Assigning an I.P address to a USB Memory stick

E6600 · 4 Nov 2014 at 12:08

Please no cloud suggestions; it is not a viable option with my poor home broadband upload performance.

My home router has two USB ports in to one of which I plug a memory stick that forms one component of a multiple layer backup strategy.

The reason for writing this backup layer to a USB stick is so that when I travel - which I do a lot - I put it in my jacket pocket and take it with me. If my laptop fails or is stolen I can still work if I use another machine. The backup utility always correctly updates the file images on the USB stick on arrival back home no matter how long I was away or how many changes were made.

What I would really like to do though is be able to trick the USB drive in to appearing to the laptop (Lenovo X1 with W7 Professional x64 SP1) as a network device with the same fixed I.P address as when it is connected to the router back home; I will then be able to maintain backups whilst travelling, further enhancing redundancy in the case of laptop failure of loss.

The workaround in use at the moment is to have two backups on the USB stick - one which is written when connected to the laptop and the other when connected to the router - and two corresponding backup profiles in the backup tool but is there a driver or hack that can help dispense with the workaround, please? It is *only* when the particular thumbnail drive is plugged in that I desire this behaviour.

TVM,
E6600

E6600 · 4 Nov 2014 at 21:09

Many thanks for the replies and suggestions.

My broadband upload speed is typically 100kbps so yes, cloud really is out of the question. Been there. Tried that. Suffered the frustration.

Yes, the router turns the USB stick in to a NAS. Very handy as my three "real" NAS devices are rather too bulky to slip in to a jacket pocket! Of course the USB stick displays as a drive when plugged in to the laptop but the backup software does not see it because it is not carrying the expected I.P. address.

I was hoping that some software existed that could make a USB drive appear as a network drive with manually assigned I.P. address and it seems the VM approach might be on to something. Thanks for that. Now to find a free VM with low CPU and memory overhead (not that the laptop is lacking but I don't want to crack a nut with a sledgehammer).

Cheers,
E6600

E6600 · 4 Nov 2014 at 22:43

With respect, you misunderstand. Every time the stick is plugged in to the router, yes, it has the same I.P. address. This is an essential part of the backup working.
When I am in Timbuktoo on business and the same stick is plugged in to the laptop it becomes a local drive, F for the record - so the backup tool does not recognise it as the same device with the same backup. For this to happen I have to fool the backup tool in to thinking that F:\backup is actually 192.168.10.23\backup despite not actually being a network drive at all.

E6600 · 6 Nov 2014 at 14:21

Oh boy. Ask a clear question and and the thread goes off on tangents anyway, supposing things when in fact the available information isn't there and the suppositions are plain wrong.

Per my original post the memory stick forms one component of a multiple layer backup strategy. The other layers are irrelevant to my question.

Anyway, there appears not to be a piece of simply configured software to mimic a network address via USB and there are good reasons why the USB stick is not connected to the laptop when at home, so thank you anyway and good night!