[G4] Network drive woes

[Joe Ellis]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Ellis" <jellis at gdeb.com>
To: "Power Macintosh G4 List" <G4 at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 9:17 AM
Subject: [G4] Network drive woes


> Has anyone had any experience with using a Netwok Drive? Specifically a
> Ximeta drive. I recently purchased a 160 GB hard drive that supossedly can
> be mounted dirtectly to the network. According to their website the drive
is
> supposed to work with Macs and I successfully downloaded and installed
their
> drivers. However, I have not been able to get it to show up on the
network.
> I can mount it by using a USB connection directly to my G4, but I wanted
to
> have it on the network where it would be available for both my G4 and my
> TiVo DVR.
>
> Joe Ellis

Even though I got no replies to the above query, I'll post the solution in
case someone else ever runs into it.

The drive comes formatted NTFS and for some reason the Macs don't "see" it
on the network but will mount it via USB; you then have to format the drive
as FAT 32 (MS_DOS), unmount it like you would a firewire drive (eject)
disconnect the USB connection and attach it to your ethernet switch or hub
and the Macs on the network that have had the drivers installed will now
mount it like any other drive.If you are bridging an ethernet connection for
an airport equiped laptop and it is 802.11b; be patient, it takes a few
moments to mount. Which now gives me some incentive to upgrade my Airport
machines to 802.11g.

I know it sounds strange that you have to have the drive formatted FAT 32 to
work on an all Mac network but that is what it took. I'm reserving judgement
on how the drive will work untill I've used it a while. What I plan to do is
to use a 802.11g adaptor for my TiVo DVR to move shows and movies stored
there onto the network drive where I can burn them to DVDs and free up the
storage on the TiVo unit for more shows; waiting now to recieve the adaptor
and Apple's new Airport express to complete the system.

Joe Ellis