New to File Sharing - Need File Sharing Basics

Could anyone help direct me to a file sharing 101 document or website.  Just purchased the WD TV Live and have been able to share the files that are saved on my desktop computer but not my external hard drives.  Not sure exactly how to pull those into the shared folders?  Can I add shared folder (right now only see folders for pictures, music and videos)?  Are there any tips/tricks for setting up shared folders?

OS is Windows XP, external hard drives are WD 500G passport and WD Notebook 500G

I’m obviously not very tech savvy so any help would be appreciated.

thanks

You share an external HD attached to your computer the same way you shared the internal drive.

thanks!  If i have video clips on two different drives to do i just share each folder or do they have to be consolidated into one folder?  I guess what I’m trying to figure out the best way to share folders and keep them all easily identifable.

If I’m going down the menu in the TV Live and select pictures which files will TV Live search in?  Will all pictures have to be saved in My Pictures folders or does it search all folders for file types that match?

Thanks again for your response.

When you select a Server, it will show you ALL SHARES for that server.

So my recommendation is that you completely portion your Shares so that VIDEO is in one, MUSIC is in a separate one, and PHOTOS are in a third.

One significant weakness of the Live / Live+ is that it will show you ALL MEDIA in the share you select.   It doesn’t matter if you select VIDEOS or PHOTOS or MUSIC … everything will be shown together.

The Hub doesn’t do that;  it will show only VIDEOS when you select Videos, etc.

Sorry, but when you say server are you referring to the external drive that is being shared.  Again not very tech savvy so get lost in the terminology sometimes…

thanks again for your assistance!

The server is the computer to which the external drive is attached.