Sharing files by two PC on a single external HD

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Krigan

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Mar 10, 2015
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Hell to everyone, here's my problem:
I work in a Lab and we have this set-up were two PC (running windows XP) are connected to two different instrument and, as a lab politic, are not allowed to be connected to the internet.
We're, as now, facing a problem with an increased amount of data and the two internal 250gb are not enough anymore. we're thinking that a 1tb external HD would be a solution (maybe 2tb with RAID) but, for many reason, we now that a portable HD is not the best choice.
I would like to set up a small local network in order to let the two computer share the same external HD via LAN connection.
So there's my question: What wolud it be the best set-up to achive this? do i need to use a router to allow multiple PC to share the same external HD or is possible to connect both using a switch of any sort?
Thank in advance to anyone who respond to this (and sorry for my english, i'm italian :p)
 
Solution
kanewolf
You can do what you want with just an ethernet switch, no router required. A dual bay NAS such as the Synology DS215j is an inexpensive, but full featured storage option. It is a "BYOD" bring-your-own-disk device where the disks are purchased separately. That allows you to pick the amount of space and number of disks you want.

Using a commercial NAS has the advantage that it will support windows, MAC and Linux devices with minimum admin work. There is a price premium for the convenience, but it is worth it in my opinion. By not having an internet connection you won't get updates to the firmware on the NAS. You could manually download them and put them on a USB drive.
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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You can do what you want with just an ethernet switch, no router required. A dual bay NAS such as the Synology DS215j is an inexpensive, but full featured storage option. It is a "BYOD" bring-your-own-disk device where the disks are purchased separately. That allows you to pick the amount of space and number of disks you want.

Using a commercial NAS has the advantage that it will support windows, MAC and Linux devices with minimum admin work. There is a price premium for the convenience, but it is worth it in my opinion. By not having an internet connection you won't get updates to the firmware on the NAS. You could manually download them and put them on a USB drive.
 
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Solution
kanewolf

kanewolf

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I did suggest the Synology DS215j in the previous answer. But, any of the big-three small NAS vendors: Synology, Q-NAP or Thecus would be fine. They all have BYOD models. I have had 4 Synology units over the last 6 years (upgrades for performance not failure).

Here is the product page for the DS215j.
They have a "live demo" of the user interface that you can play with.
 
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