Question on how to share a network drive

rickr10 · February 1, 2008 2:53AM

I have a Mac Pro with OS Leopard 10.5.1 and have the main system drive and then a 2nd drive I installed that I wish to use as a networked server drive throughout my home network which also contains a Mac Mini and a MBP.

I want to be able to share it so that anyone logged in at home can read/write from it. Also, in addition to this I am interested in setting up Back to my Mac to be able to share it remotely since me and my fiancee both have .mac accounts. Also, I want to be able to do screen sharing remotely.

How can I go about setting up my Mac Pro to share this 2nd hard drive and nothing else?

mr. me · February 1, 2008 8:11AM

Sharepoints is donationware.

aresee · February 1, 2008 12:13PM

Only administrators on the hosting Mac can see the external drives using file sharing. You might try creating a public folder and putting in aliases to the external drive (or its top level folders).

I haven't tried Back to My Mac so I can't help you there.

dfiler · February 1, 2008 2:28PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Me

Sharepoints is donationware.

Yep, exactly what is needed.

All the underlying file sharing technologies are already present in OS X. But OS X only configures user Public folders to be shared. It is possible to edit text config files manually to enable sharing beyond what apple has by default.

But the simplest approach is to use SharePoints. It wraps OS X's built in functionality in a convenient GUI. It edits those config files for you.

adders · February 1, 2008 5:31PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickr10

I have a Mac Pro with OS Leopard 10.5.1 and have the main system drive and then a 2nd drive I installed that I wish to use as a networked server drive throughout my home network which also contains a Mac Mini and a MBP.

I want to be able to share it so that anyone logged in at home can read/write from it. Also, in addition to this I am interested in setting up Back to my Mac to be able to share it remotely since me and my fiancee both have .mac accounts. Also, I want to be able to do screen sharing remotely.

How can I go about setting up my Mac Pro to share this 2nd hard drive and nothing else?

Well, I know nothing at all about Back to my Mac, but if you're trying to share a 2nd drive on one of your machines with other users then...

>On the machine with the drive you want to share, go to sharing in system prefs

>Click on 'File sharing' so that you get two scroll boxes to the right: 'Shared Folders' and 'Users'

>Click the + button under 'Shared Folders'

>Select the hard drive you want to share.

>Select the hard drive you've just added in the shared folders list and configure the user pane to give the access permissions you want for the drive (you may want to add a group in accounts rather than add users individually).

Hope that helps.

adders · February 1, 2008 5:38PM

Oh, also the screen sharing bit. You need go to sharing again and enable remote management. Add the users/groups you want to be able to screen share and then tick all the options you want them to have in options. Funnily enough, it seems to work with the screen sharing option in the sharing pane disabled, which I can't say I understand.

Once this is done, you get a share screen option next to the disconnect button once you log into the machine remotely.

agent_orange · February 1, 2008 6:35PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adders

Well, I know nothing at all about Back to my Mac, but if you're trying to share a 2nd drive on one of your machines with other users then...

>On the machine with the drive you want to share, go to sharing in system prefs

>Click on 'File sharing' so that you get two scroll boxes to the right: 'Shared Folders' and 'Users'

>Click the + button under 'Shared Folders'

>Select the hard drive you want to share.

>Select the hard drive you've just added in the shared folders list and configure the user pane to give the access permissions you want for the drive (you may want to add a group in accounts rather than add users individually).

Hope that helps.

I've tried this and it seems to work for me

markw10 · February 3, 2008 3:39AM

I just talked to a coworker who is using the built in Leopard sharing for both screen sharing and File Sharing. He has a Mac Mini with an external USB Western Digital My Book. he is able to fully browse it.

In my case I have a Mac Pro and it's a second hard drive that is internal. I tried the steps Adders and Agent Orange posted. I'm not sure why but I am unable to get it to see the drives. From my MBP the Finder now shows the Mac Pro but when I try to select on it it won't show anything.

I looked up Sharepoints but it seems it doesn't have a Leopard version yet. Has anyone tried using the Tiger version on Leopard?

Also, when it comes to using Sharepoints is that a better option than using the built in network file sharing features and screen sharing features in Leopard?

tadunne · February 3, 2008 3:28PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agent_orange

I've tried this and it seems to work for me

Or you can get info on any folder and click the "Shared Folder" tickbox and set the permissions as you want..

It's pretty flexible!

dfiler · February 4, 2008 11:44AM

I retract my previous recommendation for SharePoints...

I was unaware that Apple had added a "Shared Folder" checkbox to the get info window.

Question on how to share a network drive

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