In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, each computer 10 and 11 in the system of FIG. 2 runs UNIX??? as its operating system, although the method of the invention may be implemented with other operating systems, such as Windows 95,??? Windows 98??? or Windows NT.??? In a UNIX??? based system, the external storage devices 12 and 13 are ???mounted??? to be accessed by either computer 10