I have several (15-25) old dell 1-2ghz machines with 15-20 gig hard drives in them. I would like to be able to use all the disk space on all of them as a single disk space. Is there a way to do this easily or not? I would want to reach the space via a windows xp machine. I would be willing to use any OS to do it.
2006-09-01 08:49:02 · 3 answers · asked by JOHN B 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Computer Networking
There is no easy way to do this (at least in windows to the best of my knowledge) But i think it is also impossible on other operating systems because the disc connect independantly on different BUSs so files split up between two or more disc may become corrupt because of delays produced by the distance between the two machines.
2006-09-01 08:54:42 · answer #1 · answered by Bax 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to setup a small network with a domain controller. Then you need to setup a distributed File System
One of the computers would need running a Microsoft Server operating system such as 2000 or 2003 Server. You would share the drives on all of the other computers. On the server, you go to the control panel then administrative tools then distributed file system.
If you are using Windows 2000 server see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 241452 - first link
If you are using Windows 2003 see the second link
2006-09-01 09:09:15 · answer #2 · answered by Mad Jack 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As Jack told you, it's probably possible.
However, it's NOT recommendable AT ALL for important data! If ONE harddisk will fail, you'll loose ALL data on ALL disks which are bundled together (virtually).
2006-09-01 09:16:53 · answer #3 · answered by · 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋