer to be left on all the time?

And what if I turned it off at night when I knew I didn't need it? Would it bugger stuff up?

The thing that sucks is I just bought a new router and long enough ago I can't exchange/return it. I wasn't really bothered with the printing thing as much as wanting to share the External HD now that I got one for xmas. So now the question is, do I want to spend another $200 on another router when I just spent $80. However that thing does look pretty cool and simple.

[Rathji]

I never turn any of my computers off, except my laptop when I travel. You need to be sure there are no overheating issues, of course, but you should be doing that anyway. The only bad thing about leaving a computer on is power consumption, Over the long run, you will save money buying a new router. You might experience sluggish operation due to memory leaks that exist in many programs, which would require a reboot to clear.

If you don't need to use it, there is no harm in turning off the computer, unless you really mess up the settings for sharing, it should be persistent.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I never turn any of my computers off, except my laptop when I travel. You need to be sure there are no overheating issues, of course, but you should be doing that anyway. The only bad thing about leaving a computer on is power consumption, Over the long run, you will save money buying a new router. You might experience sluggish operation due to memory leaks that exist in many programs, which would require a reboot to clear.

If you don't need to use it, there is no harm in turning off the computer, unless you really mess up the settings for sharing, it should be persistent.

I usually leave my desktop on 24/7 most times anyways but usually once a week I give it a night off and a reboot. So I think I will go that way first and if I want to pull out my hair I will just go get one of those routers.

Thanks for the help and links. Hopefully I won't have too much trouble with it.

[ken0042]

We have our home printer setup the way Rathji says in #1 above- and yes we shut down the main PC at night and then it's usually the first one powered on in the morning.

The only oddity is this- make sure all devices are connected through the same router. We find it sometimes takes a couple of minutes to print if everything isn't on the same router.

[Rathji]

Another thing that might also be an option if you just want printing you could get a print server for about $50 or less.

Also, I didn't mention it but very similar to the Shareport option is a NAS. Lower end units run about $150, and some have a print server included, like this one from memex that is just an enclosure, so might not work with your current external drive.

The final, and most expensive option, which also has alot more functionality than what you are asking for is the Windows Home Server. It holds up to 4 drives, will run backups for you, be a print server, file server, media server for whatever terminal you are using. It does have the advantage of not duplicating what your router you just bought is doing.

[Hack&Lube]

No need for a print server or expensive options.


I just found a Lexmark WiFi printer at the Source selling for like $30 on sale and left that in the corner of my house. It sits on standby/off mode most of the time and has WiFi built in and all computers can just hit print normally (don't need to browse for network printer or have network printers mysteriously disappear on you) and it goes to it automatically and it turns itself on and prints your job. It was the lazy man's out because trying to deal with network printers connected to computers that need to be on to work was just too annoying and iffy.

[HOOT]

I'm more worried about sharing the HD more than the printer.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Rathji

1) Hook up your printer and external drive to your desktop. Set both the drive and the printer to be shared. Check here for most of the details. This requires your desktop be left on all the time.

If I follow this instructions to a T will it be pretty easy? What kind of problems could I run into?

Just trying to prepare myself. I wonder if I should just Dial-a-Geek.

Thanks!

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by HOOT

If I follow this instructions to a T will it be pretty easy? What kind of problems could I run into?

Just trying to prepare myself. I wonder if I should just Dial-a-Geek.

Thanks!

It should be pretty easy. I could probably walk you through it here but it was much easier to just put the link.

Process is pretty much the same for both printer/drive

1) Set the device to be shared. Right click > properties > sharing on vista I think.

2) Find the device on the other machines on the network. This is the only thing that might be tricky. \\hostname\sharename should work in my computer. Depending on the share settings you probably need to enter and save some log in details. For the printer, just go to add printer and look for it on the network. You will probably need to install the drivers on each machine.

[ken0042]

A couple of other points to make:

- Be sure to have everything on the same "Workgroup"
- Vista will likely warn you that your head will explode if you enable sharing. What they mean is don't enable sharing if you are on a public network.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Rathji

It should be pretty easy. I could probably walk you through it here but it was much easier to just put the link.

Well hopefully it doesn't come to this but thanks for the offer. I will do these instructions and if I run into anything I will be back to bug you.

I am just putting my laptop back to factory condition because it was brutal. It has 3MB of RAM and ran like it had 512MB in it. So I loaded everything on my external HD and now just waiting for the process to finish than I will work on this.

Thanks again guys!

[HOOT]

With this setup will I only have access to the printer/external HD if I am hooked up to the same internet connection? Or if I was at a buddies house with my laptop could I log on remotely?

Sorry if that is a dumb question.

[HOOT]

Also is it safe to assume anything that I have 'shared' is protected by the password I give my router and my computer? Someone would have to know both to access it?

I don't have any sensitive information but it would be nice to have some piece of mind.

[ken0042]

No, you cannot access it outside of your house.

You are setting up a small LAN (Local Area Network); and a small LAN is sometimes called a TAN (Tiny Area Network). If you wanted to connect to either device from outside your LAN, you would need to enable some kind of remote access; and that is far beyond my abilities to describe online.

And yes, as long as your wireless router requires a password, somebody would need to know that password to get onto your network and send print jobs or access your files. If you really wanted to get anal about it; set all computers with the same logon usernames and passwords. So make sure you username isn't "Hoot" on one PC and then "Hoot_rulz" on the other. Then on the shared hard drive you can setup some specific permissions on the folders.

[Rathji]

You can give each share permission to be access by any number of users, including "Everyone".

[HOOT]

Well that was a little toooooooo easy if you ask me. Have they changed things since XP because when I had two computers on XP I tried this and gave up because it was so frustrating.

The 'Media Sharing' is pretty cool. Now when I want to watch movies through my xbox I don't need to load it on a flash drive?

So after I got my laptop up and running again it asked me for a password for the internet connection and then a second password for getting into the other computer which is perfect!

Thanks for all the help! It probably made it much easier reading those instructions a couple times before I got the chance to try it out since I was waiting for my laptop.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by HOOT

The 'Media Sharing' is pretty cool. Now when I want to watch movies through my xbox I don't need to load it on a flash drive? .

That is correct.

[HOOT]

Is it pretty normal for it to take a little bit longer to open and save documents like Word/Excel when I have them open on my laptop but the file is in my external HD on my desktop?

Probably a stupid question but just want to make sure I got it set up correct.