First, here are some specifications: I own 2 laptops, 1 runs XP, the other Vista, and I have a Maxtor external 200Gb USB hard drive and an Actiontec router (wireless or wired capable). What I am trying to find out is if I can hook up the Maxtor to the Actiontec via USB and access it wireless from both laptops? I can't get any answers from Maxtor regarding the hard drive since they have been purchased by Seagate and since I am not a distributor, supplier or reseller, they won't allow me to register and get support (IMO that's lame). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I suspect you won't be able to do that unless you can find a USB to RJ-45 adapter that can be configured with TCP/IP addressing. Just plugging the unit into your router won't be enough. In order to communicate on the network, it would also have to have an IP address and I doubt the external HDD itself is capable of being addressed directly. If it were capable, it would have an RJ-45 connector on it to plug it into the network. The simple solution is to plug it into one of the laptops and to share it. Then it can be accessed from the other laptop simply by mapping a drive to it.

I am already aware of being able to do this via hooking up 1 computer and mapping a drive. Not really a route I want to take since that makes the laptop that is hooked up to the Maxtor stationery which defeats that purpose. Thanks for the reply.

Not really a route I want to take since that makes the laptop that is hooked up to the Maxtor stationery which defeats that purpose. No it doesn't. You can unplug the HDD from the one laptop if you need to take it somewhere, and then plug it into the other. You can easily have the external HDD setup, and shared, on both laptops.

If the router doesn't have a usb port and support usb drives [some do] then this conversation is a moot point. The router has to support direct attach drives. This is not something you look to a drive to accomplish. You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

What you need is Network Attached Storage (NAS). They are computers that provide a network connection to the hard drive. Linksys has such a device that connects to 2 USB storage drives. One can be a hard drive. Part No.NSLU2