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Installation
Most people tend to panic when it comes to installing just about any network
device as it usually requires quite a bit of configuration. That is
not the case with the NetDisk Office. This drive is incredibly easy to
install and setup and just about anyone can get one up and running fairly
quickly. Never thought I would actually find myself saying this about
a hard drive, but it is basically a plug and play device as there isn't even
a need to format it either. It comes pre-formatted in FAT32 out of the
box.
Let's start with the hardware install.
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The
Ximeta NetDisk Office requires absolutely no network configuration.
Just plug it into your existing network or wireless router and connect the
drive to to LAN jack on your computer. Nothing needs to be configured
on your router either and the drive will act as your network switch.
No issues were encountered during hardware setup except for an unrelated
issue that was a result of a defective power supply, which Ximeta's excellent
tech support quickly replaced.
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**click to enlarge** |
Inserting the software CD will launch an autorun menu which will allow you to
select whether you would like to run the drive in USB mode or NDAS mode.
The CD also includes MP3 player software as an added bonus as well as a user
manual in PDF format. The MP3 player was a nice touch as most
potential buyers would probably use this device as an MP3 or video file
server.
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**click to enlarge** |
**click to enlarge** |
The
next couple of screens will guide you through the hardware install.
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The
final menu on the install guide gives you two options which will depend on
how you plan to use the drive. The first option is Multi-OS Mode, which
will allow multiple PCs with read only access to the drive. In this
mode, write access is assigned to one user at a time and is passed from one
user to another. The second option is Multi-write mode, which will
allow read/write access to multiple PCs simultaneously. This option is
only for those running Windows 2000 or XP.
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After you have successfully run through the install guide, you'll have to
add the new NetDisk via the NetDisk Administrator software. You will
be prompted to enter your NetDisk ID and write key found on the bottom of
the drive itself.
The
NetDisk Administrator software can be conveniently accessed from the systray
icon.
Once you have installed the disk, an additional menu will appear with a blue
dot indicating the drive is connected. From this menu, you can enable
read only access or disable access to the drive altogether.
Those who purchase the NetDisk Office will probably be connecting it to
their network to be shared by multiple computers. If installing on
more than one machine, you would simply install the software on the other
machines and follow the
same steps we have showed you here.
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