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Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > General Discussion > External storage over the network without wires attached?

External storage over the network without wires attached?

Forum Storage : General Discussion External storage over the network without wires attached?

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Hi,

This is what i have in my mind, but i am not sure if something as such exists.
I want an external storage device, which could be connected without a wire. I plan to use this external device for downloads. I would want to connect to this device through my laptop. But without external wires/usb
Is there anyway i could do this.. nas, external drive case which has wifi.. or any external disk bay enclosure..
I have a Netgear N600 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR3700.

Ideally i am looking to attach a 2TB hdd, any such mechanism should not very expensive.

Please help

Reply to exorcist
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You could attach a NAS to the network with the wireless router. This would make it accessible over said wireless network.

The reason for using a NAS is that you need software to present the drive to the clients.

I haven't seen a NAS enclosure with built-in WiFi, probably because it's too easy to plug a wired one into your wired network and then use the wireless PCs to access it.

Reply to WyomingKnott

WyomingKnott wrote :

You could attach a NAS to the network with the wireless router. This would make it accessible over said wireless network.

The reason for using a NAS is that you need software to present the drive to the clients.

I haven't seen a NAS enclosure with built-in WiFi, probably because it's too easy to plug a wired one into your wired network and then use the wireless PCs to access it.



Thanks for your post.

Can you please mention one such example.. one such product from newegg.. and i will thereafter look for brands or models i can choose from.
Also i will appreciate one article/link on how to attach it to the client.

Really appreciate your response.

Reply to exorcist

And here's where I can't help you. I don't use NAS because wired is faster. I generally don't use wireless, although I do have the hardware and my last laptop supported it nicely. So I have never attached to a NAS from a client!

One device: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 822319019. Don't know if it's good.

One article: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 610-3.html .

Other forum members, please help this nice person out.

Edit: For how to connect, have a look at page 27 of the manual for my randomly-selected unit. You can find the manual at http://www.lg.com/us/computer-prod [...] 2A2DD2.jsp


Message edited by WyomingKnott on 05-02-2011 at 10:34:49 PM
Reply to WyomingKnott

I have a ReadyNas Duo NAS which I originally had intentions of using Wireless G but video playback wasn't so hot so I upgraded to Wireless N. So regardless of which NAS you go for ensure that all the devices you want to connect to it are wireless N and have good reception.

There are a variety of single and dual bay NAS boxes out there as well as more featured boxes with additional bays and RAID functions. There is also devices with built in hard drives which you may want to consider if you don't want to install your own drive.

Reply to Rusting In Peace

rubigine in pace


Message edited by WyomingKnott on 05-03-2011 at 02:50:35 PM
Reply to WyomingKnott


My best shot at the Latin for "Rust in peace," in comparison to the better known "Requiescat in pace," which means "Rest in peace."

Reply to WyomingKnott

Rusting In Peace wrote :

I have a ReadyNas Duo NAS which I originally had intentions of using Wireless G but video playback wasn't so hot so I upgraded to Wireless N. So regardless of which NAS you go for ensure that all the devices you want to connect to it are wireless N and have good reception.

There are a variety of single and dual bay NAS boxes out there as well as more featured boxes with additional bays and RAID functions. There is also devices with built in hard drives which you may want to consider if you don't want to install your own drive.




Ok you were true about this. I tried readyshare feature by attaching an external hard disk to the USB of the router, and the video is real crappy.
Now this router that i have is a wireless N. But still the crappy video. Is there a way to turn on the wireless N feature?

Reply to exorcist

It should be configurable in the router webpage somewhere.

But remember if you don't have wireless N on the machines you are trying to connect to it's impossible to use wireless N; you need wireless N capable devices.

Just as a test, try connecting a machine up by ethernet cable to the router and see what the video playback is like. Just because the readyshare feature is available doesn't mean it can perform for video - even when using wired.

Reply to Rusting In Peace

Guys thanks for all your help. Your suggestions gave me lot of insight into this new techonolgy of NAS and media server storage systems
I ended up buying MyDitto.

http://m.gizmodo.com/5441548/the-m [...] e-solution

I found this to be an ideal nas storage solution for my needs. I still have to recieve the item through amazon. Hopefully shud be in my wednesday. I hope i made a good purchase.

I have one question though that i am confused with, i will be using two laptops wirelessly and remotely for accessing the drives, plus an ipad and a smart phone, however i would like to primarily use it with my home computer which is attached to the internet through a cat6 cable. Now i wanted to attach this nas storage device to the computer with another cat6 cable for connectivity for faster transfer. Now my delimma is that the network card on my computer has only one connection port. How can i attach the nas cat6 cable to the computer if the port is already holding internet connection cable through the router?


Message edited by exorcist on 05-09-2011 at 03:48:02 PM
Reply to exorcist

Attach the storage device to any other port on your router, or a switch on your network. There is no need for a direct connection.

Reply to WyomingKnott

Yes there are extra unused ports on the router. So if i connect the nas device to the router, the single internet cat6 cable can itself also act as a connector between the nas device and the computer?

Reply to exorcist

I'm not sure that I understand that. But: One cable attaches the nas device to the router, on cable attaches the computer to the router, and the hardware in the router forms a data connection between the nas device and the computer.

Technically, it's not the router itself that does it, but the "switch" embedded in the router. But who cares?

Reply to WyomingKnott

Ok, i will try that and let you know today evening.

Reply to exorcist

This just popped up: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/g [...] 12754.html .
Not what you want, but an amusing coincidence.

Reply to WyomingKnott
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