Is There a Network Hard drive?

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I am looking for a low cost networkable hard disk drive. This hard drive will be put in the LAN as a storage for all the users on the LAN. This is for family. Those high end servers are not for my consideration. I hope to keep the cost around $100 to $200. Am I dreaming?

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Depends on how vivid your dreams are!
Are you looking to have it separate from any other PC? – I would have thought the cheapest solution would be to slap a additional (big) hard drive into one PC and set suitable shares – otherwise see if you can pick up an old PC with a reasonable HD – the operating speed should not really affect the HD access unless you are talking about serious use.

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To put an old pc on the LAN as a storage has the following two drawbacks:
1) I need to keep the monitor, mouse and keyboard connected. It is very space and energy inefficient.
2) I need to keep an copy of Operation System on this old PC, because Mr. Gates does not allow me to use one copy of Windows on two PCs. It is about another $100.

Currently, I am using the slave drive on one of the PC on the LAN as the storage. The drawback is I need to keep this PC power on all the time.

In considering the above, If I can find a networkable hard drive under $200, may be it will be the better solution in my situation.

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I can understand your arguments but:
1] You could use a Keyboard Video Mouse switch, but that will not be free.
2] True and commendable. Are you saying you have only ever upgraded, not got a new OS with a new PC?

Personally, I would argue that a Network Drive is hardly going to run without power and you are better off leaving your PC’s running 24/7 unless they are not being used for several days at a time. (I don’t want to start an argument about this – – this has been discussed many times before.)

Think about it – a network drive must consist of a hard disc, a NIC, a power inlet and some kind of operating system to allow it to integrate with your LAN. You’ve got three out of those four already on one PC – why duplicate them? Just switch off the monitor when you are not using it.

But – if you insist on looking – try the Win200mag Network Storage Interactive Product Guide. I honestly do not think you are going to manage to find anything within your budget, but please do let us know if you can. There will be others for whom it may be of interest!

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Another option that goes along with the “old PC” suggestion is to use Linux, which can be freely downloaded from the Internet, burned and installed. The only drawbacks (hurdles??) would be having to learn a new OS, and with some distributions, setting it up can be a challange.

Just my CDN …

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Look at Network Attached Storage( NAS) . SNAP Server is one such thing. It is pretty much what you need.

Here Quantum Snap Server
or
Here is Netgear NAS a lower price same purpose. (Leif, the price is $198 still quite expensive)

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The Netgear solution – although neat – equates to 27 times the cost of a typical 80GB HD drive on the same site!
I really couldn’t justify paying $390 (or equivalent) for just 8GB of storage!

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