Two Computers/File Sharing?

[benedict]

I'm adding a new computer to my workstation and dedicating it to video and 3D graphic rendering. My existing computer will now be text, graphic editing, and internet. I'd like each to be able to access the other's hard drive, nothing more. (No shared printers, internet connections, etc.)

The new computer has a 10/100 ethernet card, and I'm planning to add one to the old computer. I've been told (by a networking person) that I can accomplish this hard drive sharing if I simply connect these two cards (i.e., no router).

Does anyone have any experience with this particular set-up? What else do I need to do besides the hardware connection? What exactly should I expect to see when I look across this connection (Windows Explorer, for example)?

Are there any other ways to accomplish this? I'm favoring this approach because it is inexpensive (important) and yet sets me up for an easy transition to full sharing in the future, but am willing to look at other alternatives.

[padre]

benedict,

You've probably run across the easiest way to connect them together:

- Stick a LAN card in each PC
- Connect them together with a 'cross-over' Ethernet cable (special cable, has proper wires crossed)
- Share the hard disk(s)

What you need to make sure is that you have the File Sharing (Clients for Microsoft Networking) installed if you are using Windows. Easiest way to see this is to right click on your drive icon in My Computer and see if there's a "Sharing" option. If not, you need to install that component of Windows to setup sharing.

It only gets complicated when you want to talk between the two computers AND connect to the internet via Ethernet or LAN. Then you need a hub/router.

The very cheapest way to share drives is through the computer's parallel port (just hooking a parallel cross-over cable), but it's like 10/100 times slower than the Ethernet. Realy sux.

Go Ethernet. Some of the things you'll want to do, to make life easier, is when you setup the computer, have them operate in a 'Workgroup'. It'll ask you for a workgroup name - use the same workgroup name for each computer, that way you can browser one from the other. You will also have to give each computer a unique name (I call mine Slave, Master, X_Wife)...sick.

Happy computing!

Padre

[Mac Sidewinder]

You never stated what os you were using, but winxp has a good networking wizard that will set up your computer for you and then create a disk that you run on the second pc to set it up.

Mac

[smiller667]

That wizard has been around since WinME or so ...

[benedict]

As to my O/S (sorry for that omission :scared: - My current system is Win 98SE. The new system is Win Me. I may upgrade the "Me" in the future, but do not plan to upgrade the "98SE". I probably have 200-300 freeware programs installed on the 98SE, and with that number, I'm sure that some would not be upwards-compatible.

@ padre: That's exactly what I was looking for. I remembered something about a special cable but couldn't remember any details. We had also talked about COM and LPT, and you've comfirmed what he had said about them being dogs. Many thanks. You have made my day.

@ smiller667 and Mac Sidewinder: It sounds like if I use the wizard, I'll have to start with the Me and go to the 98SE second. I would assume that would make the Me the "master" (if that term applies to this set up), and that really doesn't bother me (either is OK - I'll be the only person on both) so long as that doesn't interfere with either's ability to go on-line (non-shared, of course).
______

:confused: I'm still kind of curious as to how this will appear once I set it up. Both computers have a floppy, a partioned hard drive, a CD-ROM, and a CD/RW. Will I see all of these, or is that something I'll control via set-up. Right now, I'm only concerned about the hard drive, but I may replace one CD/RW eventually with a DVD writer, and it would then be nice to see the two writers from both machines. Is that a possibility?

[FactorM]

You can share all of your drives or only specific directories. Then you connect these shared drives or directories to network drives on the other computer. Every network drive gets it own drive letter and is accessible like your physical drives in this computer.

The only thing that won't work IMO is to burn cd's with the shared writer. You have to use the computer with the writer built in you want to burn with.

I hope this explanation is understandable, because my english is not that good.

[benedict]

Your english was quite good enough. Much of what I was expecting and hoping for. I get everything I want except that I can't actually run the (CD/DVD) burns from the remote. I can still burn on the local using files from the remote, and that makes sense. My two computers are sharing data only, and not the ability to start remote programs. I'm a happy clam!

Thanks for the info.

P.S. What is a "happy clam"? Where I grew up, clams are big eating, especially raw on the half-shell. Of course, clams are not too fond of such treatment.

As a young "shucker", I was told that if I held the slit between the clam shells in front of my eyes and then turned it slightly downward, the clam would appear to be smiling. This illusion was meant to make me think that the clam was as happy about getting the knife as I was about giving it. Hence, "Happy Clam".