Want a 'free' NAS?

[OneWorld]

Ever wondered what that USB slot at the back of your broadband router is for?

Well I found out this morning and plugged a USB key in and sure enough it comes up listed under Network on the PC and more than just that, it serves as a media server, so plays mpegs etc, works exactly the same way as my NAS drive

[James Perrett]

I did that with a Netgear router which worked well.

I also used an HP printer as a NAS. It had an SD card socket on it and the SD card could be accessed over the network. However, it was very slow compared to the router (or a real NAS device).

[OneWorld]

I did that with a Netgear router which worked well.

I also used an HP printer as a NAS. It had an SD card socket on it and the SD card could be accessed over the network. However, it was very slow compared to the router (or a real NAS device).

Wouldn’t that require the printer to be switched on all the time. The thing about the router is that it is switched on anyway?

[James Perrett]

Yes, it would need to be switched on although it was on standby ready to print for quite a bit if the time and I think it would wake up if someone tried to access it. But it was very slow and only really practical if there was no alternative.

[sonics]

I've been doing this with my music collection for about ten years. Some of the earlier routers required the drive to be formatted for Linux; NTFS was not supported! Speed and reliability is much better now, bet there's still a lot of variation. If I were streaming 4k video I'd be careful what model I chose.

ISPs also now supply such nice routers I don't actually need to use my own, like I previously did.

[Aled Hughes]

I got overly excited when I read this, but I can’t get it to work on my BT hub. Will try again today.

[Drew Stephenson]

So you're just sticking some (music) files on a USB stick and plugging it into the back of the router?

[James Perrett]

So you're just sticking some (music) files on a USB stick and plugging it into the back of the router?

Yes, that's one way it works. Although you could just put a blank USB stick in the router and upload to the router from your computer.

[OneWorld]

So you're just sticking some (music) files on a USB stick and plugging it into the back of the router?

Yes it is as simple as that, or as James writes, copy the files to and from the USA stick, it acts like a networked drive. No need for a NAS box to be grinding away 24 hours a day, the router is on anyway, and of course you can stick any files on there

I

[OneWorld]

I got overly excited when I read this, but I can’t get it to work on my BT hub. Will try again today.

Hmmm, mine is the BT Smart Hub 2, and I just got a USB stick, bunged it in the USB slot and immediately it appeared as a drive under the Network device in the Windows File Manager as a NAS drive would.

Maybe you need Network Sharing turned on, though usually, if it isn't a prompt appears asking if you want to add a device to the network?

[Drew Stephenson]

Hmmm. I shall have a look at the back of our router.

[InactiveX]

I use the hub's USB port to power a Raspberry Pi running Pi-hole, which keeps all sorts of adverts and other crap completely isolated from my computers (and greatly speeds up web browsing) with no browser plugins needed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi-hole

NB it's running on an old original Pi model B. Later models may require more power/separate power source.