MCE/External drive/Router

[gstadt]

Hi Everyone,

picking up a copy of MCE later to dual boot on a 4yr old laptop - seems the lowest risk!. Also going to buy an external harddrive for all that media I'm going to download onto. Now I'm pretty new to all this

So question is:- only got two USB ports on back of the laptop - is it possible to install the harddrive on the router and access it from there (suspect not as router, Netgear834G, only has ethernet ports and need to be installed as part of computer directly??) or will I need to get a USB splitter for the remaining port, for the other apps, mouse, printer etc.

Generally, plan is to:-

1) Back up all existing data
2) Install external harddrive
3) setup partition using FDisk
4) install MCE 2005
5) pray between steps 1-4

Any easy misses for noob??

Gstadt

 

[richjthorpe]

With a 4 year old laptop, you may find that it's only got USB1.1 which runs at 11Mbps as apposed to USB2.0 which is 480Mbps.

Check to see whether your laptop has Firewire as this is rated at 400Mbps (Even on older laptops) and this would free up your USB ports.

To answer your question, no you wouldn't be able to connect a Hard Disk straight to your router unless you have NAS which is basically a small computer with lots of Hard Disks.

HTH,

Richie.

 

[gstadt]

Hi Richie,

not sure what I'm looking for with a Firewire connection - has a Serial connection and smaller, similar to VGA, connection I do use the Netgear 2.0 USB wireless adapter though - does this mean the USB ports are 2.0?

Thanks again

 

[meansizzler]

think netgear does a router with a USB port so you can attach a drive, also you can get Ethernet hard drives from LAcie, which you can connect directly to oyur router and access from any pc...

 

[gstadt]

I am right in thinking ethernet is 100MBs and USB 2.0/firewire is 480MBs - if I am creating a network using ethernet to stream from office (harddrive) to lounge (Xbox360) will it be the speed limiter? Is 480MBs even needed and is 100MBs ethernet adequate?

 

[richjthorpe]

Hi,

This is a picture of a Firewire port on a laptop...
http://virtuaaliyliopisto.jyu.fi/riksa/opetus/digikamera/kuvat/firewire-liitin.jpg

What is the make and model of your laptop ? Might be able to find it on the web somewhere.

If there is a USB port on the router, check the specs as to whether you can attached a device to it. On my router, the USB port is used simply to connect a PC to it in order to change the settings if an ethernet connection is not possible from the PC.

USB and Firewire are used to connect devices to PCs where as Ethernet and Wifi are used to connect PC's to other PC's and also printers. All of the speeds below are the maximum the conection will do and doesn't mean that the device connected to it will always run at that speed.

USB1.1 - 11Mbps
USB2.0 - 480Mbps
Firewire - 400Mbps

Ethernet base 100 - 100Mbps
Ethernet base 1000 - 1000Mbps
Wifi B - 11Mbps
Wifi G - 54Mbps

Depending on what you are streaming depends on which connections to use. Hi Def video runs at roughly 20-30Mbps so base 100 ethernet will be fine, but if you are streaming 3 Hi Def videos, the network may start to struggle. Hi Def is the biggest media to stream over a network.

HTH,

Richie.

 

[gstadt]

Richie,

just checked my laptop and it hasn't got a firewire connection.

Not sure how I confirm whether the USB is 1.1 or 2.0?
If its only 1.1 does this mean that I won't be able to stream High definition files to my XBox360 due to 11MBs limit?
How come I'm using a 54Mbs Netgear 2.0 USB Adapator through the USB port - does this mean its 2.0?

It's only got a 18.5gig HD with about 7.5gig spare, I can probably up this near 10gig through removing outdated drivers/software and moving data files to an external hard drive - is this enough for MCE2005?

Thanks in advance - just don't to mess up laptop.

Gstadt

PS its an Inspiron 2650

 

[richjthorpe]

just checked my laptop and it hasn't got a firewire connection.

Not sure how I confirm whether the USB is 1.1 or 2.0?

Dell website doesn't say which it is. If you plug something in to the port, it usually tells you if there is a speed difference.

If its only 1.1 does this mean that I won't be able to stream High definition files to my XBox360 due to 11MBs limit?

You'll connect your 360 via ethernet (100Mbps) or wireless (54Mbps) and not USB. Ethernet will be fine, but Wireless may be a problem if signal isn't strong enough. If you have USB1.1, it'll mean the external Hard Disk wont transfer as quick as USB2.0.

How come I'm using a 54Mbs Netgear 2.0 USB Adapator through the USB port - does this mean its 2.0?

Could well be ! I'm using the PCMCIA port for the wireless dongle.

It's only got a 18.5gig HD with about 7.5gig spare, I can probably up this near 10gig through removing outdated drivers/software and moving data files to an external hard drive - is this enough for MCE2005?

Certainly, my Sony P3 500 laptop runs XP Pro with 6GB Hard Disk.

Richie.