Western Digital Netcenter

More and more houses now have their own networks and it's common to share files between the related PCs.

Rather than using the file and printer sharing built into Windows, the Western Digital Netcenter, with 320Gb of hard disk space, can store and distribute data without being attached to a PC.

Setting it up involves plugging it in, starting it up then connecting it to a free network port on your router. Running the included software on a connected PC will create a Desktop shortcut for the disk, and will allow you to set up a username and password.

The Netcenter can connect a printer to the network via the USB port on its back panel. It can also back up files from attached PCs, but it can't send media to a media streaming device.