Computer Independent Networked External HDD

[Gamer6432]

How do I setup an external hard drive that is networked to be accessible to multiple computers that is not dependent on one of the computers being on.

My current situation is my girlfriend's computer has a networked external HDD hooked up and available to all computers on the network. The problem comes when her computer is turned off and the external HDD is no longer accessible by other computers. The HDD is still powered on. The available connection types are Firewire and USB.

 

[vibe]

You would need a USB network hub (normaly used for printer sharing in this manner) only other option is to get a proper network hard drive or NAS (network attached storage)