Need Advice: Storage Center

[ericlooi]

Hi,

I'm planning to make my pc as a storage center for my office (all using macs).

1. May I know if PCLinuxOS can read all the mac formatted hard drives?

2. How about accessing PCLinuxOS from mac computer using LAN cables? Main purposes are to transfer files and accessing files in the PC. Planning to use a gigabit switch to let all mac users access to the PC to access the files.

Thanks!
Eric.

[T6]

1. the format used by mac pcs afik has been supported in linux for a long time(2006 or something like that), the current kernel should handle it well

2. if you create a local network sharing a folder containng your files linux can acces it, also mac, or windows, depneds on how you want to do it, i normally do it in windows and linux only but the process shouldn't be that different, it is a matter of put the machines on a network, create a workgroup, set ip on the machines if necesary and share something

[ericlooi]

1. the format used by mac pcs afik has been supported in linux for a long time(2006 or something like that), the current kernel should handle it well

2. if you create a local network sharing a folder containng your files linux can acces it, also mac, or windows, depneds on how you want to do it, i normally do it in windows and linux only but the process shouldn't be that different, it is a matter of put the machines on a network, create a workgroup, set ip on the machines if necesary and share something

So, it will be a simple process to create the workgroup and let the macs access it? How about backing up the storage? I would like to have a backup for each disk.

For example: A to A backup, B to B backup and so on. Any software that I can use in that matter?

Thanks!
Eric.

[djohnston]

So, it will be a simple process to create the workgroup and let the macs access it? How about backing up the storage? I would like to have a backup for each disk.

For example: A to A backup, B to B backup and so on. Any software that I can use in that matter?

As far as I know, your Mac will be using the HFS file system. You need to double check that. If so, you will need the hfs-utils package from Synaptic for reading/writing. You will probably want to install the hfsutils-hfs package, too, for a full GUI. I would test the write from Linux to Mac function very carefully before commiting to it.

For the backup software, put hfs in the search box in Synaptic to see which programs there are to choose from. There are more than one.

[ericlooi]

So, it will be a simple process to create the workgroup and let the macs access it? How about backing up the storage? I would like to have a backup for each disk.

For example: A to A backup, B to B backup and so on. Any software that I can use in that matter?

As far as I know, your Mac will be using the HFS file system. You need to double check that. If so, you will need the hfs-utils package from Synaptic for reading/writing. You will probably want to install the hfsutils-hfs package, too, for a full GUI. I would test the write from Linux to Mac function very carefully before commiting to it.

For the backup software, put hfs in the search box in Synaptic to see which programs there are to choose from. There are more than one.

I have 8 drives which is Mac formatted, extended journal. Now if I put pclinuxos in another drive as main os drive and the rest are add on drives, will there be any problems writing and reading those drives from Mac?

[djohnston]

I have 8 drives which is Mac formatted, extended journal. Now if I put pclinuxos in another drive as main os drive and the rest are add on drives, will there be any problems writing and reading those drives from Mac?

I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at. If PCLinuxOS is on the 9th drive, as the main OS, would you not be booting from Linux? Where would reading and writing "those drives" (the 8 drives?) from Mac come into the picture? The more I think about it, the more I think T6's idea is the easiest and the best. Share your data via a network. Use native OS tools for reading and writing and backing up data. If you access any data over a LAN, the data is filesystem agnostic. In other words, reading from a Linux-written file on a network drive and writing it locally to the Mac is done with Mac native tools. It would be the same for reading Mac data from a network drive and writing it locally to a Linux drive. The common filesystem is NFS (network file system) or CIFS (SAMBA), depending on what networking method you use.

To make an analogy, I set up a PING ("PING is not Ghost") server in the shop where I worked. The server booted and ran Linux. But, it was used for storing WindowsXP disk images. WindowsXP and appropriate programs for our business clients was installed to a workstation PC. The workstation was then PXE booted over a local area network from the PING server. The PING program then did a byte copy of the XP disk image to an XP partition on the PING server.

Again, the PING server was running Linux. But, it had two extra data drives formatted with NTFS for holding the workstation disk images. We could then stream the disk image, byte for byte, back to a blank hard drive on a client workstation PC. This was an effective cloning method. The NTFS file attributes were preserved on both ends.

Possible points of failure are introduced any time you try to use one OS's file tools on a different OS.

[ericlooi]

I have 8 drives which is Mac formatted, extended journal. Now if I put pclinuxos in another drive as main os drive and the rest are add on drives, will there be any problems writing and reading those drives from Mac?

I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at. If PCLinuxOS is on the 9th drive, as the main OS, would you not be booting from Linux? Where would reading and writing "those drives" (the 8 drives?) from Mac come into the picture? The more I think about it, the more I think T6's idea is the easiest and the best. Share your data via a network. Use native OS tools for reading and writing and backing up data. If you access any data over a LAN, the data is filesystem agnostic. In other words, reading from a Linux-written file on a network drive and writing it locally to the Mac is done with Mac native tools. It would be the same for reading Mac data from a network drive and writing it locally to a Linux drive. The common filesystem is NFS (network file system) or CIFS (SAMBA), depending on what networking method you use.

To make an analogy, I set up a PING ("PING is not Ghost") server in the shop where I worked. The server booted and ran Linux. But, it was used for storing WindowsXP disk images. WindowsXP and appropriate programs for our business clients was installed to a workstation PC. The workstation was then PXE booted over a local area network from the PING server. The PING program then did a byte copy of the XP disk image to an XP partition on the PING server.

Again, the PING server was running Linux. But, it had two extra data drives formatted with NTFS for holding the workstation disk images. We could then stream the disk image, byte for byte, back to a blank hard drive on a client workstation PC. This was an effective cloning method. The NTFS file attributes were preserved on both ends.

Possible points of failure are introduced any time you try to use one OS's file tools on a different OS.

I've tested connecting my Mac to Pc via LAN cable to retrieve data and vice versa without any problems. It is in the network group. So, does this mean I can do the same in pclinuxos without any problems reading n writing on the drives?

[djohnston]

I've tested connecting my Mac to Pc via LAN cable to retrieve data and vice versa without any problems. It is in the network group.

PCLinuxOS is in the Mac network group? Using what networking protocol on the Mac? PCLinuxOS has to be able to "talk the same talk".

[ericlooi]

I've tested connecting my Mac to Pc via LAN cable to retrieve data and vice versa without any problems. It is in the network group.

PCLinuxOS is in the Mac network group? Using what networking protocol on the Mac? PCLinuxOS has to be able to "talk the same talk".

I'm not sure how Linux works but for win7 I just put the LAN cable both at win7 n Mac then I can share files in the workgroup. Which means the win7 is the main os for pc n I can access the files in pc from my Mac.

I just wanna know if pclinuxos will be as easy as that when it comes to file sharing with. Mac? Here's the picture of what I want:

1. The pc will use pclinuxos as boot and I will add the Mac formatted drives in the pc. Will that work?
2. If yes, can I just plug in the LAN cable on both ends and then read and write the Mac formatted drives fro
My Mac?

Hope you get what I mean.

[T6]

you are confusing me

do you want to dualboot a mac with pclinux?

or just share files?

share files is done by a protocol common to obth machines, this is why you cna share files between mac, windows and linux, same for files on internet, if both sides talk the same language all can be done

the partition type on each machine has no relation to the other machine or the os it has, it is only important if all machines are in the same network connected and ready to share files

linux is the strongest os for internet and networks

decide what partition or folder you want to share and share it, there is kde control center, samba and other ways to share depending on how you have the network

sometimes it is easier to share windows style so windows machines can see the rest of the pcs on the network, this is why i mention samba

[ericlooi]

you are confusing me

do you want to dualboot a mac with pclinux?

or just share files?

share files is done by a protocol common to obth machines, this is why you cna share files between mac, windows and linux, same for files on internet, if both sides talk the same language all can be done

the partition type on each machine has no relation to the other machine or the os it has, it is only important if all machines are in the same network connected and ready to share files

linux is the strongest os for internet and networks

decide what partition or folder you want to share and share it, there is kde control center, samba and other ways to share depending on how you have the network

sometimes it is easier to share windows style so windows machines can see the rest of the pcs on the network, this is why i mention samba

Sorry for the confusion. I don't need dual boot cos the pc is only dedicated as a storage center for all the macs to access the files. One hard drive dedicated for Linux and I will get all the current Mac formatted external hard drives in the pc via Sata.

Wanna get Linux just that I can have all my Mac access to the Mac formatted dives that I currently have through the pc because now I have 2 separate enclosures for 6 drives. I hope that I can put all the drives in just a pc and all macs can access the data : read and write on them.

I wanna get the file via LAN cable not wifi for faster transferring rate.

So I can do this by installing Samba?

Thanks!

[T6]

as i said, the drives doesn't need to be formatted in a speciffic type of format when you have them as a media shared on a network, afik you can use whatever type to share since when you are in a network ,the acces is not done directly to the drive, it goes first to the pc using the required protocol but i could be wrong

about sharing space for linux on one hard disk and the rest for mac, i personally would only have a ntfs or a ext4 partition shared for everyone but this depends on the way you want to share(what for who and how much for each one)

samba is the protocol to share files on a microsoft network(useful to add a linux machine to a windows network without going crazy), since you don't have windows machines on your network(at least what i understand) samba sounds like a extra step, unnecesary

i only have done this by using samba so no idea how it is done on anything else, set up the mac network and share resources with the linux machine or if all the machines will just access one resource(no access between mac and linux, just each machine to the disks/shared resources)

if you are using one of those beautiful nas like this one( you mention a enclosure for 6 drives so i assume a big nas unit)

http://www.compsource.com/ttechnote.asp?part_no=GS3215&vid=181&src=PW

those uses two ways to be configured, from a ip opened by using a web browser or from a native windows or mac app that allows to create partitions, arrays, types of partitions, shared resources and similar stuff, this will limit you to what partition types will be created and how the resource will be accessed