Sharing External Hard Drive Storage- Windows XP

[wanda]

I have lots of digital photos and was running out of c-Drive space, so I
purchased an external hard drive and moved my photos. I would like to move
my daughter's photos over also, freeing up even more space, hoping the
computer will speed up a bit.

So, we run windows XP home with a password protected protected
administrative account (me) and two additional user accounts (kids). How do
I enable my daughter to access her pictures if I move them to the external
hard drive? I would prefer to share a folder, with folders within it, but
I'm not opposed to sharing the entire drive.

While we're on the subject, after purchasing the external drive, I ended up
placing an icon on the desktop for access. Is it possible to have this
drive's contents show up under the start menu's "my pictures'? My c-drive
photos used to be there and it was terribly convenient.

 

[Don Phillipson]

I have lots of digital photos and was running out of c-Drive space, so I
purchased an external hard drive and moved my photos. I would like to move
my daughter's photos over also, freeing up even more space, hoping the
computer will speed up a bit.

So, we run windows XP home with a password protected protected
administrative account (me) and two additional user accounts (kids). How do
I enable my daughter to access her pictures if I move them to the external
hard drive? I would prefer to share a folder, with folders within it, but
I'm not opposed to sharing the entire drive.

Simply select (highlight) the drive and Right Click for / Properties
where the / Sharing page will let you assign the drive Shared by
all users (no login, no password.)

 

[wanda]

Don, the only option I see is for "sharing the root of the drive" and it's
not recommended for some reason. Is that what I want and are you sure?

 

[Harry]

I have lots of digital photos and was running out of c-Drive space, so I
purchased an external hard drive and moved my photos.  I would like to move
my daughter's photos over also, freeing up even more space, hoping the
computer will speed up a bit.

So, we run windows XP home with a password protected protected
administrative account (me) and two additional user accounts (kids).  How do
I enable my daughter to access her pictures if I move them to the external
hard drive?  I would prefer to share a folder, with folders within it, but
I'm not opposed to sharing the entire drive.

XP Home has Simple File Sharing turned on by default.
You don't need to do anything and everyone can see
everything in the new drive.

New Drive:\wanda\
New Drive:\daughter\
New Drive:\another_kid\

If you want to make a particule folder private, check this out.

http://www.home-network-help.com/folder-private.html

While we're on the subject, after purchasing the external drive, I ended up
placing an icon on the desktop for access.  Is it possible to have this
drive's contents show up under the start menu's "my pictures'?  My c-drive
photos used to be there and it was terribly convenient.

See here on "Change the Location of System Folders"

http://www.techjunkeez.com/archive/registry_hacks/change_location_of_system_folders.htm

 

[philo]

I have lots of digital photos and was running out of c-Drive space, so I
purchased an external hard drive and moved my photos. I would like to
move
my daughter's photos over also, freeing up even more space, hoping the
computer will speed up a bit.

So, we run windows XP home with a password protected protected
administrative account (me) and two additional user accounts (kids). How
do
I enable my daughter to access her pictures if I move them to the external
hard drive? I would prefer to share a folder, with folders within it, but
I'm not opposed to sharing the entire drive.

While we're on the subject, after purchasing the external drive, I ended
up
placing an icon on the desktop for access. Is it possible to have this
drive's contents show up under the start menu's "my pictures'? My c-drive
photos used to be there and it was terribly convenient.

I do not recommend moving the files.

Since all harddrives will eventually fail...
my advice is to keep all your photos on two separate drives...
so you should simply copy, rather than move your data.

The amount of free space on your drive will not "speed things up"
per se, but may help when defragging.

 

[Don Phillipson]

Simply select (highlight) the drive and Right Click for / Properties

Don, the only option I see is for "sharing the root of the drive" and it's
not recommended for some reason. Is that what I want and are you sure?

This message is a precaution that applies to 80 per cent of
Windows customers (businesses) in 90 per cent of cases (office
networks where users need to protect the network from data theft
or malicious damage.) These concerns do not apply to sharing
a single PC within your family.

 

[philo]

I am also concerned by the possibility of the external drive failing, but
cannot keep the photos on my c drive as there just isn't enough space. We
do
need a new computer, but I'm hoping to delay purchasing another 6 months
or
so. I do back up on CD's though photoshop elements organizer and hope
that
is enough. Our next computer will have more than enough memory for me to
revert to c drive storage.

Thanks to everyone for your help! I never fail to find a solution to any
problem when I come here for help and really appreciate it.

:

Good

CD / DVD's are a good way to back up too.

Just as long as it's not all kept in one place!

 

[wanda]

Don, I got busy and never got around to working on this. When I tried to do
it tonight, they tell me to drag it to the shared folders. That essentially
will move everything back to the C drive....not what I want. What am I
missing here?