External USB 3.0 drive, can you attach a USB to Ethernet adapter?

JohnStewart · 23 Jan 2022 at 11:01

A friend of mine has been working from home for the past few months. He has an external USB drive that holds music, photos, backups of documents etc. however, his wife also works from home in a separate room, and previously had exclusive use of the drive during the day and there have been times when both wanted to use the drive at the same time.

I suggested one could attach the drive to their laptop and make it shareable, but this isn’t ideal as it needs the laptop to be permanently on. Attaching to their Wi-Fi router isn’t ideal either as it sits above a kitchen unit to get a decent signal throughout their house for tablets and phones. They use a telephone extension in the kitchen to connect instead of the master socket in the lounge.

He spotted USB to Ethernet adaptors on a website and asked if he plugged this into the USB port of the drive, it would make it accessible to both if plugged into a network port as their house has a single port in most rooms installed by the previous owner with a gigabit switch in the hall cupboard. I said I didn’t think it would work, as you couldn’t install a device driver for the adapter.

I know a NAS would be the ideal solution, but the cost outweighs the benefit for what is likely to be a few months use at most.

Any (low cost) suggestions?

t31os · 23 Jan 2022 at 16:11

USB NAS adapters do exist, but i'd not expect them to be easy to source(nor especially good quality if cheap) or provide especially good transfer rates.

A Raspberry PI NAS Server would be on the cheap end, there would just be some time investment learning how to get it setup, but it would be low cost. Plenty of guides out there, here's the first i found from a quick google.

https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-nas-for-whole-home-file-sharing

Snapshot · 23 Jan 2022 at 18:35

I found this: Silex E1305 DS-510 USB Device Server which appears to do what you want but has the disadvantage that only one PC can connect at a time.
I'd plug the router into the master socket and the ethernet, attach the USB drive to it then use a wi-fi extender or two in access-point mode wired into the ethernet to get the signal where it's needed.

SonicSW20 · 23 Jan 2022 at 18:37

Check the specs / manual of your router. Some consumer / home routers have a USB storage functionality that'll take any USB storage and turn it into a NAS.

Snapshot · 24 Jan 2022 at 08:27

SonicSW20 said:
Check the specs / manual of your router. Some consumer / home routers have a USB storage functionality that'll take any USB storage and turn it into a NAS.

See the second paragraph of the O/P.

SonicSW20 · 24 Jan 2022 at 11:40

Snapshot said:
See the second paragraph of the O/P.

Missed that. Unless its going to be removed / installed frequently I don't see why a slightly inconvenient location should be a total roadblock to what would be the simplest solution if the router supports it.

Mcnumpty2323 · 24 Jan 2022 at 11:58

Cheap second router?
In a more convenient place
Use it as a repeater or access point
Plug the usb into that

Or just get another external drive
And have one each lol

JohnStewart · 24 Jan 2022 at 12:16

Huge thanks for all the suggestions

Looked at the Silex device which looks like it would fit the bill, but a little on the pricy side for what "hopefully" is just a few months use.
As Mcnumpty suggested it would be cheaper to buy a second drive and they can have one each

Also looking at Raspberry Pi options, as that's something I didn't think about.

The issue with the kitchen placement of their existing router is that there's only a double socket socket underneath the wall unit it sits on top of. The power and phone cables are taped together and run through a small hole drilled in the base and top, and the kettle or toaster (can't remember which) is plugged into the other mains socket. Adapters and extentions are a possibilty but it would be a bit more messy/fiddly when he was looking for a simple £12 plug and play option.

Mcnumpty2323 · 24 Jan 2022 at 12:48

All depends how much data we are talking about
But if it's just stuff for work
Surely it's not a massive amount?
Just Under 10 quid for a 32 GB 100MBs read and write
Flash drive
Or 13 quid for 64gb
20 quid for 128gb
Or just copy the usb to the laptop?
In a folder or even make a separate partition for it

Mcnumpty2323 · 24 Jan 2022 at 13:08

Another option
If they have any old android phone or tablet laying around
You can use it as a WiFi nas/file share device

JohnStewart · 24 Jan 2022 at 14:34

Mcnumpty2323 said:
All depends how much data we are talking about
But if it's just stuff for work
Surely it's not a massive amount?
Just Under 10 quid for a 32 GB 100MBs read and write
Flash drive
Or 13 quid for 64gb
20 quid for 128gb
Or just copy the usb to the laptop?
In a folder or even make a separate partition for it

I believe there's several Tb of data on the drive, which is too big for them to store on either laptop. How much of that is music, photos and videos and how much of it is work data I'm not sure.

I pointed him to the Raspberry PI and got a reply along the lines of WTF

So far, I think his preferred option is to look for a second hand range extender for the wifi, and move the router to the master socket and plug it into there - so many thanks for that suggestion

Snapshot · 24 Jan 2022 at 17:35

I have the odd range-extender or two sitting idle. Put something in the wanted section and we can chat.

Rroff · 24 Jan 2022 at 17:39

Availability seems a bit hit and miss due to the Amazon de-listing/ban but I've been using a RavPower Filehub as a portable solution (also works well wired) for this kind of thing though it has its limitations and as a portable aimed device performance is nothing special - but adequate for sharing an external HDD.

Mcnumpty2323 · 24 Jan 2022 at 17:57

JohnStewart said:
I believe there's several Tb of data on the drive, which is too big for them to store on either laptop. How much of that is music, photos and videos and how much of it is work data I'm not sure.

I pointed him to the Raspberry PI and got a reply along the lines of WTF

So far, I think his preferred option is to look for a second hand range extender for the wifi, and move the router to the master socket and plug it into there - so many thanks for that suggestion

youre welcome mate
shouldnt be expensive at all
i picked up a huawei ax3 for 30 quid
and thats a wifi 6 router that can also be a repeater/extender
and an access point etc
you will probably get something cheaper than that
i see someones already offering something

Rroff · 24 Jan 2022 at 18:07

JohnStewart said:
I believe there's several Tb of data on the drive, which is too big for them to store on either laptop. How much of that is music, photos and videos and how much of it is work data I'm not sure.

I hope they have that backed up - sounds to me like they need to invest in a NAS which can do real-time replication to an external drive and/or regular static copies.

JohnStewart · 26 Jan 2022 at 12:09

Snapshot said:
I have the odd range-extender or two sitting idle. Put something in the wanted section and we can chat.

Many thanks for the offer, but I don't have enough posts yet to see the marketplace area of the forum. I believe my friend has got one sorted now via FB marketplace

Rroff said:
I hope they have that backed up - sounds to me like they need to invest in a NAS which can do real-time replication tpre-COVID normal status.o an external drive and/or regular static copies.

It is their backup drive :cry:

I believe they copy the "latest" version of a file onto their laptops from the external drive, and then save it back to the drive when finished. I'm from the "you can never have too many backups" camp myself, and will try to get them sorted out with at least a cloud backup once we are back to pre-COVID normal status.