Setting up a file server

It’s not only music you can share across your network. Having the files you and other family members need to access regularly in a central location can help to avoid confusion. Remember, however, to back them up regularly – either with Time Machine or with a disk cloning utility such as Carbon Copy Cloner (£28 from bombich.com). 1 Prepare

your server Go to System Preferences > Energy Saver on your sever, and follow step 2 of our iTunes server tutorial. We’d also suggest using System Preferences > Network to set a static (fixed) IP address by changing the IPv4 configuration to ‘Using DHCP with manual address’. To do this, you’ll need to find out about your router IP address settings, which is outside the scope of this tutorial. If you’re not sure how to do this – don’t! 2 Enable

file sharing On every Mac you want to be able to share files from (including your new server) go to System Preferences > Sharing, and tick in the boxes next to File Sharing and Screen Sharing. 3 Accessing

your server To access your server, open a Finder window, and look for the name of your server in the sidebar. Click on it, and you’ll be given the choice either to Connect As… or Share Screen. Click your choice, then enter an admin user name and password: this should be an admin user registered on the server, not on your Mac. Once you’re in, you can navigate the server’s contents as you would your own Mac.