NAS

[randomwalsh]

Hi,

I would like to connect my external hard drives (3 of them) and make them NAS. My query is what router is available in South Africa that can do this and can you connect more than one external hard drive to a router via USB or other method?

Basically I dont want them to be attached to a computer anymore and would like them to be accessed by the network via the router... is this possible?

 

[randomwalsh]

is this even possible to do?

 

[creeper]

Rather buy an empty NAS box

 

[<?php?>]

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/soho-networking/turn-external-hard-drives-into-network-storage-via-usb-with-addonics-nas-adapter/322

The NAS adapter’s one obvious weakness would be that it only has a single USB port. To overcome this limitation, Addonics sells storage racks and towers that can house multiple drives that can connect to the adapter and provide RAID functionality. With that additional cost, however, this solution faces competition from network storage enclosures offered by other companies. Still, this could definitely appeal to those with a external hard drive or large flash drive who want a fairly cheap way to turn it into NAS devices.

 

[<?php?>]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSLU2

The NSLU2 (Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives) is a Network-attached storage (NAS) device made by Linksys introduced in 2004 and discontinued in 2008. It makes USB Flash memory and hard disks accessible over a network using the SMB protocol (also known as Windows file sharing or CIFS). It was superseded mainly by the NAS200 (enclosure type storage link) and in another sense by the WRT600N and WRT300N/350N which both combine a wifi router with a storage link.

The device runs a modified version of Linux and by default, formats hard disks with the ext3 filesystem, but a firmware upgrade from Linksys adds the ability to use NTFS and FAT32 formatted drives with the device for better Windows compatibility. The device has a web interface from which the various advanced features can be configured, including user and group permissions and networking options.

 

[<= ManiaC =>]

Alternatively if you have an old pc laying around you could always run FreeNAS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeNAS

 

[Bumzilla]

i think belkin had a router that you can attach via usb. but then, ManiaC has a better solution

 

[any14]

If you plan on buying a NAS, I have a thecus and it's brilliant.

 

[oldhat]

Alternatively if you have an old pc laying around you could always run FreeNAS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeNAS

I have been doing this for years now, works brilliantly & save a heap of cash

 

[XWare]

Or even try UnRAID from http://www.lime-technology.com/

 

[<?php?>]

openfiler

 

[Gnome]

Openfiler is pretty useless IMHO. The fact that they still exist as a company I personally find amazing. Latest version is 2.3 released in 2008, that is 3 years of absolutely no development. Flaws include terrible WUI (very difficult to use), counter intuitive operation (everything works VIA the LDAP configuration, wtf?). And it's also much slower than anything except Windows Software RAID*

* During my own testing.

http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/314139-Home-built-NAS

 

[morkhans]

Or even try UnRAID from http://www.lime-technology.com/

Are there local suppliers for their hardware?