[markw10]

I have been looking for a couple hard drives for my home computing environment.

First, I want to get a good 'network server' drive. I am looking for something that is 750GB to 1TB. I definitely want it to be a ethernet drive but I also would like to have either a USB and/or Firewire port in case I have to connect locally at times. I will use this to store files that I can access from any Mac computer in my household. Also, I don't know if it is possible but I'd like to be able to use it with BacktomyMac or another way so that I can access my files through the internet while on the road. I have looked at many hard drives such as Iomega, Lacie, and Western Digital but OWC seems like a popular choice for Mac users. Do they make a hard drive that would fit my needs?

Second, I have a Macbook Pro with a 250GB hard drive. I'd like a Time Machine drive that would be 500-750GB. Once again, I prefer to be able to use the Time Machine drive over the network but it seems at this time that's something that Time Machine doesn't support so I plan to use Firewire and/or USB. I also want a Ethernet port so that I can be future proof in case Time Machine supports this at some time. What OWC drive would best support this need?

One last question, I have heard I want to look for an AFP drive. For example with the server drive I want it to be as easy to use as an AirDisk drive, so I can simply browse it in the finder without logging on but I see that only Lacie and Iomega make these and some have bad reviews. From what I'm seeing the OWC drives are NDAS, not NAS like others. Does this function more like AFP with a Mac? My main concern is it says several places that these drives don't work with Leopard or at least the NDAS part doesn't. Does this cause big problems?

[Jerman]

Perhaps it would be better to look into an old G4 tower you can use as a server. You would need to also purchase a serial ATA card, but those can be found for around 100 bucks. Total cost would likely be less than buying 3 separate enclosures. Of course for Time Machine, you would still need an enclosure. But using a G4 would allow you to use "Back To My Mac".

My setup uses a 1ghz G4 tower with a Firmtek Serial ATA card, and it works great to access remotely. I have yet to upgrade it to Leopard, as I have been too busy. But I am pretty happy with this solution.

[JohnnyTheA]

I agree with the G4 idea. The problem with network drives is that they don't usually support the HFS+ drive format. If you use other formats, there may come a day when certain files can't be saved on the drive. This happened to me with my old G4 Mini. I was cheap and bought the 40 MB HD for my Mini and quickly ran out of HD space. So, I bought a NAS enclosure and set it up as a SMB share. No problem at all... for a while. I was running WoW on the NAS drive fine until one day Blizzard pushed a new patch that had a filename not supported by SMB. I had to get a new USB drive (maybe what I should have done in the first place) and format it HFS+ and install Wow on that. That worked.

Apple should make their own NAS box! It would sell like crazy. Maybe the reason its not in the pipeline is because it would compete with their Enterprise XServe.

JTA

[markw10]

Thank you for all the advise. I even thought of a Mac Pro for a server but don't want to pay that much and wish there was a cheaper headless Mac. I even thought of waiting for MacWorld. I'd love to see some type of hard drive and NAS solution by Apple. With Time Machine out I can't help but wonder if this would happen.

[Bryson]

Originally Posted by markw10 ... wish there was a cheaper headless Mac.

Yes, if only there were such a thing.

Seriously, though, a Mini would do perfectly.

[markw10]

Good point, I shouldn't forget the Mac Mini. I know I could plug in an external firewire/USB drive for sharing as a server/network drive. I could also use it as a Time Machine drive and with Back to my Mac, right?

[PB PM]

Should be able to use it as a server just as easily as any G4 Power Mac, and the mini will use less power, so you'll see energy savings, over an older machine.

[markw10]

Sounds great to me. This sounds like the direction I'll likely go. And if I plug a hard drive into it it will work with Time Machine, right? Does anyone have a suggestion of a good hard drive to hook onto a Mac Mini to use for the 'server' drive?

[JohnnyTheA]

I'm doing FireWire Externals daisy chained together. Leaning toward the myBook Home -> [URL}http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8472501&productCategoryId=abcat0 504003&type=product&tab=7&id=1185267957839#product detail[/url]