[gui-talk] Western Digital MyBookWorld storage

[Dane Trethowan]

Hi Everyone!
I wonder how many people on this list have a small home network of 2  
or more computers? In my case its 4 and soon to be 5, do you find  
storage a bit of a problem? Or perhaps storage isn't so much the  
problem but sharing those thousands upon thousands of files between  
multiple systems is? Want to make collection of files from external  
sources a breeze or allow yourself and perhaps a few others access to  
your file collection anywhere in the world? Then may I suggest you  
take a look at any of the Western Digital MyBookWorld Network storage  
solutions. I bought mine on Friday and I have been amazed at what  
possibilities have come alive on my network since the drive was  
connected, of course my playing with this new toy was disrupted as I  
had to make an emergency trip away on family business <damn!>
So a word of explanation here, exactly what is a MyBookWorld? Put  
simply, its a box containing 1 or 2 high spec drives depending on the  
model you order, I have the 1TB model which contains 1 1TB drive  
however the nice thing about these MyBookWorld devices is that they  
can (in most cases) be upgraded, drives replaced and so forth. So I've  
told you about the MyBookWorld in simple form but what I've failed to  
mention up until this point is that behind the hard drive(s) we have a  
200MHZ processor, 32 meg of RAM and a cut-down version of LINUX. Now  
without any tweaking you can do some rather fancy stuff with your  
MyWorldBook storage solution, create multiple volumes and partitions,  
assign different levels of access and so forth, you can use the  
accompanying software (not recommended) or get to grips with the HTML  
interface.
Ok so having conquered all that, what about diving in deeper into the  
world of LINUX with your MyWorldBook? Why not! you can apply various  
firmware upgrades which literally turn your MyBookWorld into a small  
box of absolute power, you get nice little things including your own  
on-board FTP server, Apachy, Sambre and a Bash shell so let your  
imagination roam free as to the endless possibilities for your  
MyBookWorld box, this is truly an incredible solution for those who  
want to manipulate their files.
Now some notes, there's a good review of this product at http://www.bleedingedge.com.au 
  but I would suggest you do a little homework and put into the back  
of your mind several things the author of this review says.
Firstly, he recommends that you use a DHCP connection for this device?  
I don't, I think you're far better off assigning a static IP address  
below the DHCP range for this thing, something like 192.168.1.10 and  
that way you have a permanent location for your multiple machines to  
access, the MyWorldBook will be easier to integrate into a network and  
so forth. I also noticed a huge improvement in performance when I  
assigned the MyBookWorld its own Static IP Address.
The article goes on to mention the various sites where you can unlock  
the full potential of your MybookWorld device. Bare in mind however  
that if you proceed with these instructions and modify the firmware  
then you'll be invalidating your warrantee however these patches (for  
want of a better world) have been well and truly tried and tested so  
you shouldn't have any problems if you follow all instructions  
carefully.

******************************
Dane Trethowan
 From Melton Victoria Australia
Phone +613 9747 3975
Voiceover Tech Support +613 8732 9237
Fax +613 9743 7954
mailto:”grtdane at iprimus.com.au”
msn: grtdane at iprimus.com.au
skype: callto:grtdane12
*******************************







-------------- next part --------------
Hi Everyone!
I wonder how many people on this list have a small home network of 2 or more computers? In my case its 4 and soon to be 5, do you find storage a bit of a problem? Or perhaps storage isn't so much the problem but sharing those thousands upon thousands of files between multiple systems is? Want to make collection of files from external sources a breeze or allow yourself and perhaps a few others access to your file collection anywhere in the world? Then may I suggest you take a look at any of the Western Digital MyBookWorld Network storage solutions. I bought mine on Friday and I have been amazed at what possibilities have come alive on my network since the drive was connected, of course my playing with this new toy was disrupted as I had to make an emergency trip away on family business <damn!>
So a word of explanation here, exactly what is a MyBookWorld? Put simply, its a box containing 1 or 2 high spec drives depending on the model you order, I have the 1TB model which contains 1 1TB drive however the nice thing about these MyBookWorld devices is that they can (in most cases) be upgraded, drives replaced and so forth. So I've told you about the MyBookWorld in simple form but what I've failed to mention up until this point is that behind the hard drive(s) we have a 200MHZ processor, 32 meg of RAM and a cut-down version of LINUX. Now without any tweaking you can do some rather fancy stuff with your MyWorldBook storage solution, create multiple volumes and partitions, assign different levels of access and so forth, you can use the accompanying software (not recommended) or get to grips with the HTML interface.
Ok so having conquered all that, what about diving in deeper into the world of LINUX with your MyWorldBook? Why not! you can apply various firmware upgrades which literally turn your MyBookWorld into a small box of absolute power, you get nice little things including your own on-board FTP server, Apachy, Sambre and a Bash shell so let your imagination roam free as to the endless possibilities for your MyBookWorld box, this is truly an incredible solution for those who want to manipulate their files.
Now some notes, there's a good review of this product at http://www.bleedingedge.com.au http://www.bleedingedge.com.au
but I would suggest you do a little homework and put into the back of your mind several things the author of this review says.
Firstly, he recommends that you use a DHCP connection for this device? I don't, I think you're far better off assigning a static IP address below the DHCP range for this thing, something like 192.168.1.10 and that way you have a permanent location for your multiple machines to access, the MyWorldBook will be easier to integrate into a network and so forth. I also noticed a huge improvement in performance when I assigned the MyBookWorld its own Static IP Address.
The article goes on to mention the various sites where you can unlock the full potential of your MybookWorld device. Bare in mind however that if you proceed with these instructions and modify the firmware then you'll be invalidating your warrantee however these patches (for want of a better world) have been well and truly tried and tested so you shouldn't have any problems if you follow all instructions carefully.
******************************
Dane Trethowan
From Melton Victoria Australia
Phone +613 9747 3975
Voiceover Tech Support +613 8732 9237
Fax +613 9743 7954
mailto: mailto:”grtdane at iprimus.com.au ”grtdane at iprimus.com.au
”
msn: mailto:grtdane at iprimus.com.au grtdane at iprimus.com.au
skype: callto:grtdane12 callto:grtdane12
*******************************