Small Office Network Including OSX and XP Computers

[chopper]

I've just lived with the limitations of my home network through the years. It was set up when we had a cable modem installed in 1998 and I've just suffered with it in terms of sharing files.

I have two or three Macs (10.4, 10.5, 10.6) connected to the same network (via cat 5) as two or three WiinXP machines. Perhaps "network" in the wrong word to use, but they are all on the same connection. I'd love to share files on these units, if for no other reason that back up. Is there a simple process to have XP computers mount automatically on an OSX desktop, etc?

[chopper]

Ack! Got it, but still not via my Netgear Wireless D router.

[john-o]

Not sure what you "got", but the primary limitation, as I'm guessing you've discovered, is the lack of read/write support for NTFS on a Mac. There are several options available online that supposedly make it possible, but none are foolproof, imho... Macs and PCs can share files in recent versions of OS X via enabling "Windows" sharing in the Sharing pane of System Preferences. Again, though, it's not as obvious and simply as one might want or expect. Let us know more details about what you're doing, and I'm sure others will chime in.

[chopper]

Well, I had all of the Macs show up in a finder window but now that I have re-booted, they are of course gone.

Back to square one.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

How about a NAS/NDAS? If you have a spare IDE drive, OWC has an old (likely pretty slow) model with an IDE/ATA interface for $30+. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20W.../NASPOWER/