Please I need your help

I've searched the forums for an answer for a long time now and I have found lots of great info but could not find the info that i need. Now I post pleading for your help and advice.

situation:

I have a macbook.
I have an external usb/FW hard drive with ALL my media on it.
I also have a PC running windows XP.

I would like to know if it is possible for both computers to share the hard drive and access the media files on that hard drive from either computer. The hard drive is formatted in FAT32. The hard drive also has two usb ports on it. Would it be possible if I just plug two usb cables into it, one from each computer and use it that way? Can I use them at the same time? Or can only one computer access the hard drive at a time.

I've been crawling under the desk to switch the usb cable from one computer to the other but it has gotten old very fast.

ps. if this is not possible could somebody please suggest an alternative.
-thanks

pss. I don't have the pc and mac in any sort of work group or network together. mostly cause I don't know how to do that either. Bothe computers use the wifi to my wireless router for internet connection. that's about as techy as I got.

thanks in advance for ANY HELP.

awe, I can't be the only person who has ever wanted to try this can I?

If you replace the USB/FW enclosure with a networked one, then it can be made available on your network. Google "NAS enclosures", or look on eBay. Examples are the LinkSys NSLU2, or the Buffalo LinkStation Pro.

(PS It's bad form to bump a topic so soon after posting it. Give people a chance to see it. )

Or if both computers are on the same network (share the same router), then you can put the drive on one computer and share it to the network.