Connecting USB external hard drive to router

My router, supplied by Zen, is a Fritzbox 7530 and, looking at the manual, appears to be capable of more than I use it for, which is just as a router.

For example, I can apparently connect an external hard drive to the router by USB, said drive then being visible and usable by anyone on our home network. That we be great for sharing the countless films, photos, mp3s etc. we have accumulated.

Q1 Has anyone actually done this, and does it work well?

q2 Recommended drive? Thinking 1 or perhaps 2TB. Any names to go for, or avoid? WD, Seagate, Toshiba, Verbatim etc.

Thanks!

Reply to
Graeme
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Not with your router, but with others.

It can work OK. But I'd always treat it as a copy of data with the prime ve rsion somewhere else.

Have used both real hard drives (just small USB 2.5" or whatever devices) a nd USB sticks. If I wanted to do it now, I'd choose a USB stick of some sor t. But I would have no need or reason to reach 1 to 2 TB so cost wouldn't b e an issue to me like it might be for you.

Check how it handles locking and clashes. Think through your backup procedu res. Will you update on the router-attached drive and need to back it up?

Reply to
polygonum_on_google

version somewhere else.

and USB sticks. If I wanted to do it now, I'd choose a USB stick of some s ort. But I would have no need or reason to reach 1 to 2 TB so cost wouldn't be an issue to me like it might be for you.

dures. Will you update on the router-attached drive and need to back it up?

Meant to say, check the file systems it will support - the choice could imp ly limitations on total capacity.

Reply to
polygonum_on_google

Before you go too far test it out with a USB memory stick. And think carefully about the potential gotchas if the mains goes down abruptly.

If you really want something reliable then a RAID array fileserver is a much better option. If you want something cheap and cheerful then there are plenty of USB sticks to choose from up to at least 256GB.

I would buy a Samsung solid state drive rather than spinning rust. YMMV

I still have a large spinning rust drive in my main PC but everything that matters now is on the much faster Samsung SSD.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Hmm.

While I have such a port on my router, I have similar ports on other beasts on the network (not Computers) and tend to use those- mainly, at least in the past, as they were closer to hand. (A recent reorganisation has changed that but that is irrelevant.)

However, I doubt it makes much difference.

I?ve successfully plugged in Toshiba, WD, and Buffalo drives and accessed them with either Linux or Mac machines- possibly iPad on occasions. Not Windows but only as I don?t generally run Windows, I?m sure it would work.

All pretty seamless.

I?ve not noticed any real difference between the various drives.

USB flash memory sticks work much the same.

Reply to
Brian Reay

I?ve run a media server for several years. The form has varied. A Linux based Plex server running on an old PC. A supplied server running on a WD NAS. Currently, a Synology NAS based solution- which is almost certainly the best. I can watch videos on Smart TVs or TVs with Firesticks or Set top boxes around the house. More importantly, well more used, listen to music / plays etc on stored on the server via various devices. (I run a similar server in our Motorhome, also Synology based- I pop it in before each trip. Ideal for a wet UK summer evening ;-)

Reply to
Brian Reay

I have a Zen supplied 7530 and a old 3.5 inch drive in a USB connected caddy attached to the Fritzbox USB port. I have it set up as a NAS drive but only use it for very intermittent saving of fairly non-critical data. The hard disk caddy has its own power supply. I can see the disk in Win10 explorer as a network drive using SMB and can transfer files to/from the disk from within Win10 explorer.

maybe read

formatting link
and
formatting link

After use I tend to dismount the drive using the fritzbox web interface, then switch off the power to the drive. Switching on the caddy power supply reconnects the drive and the Fritzbox sees it again.

Reply to
alan_m

Well I'm on my second Samsung ssd since 2015, and hence I still have a spinning rust 2tb usb back up drive on that computer doing back ups of the machine its plugged into Western Digital seem pretty reliable but then I guess whatever you get always has the potential to fail due to complexity generally. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff (Sofa)

Yes, but not with that particular router.

It usually works, but "well" is harder to quantify. Some implementations are not necessarily that quick.

You also need to consider the file system(s) supported on the drive. Somemay use FAT43 for example, and hence limit max file sized to 4GB, which can be a problem for films. Some may insist on a *nix FS which may make access to the drive harder should you need to remove it etc.

If spinning rust, then WD or Segate, with SSD Samsung, Hyper-X, and Kingston are usually reliable. (speed matters less - they will normally be quicker than USB)

Reply to
John Rumm

As no one else has mentioned it, be aware that it's possible for USB 3 devices to interfere with 2.4Ghz wifi.

Its a case of trying it to see if it does or not in your own case.

Reply to
Lee

Yes but with a FBFW 7140 (still used) ... and a long time ago.

From memory it didn't work very well for some reason ... not easy to access the share, or you needed some special software or you used FTP or some such.

Your 7530 is probably a very different beast.

An independent NAS is a better solution IMHO and could even be something based on a Raspberry Pi. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Reply to
T i m

I did this for years with a Netgear router. Probably like you, it came as a surprise after looking at the manual. It was slow, but useful.

Then after an 'upgrade' to windows 10 it stopped working, never bothered to find out why. The USB drive itself was fine.

Reply to
Clive Arthur

I did this for years with a Netgear router. Probably like you, it came as a surprise after looking at the manual. It was slow, but useful.

Then after an 'upgrade' to windows 10 it stopped working, never bothered to find out why. The USB drive itself was fine.

Reply to
Clive Arthur

Possibly, from one of the links I posted in this thread

[quote] Starting with Windows 10 version 1709, the network protocol SMB1 required for accessing storage (NAS) connected to the FRITZ!Box is no longer installed by default. Therefore, make sure that SMB1 support is installed on your Windows 10 computer [/quote]

This is followed by instructions on how to install.

Reply to
alan_m

SMB protocol V1 was made a nono in windows 10

formatting link

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

And all the router manufacturers stuck with pre-historic releases of samba.

Reply to
Andy Burns

In message , alan_m writes

Thank you Alan, and everyone else who responded. Brilliant. Took a while, but I'm there, initially accessing a USB stick plugged into the Fritzbox, but now using a Toshiba 1TB external non SSD USB powered drive. The linked instructions were perfect, including the SMB1 protocol, although I could not map the drive via the Fritzbox interface, so mapped through Explorer, which worked perfectly.

Running W10 32 bit on my Lenovo laptop, I see the drive attached to the Fritzbox as a network drive and can view images and watch films.

Reply to
Graeme

If your box is set for an automatic update ver 7.2. was issued in the past few hours and it may update soon, or else a manual update

It supports a newer version of SMB so as per a previous post in this thread if SMB1 is insecure you could turn it off on your PC and use the later version which is already installed on your computer

Ver 7.2 for the 7530

faster FRITZ!NAS (\fritz.nas) with new SMB version

more Wi-Fi security thanks to new WPA3 encryption

public Wi-Fi for guests with encrypted data (OWE)

better Wi-Fi performance with mesh steering and mesh autochanel

convenient enabling and disabling of internet access for specific devices

secure telephony with German Telekom due to encrypted voice

more comfort for your online contacts, answering machine and fax smart telephone book shows matching entries while dialing on FRITZ!Fon

Reply to
alan_m

I've just updated and it still works without smbV1 Remember after updating SMBv1 support is disabled (there is a setting in the fritzbox user interface to re-enable the support)

Hints: Uninstall smbv1 as in the link previously posted .....

formatting link

if after updating the fritzbox software to V7.2 you don't see the disk...

check first that the USB drive is being seen by the box. It may have automatically disconnected during the software update. If so turn off the power to the disk and then turn it back on again.

within the fritzbox interface Home Network -> USB and Storage -> devices and network sharing (tab) Scroll down to where smb is enabled (also the location to re-enable smbV1). There is a //IP number. Cut and paste this into the win10 Windows Explorer search bar (bottom LH corner of the win10 screen - next to the win icon that brings up shutdown etc.)

You should then get a window asking for the user name and password that you have set up on your Fritzbox. Once user/pass accepted the disk should again be seen.

Reply to
alan_m

In message , alan_m writes

Everything still working, but I'll keep your post for future reference. Thank you.

I have an old USB splitter which works too, enabling use of USB stick and USB drive.

Reply to
Graeme

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