media sharing across 3 different os?

[paxrax]

hi folks, or probably van or mmace;)

ok, i have a revo under the tv that is connected to the router wired that downloads all of my tv eps to a folder on an external hdd connected to it.

how can i share that with the 2 laptops in the house that run xp and vista?

id have a go trial and error but across the 3 platforms i dont fancy my chances :laugh:

any advice?

:beer:

[Van Nugent]

If the external HDD shows up on the network, we can map it as a network drive on each machine.

Edit: To map a network drive:

- Instructions for XP (http://compnetworking.about.com/od/windowsxpnetworking/ht/mapnetworkdrive.htm);

- Vista/7: Similar to XP, just rightclick on My Computer in Windows Explorer then select Map Network Drive.

[paxrax]

ok van, be gentle with me, lets start from scratch, i might learn something tonight:laugh:

[Van Nugent]

Let's start with the XP machine 1st. Please follow the instructions from the link above. Once you finish mapping the ext HDD on the XP machine, do the same for the Vista machines. After a network drive is mapped on the machine, the drive will appear as a local drive on that machine. A network drive is a drive that's connected to the network via a router/switch/hub and is recognized by the network.

[paxrax]

ok, even though the drive is shared on the 7 machine, i cant see it on the vista OR XP lappys:(

[Van Nugent]

When you click on Map Network Drive, it will give you the options to select the drive letter (from the available drive letters) you want to assign to the drive and to browse for the drive/folder you want to map from the drives that show up on the network. If you can't see the drive on the network from your XP or Vista machine, it means that XP or Vista machine is not on the same network with the drive. You need to make sure the PCs and the network drive are on the same workgroup.

[paxrax]

ok, looks like the win7 pc is on homegroup and the vista one is on workgroup?

so how do i sort that one out?

[Van Nugent]

We'll need to open Control Panel => System to check what workgroup each machine is on. If they're not the same, we will need to change them to the same workgroup name. There is a Change Settings button next to the Computer name/Workgroup name to let us change these settings.

For ex:

Win7 machine - Workgroup: Van_Win7
Vista machine - Workgroup: Van_Vista

We see there is no way the 2 machines can talk to each other via LAN because they're not on the same Workgroup. Vista/7 security doesn't allow it to protect the machines from outside attacks. I will need to change both machines to the same Workgroup, for ex, Van_Home.

Edit: A reboot will be needed after the Workgroup name is changed.

[paxrax]

cheers van, i tried to share a folder on the drive first then access it on my vista lappy.

worked fine, played xvid fine over wireless g.

tried again and it couldnt see the folder!

anyway managed to get a network drive running and that seems to be pretty stable!

cheers buddy , once again youve come up trumps!

:cheers::cheers::cheers:

[Van Nugent]

Glad to hear it worked well for you. http://www.getsmile.com/emoticons/smileys-91853/w/thumbs.gif

Mapping a network drive would work better than just simply sharing an external drive because when we restart the system, the drive letter might change if we share the drive (and therefore we can't see the drive on next reboot) but the drive letter will not change when we map the drive.

[paxrax]

it wouldnt have done as the drive letters for the externals on the revo are all manually assigned to stop it.

just like all the ips on the network, fookin ballache trying to ftp into stuff thats not there;)

[Van Nugent]

Yep, and we need to do the drive mapping on each of the PC we want to connect to the HDD so each system will reserve a drive slot for it.

[paxrax]

will do buddy when i can get the lovely wife off the other laptop;)

[Van Nugent]

:)

[paxrax]

ok, got the network drive (connected to the revo) mapped on the vista lappy:D

if i try to map the same drive on the xp lappy as soon as i try to expand "revo" in the workgroup tab, the "+" sign disappears and just leaves "revo" so i cant connect.

if i try to map a drive on the revo from the xp lappy it asks for a username and password:(

[Van Nugent]

Let's check to make sure the XP laptop is also on the same workgroup as the rest of the PC's and the ext. HDD. If it's not, we will need to change its workgroup name.

[paxrax]

cracked it van, they were on the same workgroup for some reason it kept asking for a user and pass.

messed about in the network card settings somewhere for something that looked like it might work and it did:D

[Van Nugent]

It's probably because the password protected sharing option on the other Vista/7 machines was enabled by default. You will need to disable it if you don't want to deal with the user ID/password thing. Please refer to this webpage (http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-7/share-files-and-printers-between-windows-7-and-xp/) for more details.

[Van Nugent]

If you can't digest what that website is talking about :D, please open Control Panel/Network and Sharing Center on the Vista/7 machines, select Change Advanced Sharing Settings and you'll see the options to turn on/off password protected sharing there.

Edit: If your XP laptop is not running XP-SP3, please get the SP3 here (http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/windows-xp-service-pack-3.html) and install it. This SP adds supports for advanced files/folders sharing options.