Network Attached Storage. Can I.....?

[balane]

Never used NAS before. Home network consists of 3 x Vista and 3 x XP computers. The NAS I'm buying also has a USB print server.

I have a few questions on this;

Can I put a folder on each computer's desktop that users can drag and drop files to? Kind of a share-all folder between the six machines?

Will the NAS be simple to access from both operating systems? Are there permissions and what-not that need to be set or will this drive just simply show up under network on each computer?

For the print server, I assume I need to download/install XP printer drivers for XP computers and Vista drivers for Vista computers. Then I add the printer under Network, not local, printer and the driver will configure itself? Then, when printing, just select the network printer to be the default printer for jobs? It's a HP Laser and will be the primary printer for all computers on the LAN.

Thanks for the help.

 

[MedicBob]

Need more information. What NAS and print server are you getting?

With the NAS, map network drives is how I would do it. There should be an instruction book and website from the manufacture with set up information too.

 

[jdkick]

Definitely do some research on whatever NAS you're buying. Some will require a software utility to be installed client-side in order to setup the device and/or connect to the device/present a drive letter on each PC. Others do not require such software and provide a web-based interface for management and allow you to browse your network (from a Windows PC) for the device, map a drive via UNC (e.g.: \\mynasdevice\mystuffonthenas), etc from within the OS. I prefer the latter, but that's personal preference.

Also, be mindful of any security/firewall software you have installed on your PCs as they can make the setup process aggravating by blocking communication.

Once you have a drive mapped on a given PC you can create a shortcut on the desktop as you mentioned, just make sure the mapping is configured to reconnect on login/restart.

Permissions and authentication will be device specific, so read the documentation for whatever product you settle on. Same goes for the print server/network printer setup, tho you've got the basic idea.