Forums | MacLife

lbrygrrrl · 2008-09-02 4:03 am

This may sound like a stupid question. But, is there such a thing? Here's the scenario. I'm getting ready to buy an external hard drive and I want it to be wireless. I checked on ebay but became overwhelmed because I did not know want to specifically look for. I found a Bluetooth dongle that says it communicates with printers, fax machines etc. I don't know if it converses with hard drives, if it does, at all.

Like I said, this is a lame question. However, I need to know if it's possible.

lg

Last edited by lbrygrrrl (2008-09-02 4:05 am)

arkayn · 2008-09-02 7:33 am

For low powered devices like keyboards and mice you can have wireless, but a hard drive needs to much power and data bandwidth to be wireless. It will have to have at least a USB connection and usually a power connector as well.

sturner · 2008-09-02 11:08 am

There are a few solutions for a network drive other than a time capsule. I dont' remember where I saw them, offhand, but I was poking around in all the usual places for harddrives. Try newegg.com, macsales.com, and others, look for network drives.

Alien · 2008-09-02 11:30 am

Wireless USB is on the way. Dunno if it supports hard drives and stuff, though. have you tried Googling "wireless USB"?

.tsooJ

sturner · 2008-09-02 12:53 pm

And while not exactly wireless USB those that I mentioned were wireless connectable.

nayrk · 2008-09-03 10:05 am

i'd recommend time capsule or one of the other similar products.

Jasoco · 2008-09-03 9:04 pm

I just have my backup drives connected to my Mac mini connected to my network. Time Machine then mounts one of the drives for backup. And Carbon Copy Cloner mounts the other one for cloning. It works perfectly and automatically. I wouldn't trust wireless USB for HD's. Just use a networked computer or a special 802.11 capable network drive.

My solution works perfectly and reliably. Though I can understand if you don't have a spare computer to use as a dedicated server/workhorse. (The mini also acts as my Media Server for my Xbox 360.)

pkmgarf · 2008-09-03 9:11 pm

Yeah, wireless USB, as of now, isn't going to work for you. The bluetooth dongle you found would be to connect bluetooth devices, such as cell phones or Apple's keyboard/mouse. For what you are doing, I would just connect an external hard drive to your router and then just use it that way. Unless you want to have a USB/firewire cable going to your computer, that's really your only option.

Jasoco · 2008-09-03 9:31 pm

One thing to note is when you do do a wireless networked HD backup solution, for the first time you backup, connect both the backed up computer and the computer with the drive directly to the network via ethernet. This will help speed it up and avoid the occasional "signal drop". Some routers like to die if too much is being transferred for too long. I've lost a couple large backups because the router decided to die in the middle. Connecting directly for the initial backup lets the large part get done fast. Then later the smaller incremental backups are done wirelessly as they don't take as much.

Side note: I'm on a laptop. And until I got my wireless backup system set up it was a pain in the butt to go from my desk to relaxing elsewhere because I had to unmount the drives and unplug them first. Now I have absolutely no drives tethering my laptop. Now my backup drives sit in the "cloud"... well, no. The internet would be a cloud. I guess a local network would be more like... "fog"... Okay, my backup drives sit in the "fog" for my laptop to access whenever it wants to. I love it.

Edit: I am hereby coining the term "Fog".

Last edited by Jasoco (2008-09-03 9:33 pm)

sturner · 2008-09-03 10:13 pm

Better copyright it, before Microsoft does.

Jasoco · 2008-09-05 3:14 pm

lol

sturner · 2008-09-05 4:17 pm

On a related note, they do offer lots of network disks that connect directly to a router with an IP address. If your router has wireless capability that makes it a wireless harddrive. You have the option of paying lots for an assembled one, or buying the enclosure and putting your own drive in.

mrreet2001 · 2008-09-05 4:43 pm

sturner wrote:
On a related note, they do offer lots of network disks that connect directly to a router with an IP address. If your router has wireless capability that makes it a wireless harddrive. You have the option of paying lots for an assembled one, or buying the enclosure and putting your own drive in.

link to a "mac" able one plsthnx

sturner · 2008-09-05 9:49 pm

mrreet2001 wrote:
sturner wrote:
On a related note, they do offer lots of network disks that connect directly to a router with an IP address. If your router has wireless capability that makes it a wireless harddrive. You have the option of paying lots for an assembled one, or buying the enclosure and putting your own drive in.
link to a "mac" able one plsthnx

Your wish is my command.

Here is one. Here be more.
And some more.

Last edited by sturner (2008-09-05 9:50 pm)

Forums | MacLife

#1 2008-09-02 4:03 am

Wireless USB?

#2 2008-09-02 7:33 am

Re: Wireless USB?

#3 2008-09-02 11:08 am

Re: Wireless USB?

#4 2008-09-02 11:30 am

Re: Wireless USB?

#5 2008-09-02 12:53 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

#6 2008-09-03 10:05 am

Re: Wireless USB?

#7 2008-09-03 9:04 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

#8 2008-09-03 9:11 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

#9 2008-09-03 9:31 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

#10 2008-09-03 10:13 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

#11 2008-09-05 3:14 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

#12 2008-09-05 4:17 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

#13 2008-09-05 4:43 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

sturner wrote:

#14 2008-09-05 9:49 pm

Re: Wireless USB?

mrreet2001 wrote:

sturner wrote:

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