I have bought an Iomega usb hard disk 500GB and I have various computers. The idea is to use the USB as massive storage device and access it from various computers at the same time. Can this be done? I saw in a shop a hard disk that came with this incorporated, but was quite expensive. Could this work with an usb splitter or something?
Are all your computers on the same network?
Right click on the drive letter (in my computer) >sharing and security>set up the share
Then if you want to connect to it (you can also ‘map’ it as a permanent network drive from another computer - so it would appear in the other computers 'my computer) just type into the start>run box ‘\compname’
where compname=the name of the computer with the USB drive on, it should appear in the window of shared folders.
There are more advanced ways of doing this but this is the cheap and cheerfull ie. easy way of doing it 
Thank you for the information, but it is to be used by computers that do not belong to a network, just are independent. It is like that:
[computer]<—>[USB]<—>[Hard Disk]<—>[USB]<—>[other pc]
The other hard disk was a woxter I-cube 35 hub
.: WOXTER :. Audiovisual Multimedia Electronics: the best quality at the best price
Not wanting to be at all cynical but if you have two (or more) computers why not get them networked? It would make this task easier, allow for sharing of much more than this too - Internet connections, Printers etc
Anyway if you really have your heart set on keeping it all USB then this should see you right.
yes, that may seem to be an answer, however,
Wikipedia
a USB device is only allowed to draw 100 mA. It may request more current from the system in units of 100 mA up to a maximum of 500 mA.
however, If a powered USB hub is used, the amount of power USB devices are allowed to use is 6A (all device connected to the hub)
Some USB devices draw more power than is permitted by the specification for a single port. This is a common requirement of external hard and optical disc drives and other devices with motors or lamps. Such devices can be used with an external power supply of adequate rating; some external hubs may, in practice, supply sufficient power. For portable devices where external power is not available, but not more than 1 A is required at 5 V, devices may have connectors to allow the use of two USB cables, doubling available power but reducing the number of USB ports available to other devices.
Edited Source
although, a USB HDD doesn’t use much power, that autoswitch may use a lot
BTW: i can’t find any power specifications on that Lindy autoswitch
Edit: as ferg suggested you will benefit most by networking 2 or more systems by installing a cheap NIC into each system
Thank you. The hard disk is big (2.5 inches) and is self-powered.
[QUOTE=flowda]
Thank you.
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np
physical size is unimportant, except when carrying it around
power is will not be an issue then