Printer/storage server versus direct USB/router connection

[BillW]

I have a 7200 external disk drive and a laser printer. They are both
connected to one PC via USB2 on a home network. They are shared with a
second PC through a wired router. I would like to attach both devides to my
network through a simple printer/storage server that attaches directly to my
home network router. Will I see any change in performance? Currently the
host computer accesses the printer and disk drive directly through it's USB
ports. The second PC must go through the router and through the host
computer to access both devices. I'm hoping that nether PC will see a
reduction in performance. Thank you for your help. I would hate to go
through all the effort of setting up the server only to find that I've
compromised the outstanding performance I'm currently experiencing. Bother
computers are running XP.

 

[DL]

Next time crosspost, not multi post, that way the responses are visible to
all