External Storage Thingy

[threebikesmcginty]

Ok geeks, I'd like to get the music and photos from my mac and chuck them onto a PC laptop, ideally want something that you plug in and get on with it, doesn't need to be massive, a few hundred GB would do it?

Is there a bilingual, fuss-free, reliable storage device thingy that will do the job?

 

[redcard]

Do you mean a few hundred MB?

A few hundred GB is probably about 40 000 songs!

 

[defy-one]

buy a usb external hard disk. 500gb should be enough. plug it in and your mac and pc will see it as removable media. copy/move any data you wish

 

[Andrew_P]

Not sure if you mean removable media or just to transfer from Mac to PC\Laptop.

Either way you can get free storage on Dropbox and both your Mac and Laptop will always have identical files that are in the Dropbox folder

 

[threebikesmcginty]

It's one of those storage boxes, you plug it in the mac, stick your tunes and photos, etc. on it and then plug it in the PC and put the stuff on that. Just after a recommendation if anyone knows of one that's good and works fuss-free with mac and PC. Cheers!

 

[defy-one]

you could go high tech and get a NAS box. connect that to your router and all your computers should see it as a network drive. makes for a fuss free way to backup all your photos and music

 

[zizou]

i recently got a nas drive, was surprised at how easy it was to set up and then backup my computer (the backup did take about a week admitedly due to all the music and videos i was transfering).

I only got it because it was reduced and a good price but i'm surprised how often i've used it not just on the home wifi for streaming to tv but also remotely accessing stuff when im away from home.

 

[SpareSprocket]

you could go high tech and get a NAS box. connect that to your router and all your computers should see it as a network drive. makes for a fuss free way to backup all your photos and music

Absolutely agreed. I've got an LG NAS (Network Attached Storage) box with built-in DVD drive that just sits in the corner of my office and all my computers plus the TV can see it and share content from it. I think it cost around £120:

http://www.lg.com/uk/network-storage/lg-N1A1-network-attached-storage

It acts as an iTunes server as well as a DLNA server so I can stream music from it to any device in the house (tablet, internet radio etc).

Very cool bit of kit !

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Thanks, I'll have a look at a nas - glad it's not called a nus!

 

[SpareSprocket]

Thanks, I'll have a look at a nas - glad it's not called a nus!

No problem - one word of advice: avoid the LaCie ones, I've gone through four of them over the years. Whilst the units themselves are good, the external power suppliers are very prone to power surges even though they are powered through a huge UPS (so heavy I can barely lift it). Some LaCie models have internal power units and these are even worse as, when they go, they tend to wipe out the main circuit board as well.

The LG unit I linked to above is three times the size (physically, not the size of the disk) and seems much more robust. No problems in over 18 months of use - and lots of power surges - I live in the country !