I know we have some computer smart people on the board.

What I would like to be able to do is set up a external hard drive at home that I can upload and download to over the internet when I am away from home.

My computers run Mac OSX, so what type of router, external hard drive and software do I need?

The simplest way would involve using two Macs (one at home, one you travel with). Then subscribe to the MobileMe service from Apple. You can then do file sharing and screen sharing between the two computers (using MobileMe's "Back to My Mac"). You could, for example, transfer photos and videos from your travel laptop to your home computer (or to a HD connected to your home computer on a LAN). You could also access files on your home computer that you didn't want to carry across a border with you.

I'm sure there are other options, but this is what I use.

If you have a PC at home, just install an ftp server (plenty of good ones are around for free), use a non-standard port, set up a hole in your firewall (assuming you ahve a router of some sort between your network and the cable/DSL modem) and you're good to go.

You can also see if you have some free storage via your ISP. I have 5GB of on-line storage via Cox, of course just encrypt whatever you're storing on there.

Mac has a built in FTP server. Just click a box to turn it on. The only problem with that solution would be if the ISP is switching IP addresses. There are ways around that too if that is the case.

I bought this and I am very happy with it.

http://review.zdnet.com/product/network-storage/maxtor-central-axis-nas-server/33145176

Should work with a PC or a Mac.

(Message edited by bluestraveller on April 07, 2010)

BD; How secure and reliable is Back to My Mac?

What I was thinking of trying to do is find a router that I could hook up an external hard drive to and use that as my network storage, or is that too simple of an idea to make work?

I have been thinking of picking up a gizmo like this for other reasons.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26320

Price is right and it should do what you are talking about.

RG-

Back to My Mac is quite secure, and you can always use free encryption software (Truecrypt) to keep things very well protected. And using Macs, you can put everything behind a firewall.

There may be simpler solutions. I use this because I have a bunch of Macs, so MobileMe is great for many things, and Back to My Mac makes accessing files very simple, and I don't have to worry about whether I've moved files to the MobileMe cloud computer, since I have access to any of my other computers or hard drives.

I use a Mac too and i use an External Hard Drive connected to an Airport Extreme Router USB port, that can be used by MobileMe, without having 2 computers.

Zen.