Hi,

I was researching ways on how to attach a hard drive externally to my xbox, when I remembered that it had an Ethernet port that I would not be using. So, my idea is, could I buy an Ethernet swtich (like this: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...amp;CatId=2786 and then connect it to a hard drive (like this: http://www.jr.com/lacie-301156u-1tb/pe/LAC_301156U/). Would XBMC be able to find the hard drive and recognize it if i simply ran an Ethernet cable from the xbox to the swtich and from the switch to the hard drive?

Any ideas, thoughts, and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I have a Western Digital World Book drive that is a stand alone NAS. The Xbox sees it on the network just fine. I haven't tried connecting them together with a crossover cable, but they are connected through the router and a switch.

is there any way u could try connecting them directly and letting me know if it works? That would be a huge help to me, because if it does, then I will most likely buy something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...82E16822136196R

Do i have to connect the xbox and the hard drive to my home network in order for this to work, or can i just connect them together using an ethernet cable? (or does this require a swtich)?

either should work connected directly via crossover, as long as you can set a static IP (and i dont see why you wouldnt be able to)

so i can just run a crossover cable from the xbox to the hard drive WITHOUT putting either of them on my home network and access all of the files on the hard drive through XBMC?

Can anyone else confirm this before i start making purchases?

Thanks!

please?

It is just as Vader says. If you can set a static IP on the box (and they'd be mad to disclude that option), it'll work whether a switch/router is present or not.

I have some work to do this morning. When I get back I will try to connect the NAS to the Xbox with a crossover cable and post my results. As stated before though, it should work. If the device can be set with a static IP from a PC and the Xbox is set to a static IP with the same network settings, they should find each other.

Thank you very much hotjob, please let me know how it goes. I really appreciate the help,

thanks!