Network Hard drive

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  • n07tv
    Automated Home Sr Member
    • May 2004
    • 52

    Network Hard drive

    I have some large external hard drives in USB caddies. I would like to instead have these acessible to all PCs on my LAN via the ADSL router.

    Anyone know if you can get simialr caddies (just the caddy) with an ethernet port on them ?

    Thnx
    n.
  • TimH
    Automated Home Legend
    • Feb 2004
    • 509

    #2
    Re: Network Hard drive

    There's a few, I thought the Buffalo Terrastation offered a "no-disk" option but can't seem to find it now.

    Synology do a few different units and these seem to get good feedback.

    There's also the Netgear SC101 Storage Central Network Storage but this gets mixed reviews.

    I'm sure there are others too.

    HTH,

    Tim.
    My Flickr Photos

    Comment

    • IanH
      Automated Home Lurker
      • Aug 2006
      • 4

      #3
      Re: Network Hard drive

      if you have several which you want to use, then why not grab a rubbishy old pc, shove them in and stick on a nice small linux distro..there are plenty which will do this for you.

      Comment

      • Paul_B
        Automated Home Legend
        • Jul 2006
        • 608

        #4
        Re: Network Hard drive

        The Linksys NSLU2 supports external USB devices, http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satel...VisitorWrapper

        You can also use an Openversion of the firmware that has seen a lot of improvements / extensions.

        If you have a lot of data then you may want to consider more fault-tolerant solutions badged as NAS. Current players are QNAP (TS-201 & TS-401T), Synology, Iomega, Buffalo.

        You can also go down the PC route but in my experience they will use a lot of power and need patching if you are running Windows.

        I have a hybrid solution. I use a QNAP TS-101 for Network storage and a Mini-ITX based server running Windows 2003 (MIni-ITX from VIA draw less than 30W)

        Comment

        • toscal
          Moderator
          • Oct 2005
          • 2061

          #5
          Re: Network Hard drive

          I built my own NAS using an old PC with a 450MHz AMD processor, 64Mb RAM, and a floppy drive. It boots from the floppy, but it can also boot from a USB stick if your motherboard supports USB. The software is from a company called Server Elements. The software is called Nas-Lite. Took about an hour to build the machine and most of that was searching for a floppy disc. See www.serverelements.com for more details. Using an old PC means you can have upto 4 drives in the machine.
          There are also enclosures available here www.qtds.com/products.asp?recnumber=796 Just insert drive. It also acts as a wireless access point.
          or there is this one www.qtds.com/products.asp?recnumber=954
          IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
          Renovation Spain Blog

          Comment

          • n07tv
            Automated Home Sr Member
            • May 2004
            • 52

            #6
            Re: Network Hard drive

            cheers for all the ideas and info guys. To be honest I want a simple small solution in a box, no extra s/w, no PC, no configuration stuff etc. but thanks foryour ideas.

            I did find something on www.scan.co.uk which may do the trick but it seems to get mixed reviews, but then everything does these days :-)

            n.

            Comment

            • Paul_B
              Automated Home Legend
              • Jul 2006
              • 608

              #7
              Re: Network Hard drive

              N,

              Make a list of your requirements and then compare that to what each device can do. For me I just want network storage. If I want to run a web server, audio streamer, print server, etc Then I will put this on my server. But eac person has different wants and needs

              Comment

              • CCTV_Spud_
                Automated Home Lurker
                • Nov 2004
                • 5

                #8
                TrueNAS is the World's #1 Open Source Storage. Based on OpenZFS, it is trusted by millions and deployed worldwide.


                Free, small and lite with loads of modules including software raid.

                A friend of mine has one with 4 x 300gb USB2 external disks, and 4 500gb disks internally. 3.2TB of network storage.

                Comment

                • TimH
                  Automated Home Legend
                  • Feb 2004
                  • 509

                  #9
                  Originally posted by TimH View Post
                  Synology do a few different units and these seem to get good feedback.
                  Bad form replying to my own post I know, but I've just found the link to the Synology stuff:
                  Whether for work or play, Synology offers a wide range of network-attached storage (NAS) choices for every occasion. Compare specifications below and find the right model for you.


                  HTH,

                  Tim.
                  My Flickr Photos

                  Comment

                  • MccLtd
                    Automated Home Jr Member
                    • May 2006
                    • 19

                    #10
                    Hi,

                    We have just got in a new thermaltake external Network housing and putting it under test at the moment.
                    So far it appears any drive up to 400gig works in them and we are now running data speed tests on it.

                    Here is a link to the devices we are testing:
                    Regards,

                    Da\/e.
                    webshopwww.medwaycomputers.co.uk
                    PCbuild shopwww.instantpc.co.uk
                    Our new Forum:www.hardwareit.co.uk
                    One Stop PC-I.T Shop

                    Comment

                    • mafiu
                      Automated Home Lurker
                      • Jun 2005
                      • 4

                      #11
                      Originally posted by TimH
                      There's a few, I thought the Buffalo Terrastation offered There's also the Netgear SC101 Storage Central Network Storage but this gets mixed reviews.
                      Phew - long time no post - I'm amazed that I can remember how to.

                      With regards the sc101 - does anyone here have any experiance of it ?- because I was looking at that and was about to ask that question. As to performance - I'd only want it to server mp3 and video files to a single media centre xbox - so dont need much.

                      The problem with some linux distros I've tried - is that old mboards dont support newer big drives, and the stuff I have thats spare falls into that category. Also not being too linux savvy, I can easily run the install, but If I want to add another volume at a later date - have no idea what to do.

                      Any experiance of the netgear anyone?

                      Matthew
                      Last edited by Otto-Mate; 9 January 2007, 01:20 PM.

                      Comment

                      • Otto-Mate
                        Founder
                        • Jan 2004
                        • 882

                        #12
                        No experience with the Netgear, but here are some user opinions...

                        Read 27 customer reviews of the Netgear SC101 Wireless Modems & Routers Reviews & compare with other Wireless Routers & Modems at Review Centre


                        Also couple of our articles on NAS's's's's




                        M.
                        Editor AutomatedHome.co.uk


                        www.facebook.com/AutomatedHomeUK
                        www.twitter.com/ottomate
                        www.instagram.com/automatedhome/

                        Comment

                        • Eddie
                          Administrator
                          • Jan 2004
                          • 37

                          #13
                          Originally posted by mafiu View Post
                          With regards the sc101 - does anyone here have any experiance of it ?- because I was looking at that and was about to ask that question. As to performance - I'd only want it to server mp3 and video files to a single media centre xbox
                          The sc101 requires a client to be installed on each PC that accesses it, I don't think it will work with your XBOX.

                          Cheers

                          Ed.

                          Comment

                          • mafiu
                            Automated Home Lurker
                            • Jun 2005
                            • 4

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Eddie View Post
                            The sc101 requires a client to be installed on each PC that accesses it, I don't think it will work with your XBOX.

                            Cheers

                            Ed.
                            So glad I posted this. Mapower nas here I come.

                            Matthew

                            Comment

                            • TimH
                              Automated Home Legend
                              • Feb 2004
                              • 509

                              #15
                              Originally posted by mafiu View Post
                              The problem with some linux distros I've tried - is that old mboards dont support newer big drives, and the stuff I have thats spare falls into that category. Also not being too linux savvy, I can easily run the install, but If I want to add another volume at a later date - have no idea what to do.
                              I think you can get around the mobo/hdd-size issue by using a linux-compatible controller card that'll slot into your PC and hang your drives off that. You'd need to check which ones are supported, but I would very carefully search for feedback on the Highpoint RocketRaid card. From what I recall it can be useful but is extremely "picky" about drivers etc.

                              NAS etc. has been discussed previously on the mailing list, try here for the archives: www.ukha-archive.com

                              HTH,

                              Tim.
                              My Flickr Photos

                              Comment

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