QA

Quick Answer: How To Connect External Hard Drive To Router

Most modern routers have a USB port into which you can plug in a USB-compliant device to share with other devices on your network, like a printer or, in this case, an external hard drive. Once you’ve located the USB port on your router, go ahead and plug in your USB external hard drive.

Can I connect my external HDD to my router using the Ethernet?

If your hard drive has its own Ethernet port, you can connect the device to the network directly. Simply plug the hard drive into its power supply, connect the device to the router using an Ethernet cable, and you’re done. Now your hard drive will be available for remote connections over the network.

How do I connect an external hard drive to my home network?

Adding an external hard drive to your network Connect the external hard drive to the USB port of your server or computer that is always ON. Click the Start button, then click Computer. Right-click on the external drive, then select Share with. Click the Advanced Sharing… Check the Share this folder option.

How do I access my USB drive connected to my router?

Access the USB Device Remotely Log in to the web-based interface of the router. Go to Advanced > USB Settings > Sharing Access page. Tick the FTP(via Internet) checkbox, and then click Save. Refer to the following table to access your USB disk remotely.

Can you use an external hard drive as a network drive?

Turn an external hard drive into a network drive to access your files, even when your computer is turned off. Through a network drive, you can keep all those files on a hard drive, access them even when your computer is turned off, and make them accessible to the entire household.

How can I connect my external hard drive to my router without USB?

Normally to access it you will simply to go it’s IP address in Windows File browser (e.g \\192.168. 1.254) or on a mac you go to Go, Connect to server and then either enter the IP address or simply hit browse to find it on the network. Doing this turns a router into a simple NAS (network attached storage).

How do I convert my USB hard drive to a network drive?

The SimpleNET from SimpleTech is a super simple (sorry, couldn’t resist) way to turn a USB hard drive into a NAS device (network attached storage). Just plug this small module into your wireless router and then plug one or two USB hard drives into the USB ports in the module and you’re done.

How do I access my hard drive over wifi?

If you plan on leaving your hard drive attached, so that you can easily access it from any Explorer window. To do that, right-click the drive and select “Map network drive” Give it a name, and the folder will appear in the sidebar. To access the drive on other computers on the network, repeat step 3.

Can I turn my external hard drive into a NAS?

NAS essentially enables multiple devices that are on the same network to gain access to a NAS hard drive. Luckily, converting any external hard disk into a NAS is an easy and quick process.

How do I share a USB on my router?

How to Share a USB drive from Your Wi-Fi Router Pop it into the USB port on the back of your Wi-Fi router, and then you’ll need admin access to your router. You can use your Wi-Fi router to create a network share of the folder if that function is available, but I prefer to use Windows.

Why do you need USB ports on a router?

A USB port on a router lets you connect a printer or external hard drive for sharing on the network. USB ports are handy because they make it very simple to set up a network printer on a home network or quickly expand sharable storage.

How do I convert my external hard drive to cloud storage?

Take the USB side of the hard disk cable and insert it into the USB port of the router. Step 5. Check availability of the hard disk as a storage option to devices. Once done successfully, you are all set to transfer and store data in this drive, which essentially becomes your own cloud!Apr 21, 2018.

What is a NAS adapter?

USB NASes differ from traditional HDD-based NASes in that they use external USB drives for centralised storage. This is why they are often marketed as “USB Adapters.” Users connect external USB drives (most also support USB printers, as well) to USB ports on the NAS.

How do I connect my NAS to my router?

Connecting a Network Attached Storage to your router Connect an Ethernet cable from the Ethernet port of your NAS to any of the numbered ports at the back of the router. Ensure that the power adapter for the storage link device is properly and securely plugged in.

Is NAS faster than USB?

Basically, a NAS server’s speed varies between the speed of USB 2.0 and the speed of USB 3.0, and is much slower than the speed of Thunderbolt, which gets up to about 700MBps. Note that 130MBps is in no way slow; in fact it’s very fast, even faster than the real-world speed of many internal drives.