Issues connecting to Iomega StorCenter network harddrive with Mac OS 10.4.x

I am having difficulties connecting to an Iomega StorCenter harddrive under Mac OS X 10.4.10:

The drive is visible within the network but whenever I click the "Connect..."-button the mouse pointer changes to the spinning beach ball and I have to restart the Finder to continue working.

Those Iomega StorCenter drives use Windows shares, so Mac OS X tries to connect with Samba i presume. Under Mac OS 10.3.x all works well, I can establish a connection and moves files to and from the shares but whenever I try to connect from Mac OS X 10.4.x the computer hangs as described above.

I have checked the workgroup settings and noticed that Mac and harddrive are not in the same workgroup. However this should not be a problem as you can connect under Mac OS X 10.3.x and while connecting, you can enter the workgroup of the target drive or server in question.

Iomega has come up with a solution which you can find here:
https://iomega-na-en.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/iomegana_en.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=18423&pcreated=1142005136

I want to find a more convenient way, though – a solution that is acceptable for people who are not used to command line interfaces.

Any ideas?

What is the cause for the connection problem anyway?
It seems that many are having issues regarding Mac OS X 10.4.x and Samba...