[102molson102]

Hello

I am thinking of buying a 500 Gig external hard drive (8 MB buffer and 7200 rpm).

I have 2 computers that are networked so that I can share information between them.

Question. If I store a movie on the external hard drive attached to computer #1, can I play this movie on the monitor of computer #2 and not experience any delays?

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

[alex]

Originally Posted by 102molson102 Hello I am thinking of buying a 500 Gig external hard drive (8 MB buffer and 7200 rpm). I have 2 computers that are networked so that I can share information between them. Question. If I store a movie on the external hard drive attached to computer #1, can I play this movie on the monitor of computer #2 and not experience any delays? Thanks for any advice you can provide.

If the hdd is networked you won't see any delay as both pc's in the network will just 'see' it as an external storage device, this for when playing the movie.

Regarding accessing you may see a slight delay if you're accessing the drive off the second pc in the network as everything goes through the first. Doubtful, but the comment is there.

[Dave Hybrid]

That will mean you are playing the movie across a network and down USB because the drive will be connected via USB to the end PC.

It's not advisable to be honest, it's hard to say if it will be watchable or not.

Playing across the network alone should be ok, or just reading off the USB drive.

To be honest there is no reason to incorporate the whole lot, just plug the USB drive into the PC you intend to play on or copy it to a PC and play off that or via the network.

[102molson102]

Thank you very much for your replies.

The internal hard drives on computers #1 and #2 are full that is why I want to get an external hard drive.

Computer #2 is in a home theatre with an overhead projector.

It is much easier for me to install the external hard drive on computer #1.

So I am wondering if I will experience skips or delays in playing a movie in the home theatre when that movie is stored on the external hard drive attached to computer #1.

Both computers are networked by cat5e cable.

Thanks for any further comments you may have.

[Dave Hybrid]

Personally I'd add additional drives to the internal of the machines.

That will be much faster.

[alex]

Originally Posted by Dave Hybrid Personally I'd add additional drives to the internal of the machines. That will be much faster.

I'm with you Dave, although my setup is pretty much as above except its a 320gb external.

[102molson102]

Thanks again for the replies.

I have no room for any additional internal hard drives on computers #1 and #2 and the hard drives I already have installed are very large.

I thought that adding an external hard drive was the least expensive way of getting additional storage but I was wondering if I would experience any problems in playing a movie from computer #1 to computer #2.

Do you think I should proceed to buy an external hard drive?

Thanks for any thoughts that you may have.

[Dave Hybrid]

Originally Posted by 102molson102 I have no room for any additional internal hard drives on computers #1 and #2, the hard drives I already have installed are very large. I thought that adding an external hard drive was the least expensive way of getting additional storage

I don't understand that comment, all hard drives are the same physical size.

The cheapest option without a doubt is adding another internal drive.

External drives are much much more expensive than their internal counterparts.

[102molson102]

Hi again

Sorry if I was not clear.

I meant to say that the internal hard drives that I already have installed are 500 Gig ones and there is no additional room to add any more. I would have to replace a 500 gig drive with a 750 or higher gig one and I really don't want to do that.

I can purchase a 500 gig external drive to connect via USB to computer #1 for about $150 but my pressing question is whether a movie stored on this external drive will play flawlessly on computer #2.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks for all your comments.

[Dave Hybrid]

We have answered that, it's not possible to give you an exact answer.

You can make things faster by running direct from the USB hard drive connected to the theatre PC, adding the network in the mix will make things slower.

Best bet is to borrow a drive and try it.