NAS-enable an external USB drive?

enkoda

enkoda

enkoda

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I'm looking for a cheap & hassle free solution to this problem.
I use the Plex app on my Samsung TV to stream films from my pc (films are stored on an internal drive and backed up on an external USB drive). This works fine except for one problem - we can't access anything if the pc isn't switched on.

The obvious solution is to get a NAS enclosure and pop the internal drive in it, but I don't want to fork out £80+ if I can help it.

Would a USB3.0 NAS adapter work? Is it simply a case of plug the external drive into it, plug that into my router then it's seen as a network drive? And, obviously, any recommendations or alternatives?
 
Do you run Plex server on your PC, or is the Plex app on your TV just accessing your media as regular DLNA?

If the former then you're going to need to leave something on 24/7 (or at a minimum when you want to play something). That's either a PC or more than £80 worth of NAS.

if the latter then you need something that can act as a DLNA server as well as convert your USB drive to Ethernet. Many routers can do this so you may not need to buy anything if you see a USB port on your router - post the model here and I'm sure someone can advise. Otherwise I'm sure there are NAS adopters but can't comment on how good they are.
 
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BigT: yes, the pc is running Plex server. And I've just cancelled Sky, going with TalkTalk which means a new router arriving in the next week or so.

A mate *could* be upgrading his network storage soon so I may have first refusal on his Synology unit - I don't know the model but £80 has been mentioned in passing. I don't mind going this route, I'd rather try and spend as little as possible!

So I'll guess it's worth hanging on to see what the TalkTalk router is capable of doing?
 
If you continue down the Plex Server route then you'll need a PC or high end NAS running the server software. Certainly Synology NASs do but I'm not sure what else.

I don't think I've seen a router that out of the box has a Plex server built in and almost certainly the TalkTalk router won't have it.

Many would suggest an HP Microserver running XPEnology as a good solution to run a Plex Server, or put a regular OS on it and the Plex Server. It'll act as a power efficient PC on 24x7 using not much more electricity than a NAS.

A cheaper alternative, if your TalkTalk router has a USB port and supports sharing a USB disk as network storage, is to buy an Amazon Fire stick to plug into the TV and sideload something called Kodi. This will then read media files off bog standard NAS storage if your router supports it. That'd be £35 and you'd use it instead of the Plex app on your TV.
 
Can't you just plug the external USB drive into your TV?

Plex is fine and all but if it needs to transcode you're going to need a mid range or better NAS to cope with it.
 
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