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My girlfriend has one of these, ethernet-connected to her router and thus available on her home network.  However, in order for any computer, Windows or Mac (what about linux?) to access it, it is necessary (aside from any hacky-workarounds that may possibly exist) to install the Iomega Home Storage Manager.   This makes volume(s) offered by the NAS appear, on the Mac in Finder under SHARED, or on a Windows machine as additional drive letter(s).

To acquire the Iomega Home Storage Manager, go to https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/app/platform/p/1031,1043 or else try https://iomega-eu-en.custhelp.com/ and click on [Desktop Network Storage > Home Media Network Hard Drive].  May need to establish and login-to an iomega support account (free) first.

I wondered at first about enabling the NAS as a Mac OS Time Machine (backup) disk.  An iomega article I saw suggested that should be possible, for iomega firmware 2.0 and above.  But the disk as it stands is NTFS-formatted - because when it was set up we had only Windows machines.  Now that disk contains much material in that NTFS.  I guess it might be possible to partrition the disk e.g. to keep the existing NTFS and add alongside it a HFS+ partition for Time Machine to use.  But it’s guesswork that carries risks (of disruption/damage to existing contents).  We want an easy geeking-minimal life, so maybe better to repurpose that NAS and get a purpose-made Apple Time Capsule instead. Either way, the evening wears on, so I’ll shelve that idea/investigation for now…

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Backup & Restore via Disk Utility (DU) - on Mac OS install-disk - to a fresh hard-drive:

1. Routine: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1553
2. Complication: Backed-up not the whole disk but aMac OS partition alongside a Boot Camp partition.

• DU restores the partition (as a sole partition) but it won’t boot.
• Try install fresh OS X from install-dvd, then use it to create Boot Camp partition (and presumably boot-selection menu) then restore (with erase) to the OS X partition (only).  To save time (hopefully), didn’t actually install Windows.
  • Both the fresh-install and the restoration of OS X took about an hour.
  • Yes it worked! Booted into Mac OS just fine.
  • Left it to “settle” a bit - e.g. until CPU level down around zero.
  • Restart in Shift-Boot mode (to refresh OS’s tables etc.) and log-in as “DefaultEverything” (dummy user created as per advice - I think from Larry Jordan).  Maybe should have done that the first time…
  • Restarted in normal user account, again left awhile.
  • Started WinClone (App, started from MacOS)
    • It appeared to first scan the backup then began to install it.  Not quick, maybe an hour for each of these (two) tasks.
    • Source partition was 232.57 GB - as compared to the destination partition of around 250 GB.
  • Alt-Booted into W7 just fine.
  • Being on the internet, it began downloading numerous system updates - furiously (like it was hard to web-browse even on another computer on the network.
  • Correspondingly, on ShutDown, W7 installed numerous (61) updates.  Took ages - so if ever repeating such a recovery, allow for this…
  • Also on subsequent start-up, updating & registering stuff - took a few minutes - wish I’d run it straight (boot camp) not within Parallels.  But it seemed “happy”.
  • (to be continued…)

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Bought an Iomega Network-Attached Storage (NAS) device for a home network.  Here are my experiences:

• Plugged it in and (naively) looked for it on Windows Explorer (networks section) but it didn’t appear there.
• Ran its setup CD. Wary of bloatware, I selected Custom setup.  At the very least, that should list what kinds of thing could potentially be installed, then I can find out about them first.
  • Only installed the basic (non optional) software.
  • There is a backup tool, potentially useful but don’t want to dive into that just yet.
• The result: a number of extra “drives” (drive letters) appeared, each being mapped to a network drive. The IP address was the same in each case: [192.168.1.68].   Although there was only one NAS, each “Network Drive” (letter) was mapped to a different folder on it, as follows:
  • music
  • photos
  • ActiveFolders
    • The NAS config (webpage) lets you define these, e.g. a folder where you can drop a file and it will turn up at your YouTube account.
  • public
    • What’s that for?  How”public” is it?
  • movies
  • backups
• Reactions:
  • I had not expected that, just expected a single drive letter underneath which I would make my own folders, one for each user plus a shared one.
  • Presumably they are all intended to be shared among all users.
  • Maybe I can still make my own folders per-user etc.?  Maybe also can configure each user’s account to be tied to the appropriate one of these?
  • The NAS is a server, maybe it doesn’t allow access to root, only to folders?
• User Manual
  • The Setup (disk) offers to Install the User Manual. Slightly concerned over that - only really want a PDF, not (potentially) more unknown bloatware.  Went ahead anyway.
• NAS Config
  • To access the NAS Config (webpage):
    • In browser, for this particular device, can simply enter its name.
      • The default name was [Iomega-110496/], the numeric suffix being from the NAS’s MAC address.
      • One can change this name in NAS Settings, explained further below (where I indeed did so).
    • Its initially-displayed page is a demo ActiveFolder which presents a slideshow of any photos dragged into it.  So you can e.g. use your laptop as a photo-frame.  This is but one of several types of ActiveFolder.  More on these later…
    • Go to the Home page (via left-most menu)
      • Go to Remote Access tab (via upper tab-selections)
        • Ensure that Remote Access is disabled (for security).
        • Also can see the full MAC address there.
    • Go to the System page (via left-most menu)
      • Go to Date and Time tab (via upper menu)
        • Change it to the appropriate timezone.  By default was the US’s EST.  Changed it to GMT.
      • Go to Settings tab.
        • Change LED brightness down to minimum.  These gimmicks are simply annoying.
        • Change Machine Name from default
          [Iomega-110496] to memorable [magibox].
          • Test it works by entering magibox as the address in a fresh browser page.  Used Opera, which asked to put a “http://” at the front.
        • Change machine description to read “Julie’s Home Network Drive”.
    • Go to the Folders page (via left-most menu)
      • There is only one tab, “Folders”
        • Click the [+] button at lower-left (scroll-down) to add a new folder.
        • Add folders for each user- in line with my original scheme, to see if I can make that happen.
          • When create folder for self it says something like “since this is the first time you are accessing this folder, would you like to assign a password for it?
    • Go to the Active Folders page.
      • Go to Photos and Files tab
        • See the demo (slideshow) folder is there
        • Add a new folder, [Julie’s YouTube]
          • Inspected its Settings and it appeared already to have some YouTube details (username and password).
• The NAS offers other features like Bittorrent (in some way) but I haven’t investigated those yet.

SpeedTools

• [http://www.philmug.ph/forum/showthread.php?p=782450]
• [http://www.speedtools.com]