HDD connected straight to network/router

Mark M · 25 Apr 2006 at 13:15

Just got the internet put in at my new house and have decided to get rid of my main PC and just use our 2 laptops wireless. No problems there.

The only problem I have is that my PC had about 100gb of music on it that I dont want/cant put on the laptops as they only have 40gb HDD's. I have seen some external HDDs on another site that will plug straight into a network port on my router and would do the job perferctly. However I dont have £140+ to spend on one at the moment

Is there anyway I can connect a normal HDD upto the router at a more cost effective manner? After all I do have the HDD out of my computer which could hopefully be utilised?

Thanks for any help, Mark

ChrisLX200 · 25 Apr 2006 at 13:38

Well you could buy an external USB drive case, pop your harddrive into that, and share it as a network drive attached to one or other laptop.

Mark M · 25 Apr 2006 at 13:46

Dont really want a USB one as both laptops might not be on together or they might be both on at the same time. Just depends but I would prefer to have it available to any computer regardless of one being on.

Plus it will mean that if Ive got my laptop with me on the couch I will have to carry along the USB drive, like wise if Im upstairs etc.

SiriusB · 25 Apr 2006 at 14:30

As far as I know I dont think its possible to knock your own up. The reason why commercial NAS's are expensive is they are I would imagine a mini computer in its own right. It needs a network interface, Disk controller, power, processing to deal with requests etc...

The only DIY solution is make yourself a storage box.... doesnt have to be some monster server machine, but I would imagine it would cost more than 140 quid in the end and probably be a pain to set up as well.

Id just get your wallet out and have a good cry when you get the NAS home

SiriusB

ChrisLX200 · 25 Apr 2006 at 14:38

Well there's no cheap alternative I can see. Maybe keep your PC hidden away somewhere and just run it as a storage server?

bradbcam · 25 Apr 2006 at 14:48

Can you not run your old pc as a server?

Mark M · 25 Apr 2006 at 14:50

I could do but to be honest I would be a bit concious of leaving a PC on 24/7. Would it not cost a fair wack in electricity charges? The current PSU is 400w so will use a bit of juice will it not?

Edit - Im not being tight but have to watch the costs at my first home

Six6siX · 25 Apr 2006 at 15:01

Just from a quick search in networks, may be useful to you.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17553513&highlight=hard+drive

I've had no personal experience with network hard drives, but as far as running an old PC as a server/storage machine goes, I dont think it will consume that much power - after all, its just a barebones box with a hard drive or 2.

semi-pro waster · 25 Apr 2006 at 15:01

Mark M said:
I could do but to be honest I would be a bit concious of leaving a PC on 24/7. Would it not cost a fair wack in electricity charges? The current PSU is 400w so will use a bit of juice will it not?

Edit - Im not being tight but have to watch the costs at my first home

Your PC will only use as much power as it needs, i.e. it makes next to no difference whether you have a 400w PSU or a 600w PSU. From what I remember leaving a PC on permanantly is pretty negligible in terms on power consumption.

If you can't/won't buy the proper NAS box then I think your old PC will be the best solution or you could just copy say the 20gb most used music onto your laptop and leave the rest and stream it from your PC as and when needed.

Mark M · 25 Apr 2006 at 15:17

Decisions decisions and more problems and expense

Old PC as server would be ok but I dont have a wireless network card for it which would mean that I would have to have the router and the server in the spare room which doesnt have a telephone point

I just dont know what to do for the best!!

SNIPERWOLF/ · 25 Apr 2006 at 19:56

you can actually buy a router that has a usb port on it to connect a hdd or flash disk to it for storage use.
i cant remember what them make of it was but i will try to find out
SNIPERWOLF

ChrisLX200 · 25 Apr 2006 at 20:41

You can also buy devices that connect USB drives to a network (Linksys make the NSLU2UK and D-Link the DNS-120 for example). But then, you have to buy it and also a USB drive case if you don't have one. Price gets close to the original £140 for the dedicated NAS device.

Mercutio · 26 Apr 2006 at 01:36

Theres very few that will take your own drive with data already on. If you can shunt the data around until the drives on the network (empty) your choices get much wider. Do a search for "netgear toaster" and you'll find the exact device u want. You MUST move the data off the drives to somewhere you can hold it for a while first.

As a tip - dont bother raiding the driver, your network will (nearly) always be slower. Leave them as seperate drives then you can upgrade at will

Tomsk · 27 Apr 2006 at 20:52

You can get external drive boxes that have LAN interfaces on them.
A Macpower model costs ~£60 and has USB2 & LAN interfaces.

ChrisLX200 · 27 Apr 2006 at 22:13

I've yet to see one with a gigabit interface though, all seem to be 10/100BaseT. I would hate to move much stuff over the network at that speed.

ErNciLator · 28 Apr 2006 at 15:27

What you're thinking of is NAS - network attached storage.

You're right; they can be quite pricey, but if I remember correctly, some of the older models, aslong as you are familiar with linux, you can easily open them, put your hd in and reload a base linux os.