One important piece of advice is if the file manager can't find your drives in TP-Share you'll have to check to see if Windows update turned off your SMB or disabled some of them. Use ( Turn Windows Features On or Off) typed in the search box. Windows update will do this on all of my network PC's 50% of the time. My best success with sharing 4 external HDD is with TP-Link routers and a powered 4 port USB hub and the external HDD's are all powered. I use a TP-Link AX-6000 and 4, 8TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub and Sabrent powered hub. Cisco and Netgear have always been a big pain. None since I switched to TP-Link. Brian at 10:45 in the video you said NAS. Did you mean SAN or could it be DAS ? Over all nice video. 👍👍
@Brian, brilliant! And here I was connecting a single external device to the USB port of my router! LOL! The beauty is that you come up with simple, no-brainer solutions, that get people like me thing, "Heck, why didnt I figure that out myself!" Thanks!
Great idea. it really eliminates the hassle of big and chunky device like NAS. For me to do this, I will have to change my Router first because I have tp-link Archer C which does not have the usb. Anyway, I will get it done, because I do not trust the system as systems tends to crash erasing some or all data, so its better to have a backup copy of the data.
A word of warning: I had a usb stick in my tplink router. after last win 11 update, i could no longer connect with router, so I unplugged my usb and plugged in my laptop and all the files were corrupted. Lost a lot of my files, so be careful and make a backup often. Great videos, have learned a lot.
I've been needing a video of this for awhile now; this is perfect!!! Thank you mate for this information. I think I can finally now resolve sharing problems in my home network, which will be great. :) Cheers mate, from central Kansas USA. Be well, stay safe and Gob bless. Rev. D.
This is a good reminder video of what you can do with a router. I thought about doing this before but forgot. Adding a hub is also a great idea. I have so many old drive just sitting around. If there is a way to add more apps or functionality to the router, it will be great to learn. would like to turn any router into a NAS.
Thanks for this Brian What I have trouble with is trying to get the USB port working on a slave router that I use to extend my network (it happens to be in a place where there is more space to connect additional external hard drives).
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is the type of setup I want to have for my current PCs. Yes, I want to see more videos like this in the future. In fact, I have a video topic request. I currently have an external 4TB WD MyBook HDD installed on my primary PC. What would be the process to move this HDD to the router for use as a NAS?
I never even thought about using a USB hub in a router port before Brian! Handy if you don't own a NAS. I suppose you could also access them through Kodi or other media player types on your TV. The only thing you'd really need to be careful of though is not to leave any of the mechanical drives running 24/7 as you'll shorten their lifespan. That being said, you'll probably still get a couple of years out of one connecting it that way.
This is a great thing to do with your internal WiFi/ethernet/router/firewall. This is a lot more risky to do with your edge device, i.e. your DSL or cable modem (which may offer its own WiFi Ethernet etc.).
In my experience, this works great for file sharing, but full backups take so much longer (or will fail) this way than when the drive is plugged directly into the computer's USB port.
Excellent video but I do have a question. Is it possible to connect an external drive to a network and leave it on and accessible all the time? Are there any problems with doing something like that?
is there a video where you show us to use our devices to use this as a cloud storage?! If not, its a interesting video to make, isn't it? I'm thinking we might need to install something to sync the files from smartphone to NAS. Anyways Awesome video!! Keep it up❤
I don't have a usb port in my router but will it work if I just connect it to the lan port (using an adapter)? and my external hard drive has his own power cable
It is most interesting to note the complete absence of any mention of data security in this scenario. This implies either that you had not thought about it - which is irresponsible in a public forum like this, or you don’t understand it - which is equally irresponsible, or you do understand it but chose not to warn viewers - which is the most irresponsible you could be. Until a publicly recognised subject matter expert has looked at the specific implementation of WAN-LAN security on the specific router the viewer is planning to use and proven that data on any device attached in this way is secure, then nobody who might suffer any sort of loss from data ex-filtration should be doing what you suggest - no matter how convenient it is. Remember, your router is being probed continually 24/7/365 by multiple thousands of hackers, world-wide, looking for ways to break in. And don’t forget recent US Government warnings about certain well-known routers. Which do you want the more: ‘convenience’ or un-constrained trouble?
It was a very easy setup but once I implemented it by plugging 3 drives my whole system sat down on it hunches and became painfully slow with caching every thing. When I removed my external disks I got my speed back. What did I do wrong?
@ no, my other issue now is when I use my external hard drive to download as Time Machine, it disconnects from my computer after the backup is complete. I get that message about disconnecting, which I ignore
I assume you don't trust every bit of new kit you get as not hardware hacked - drives, hubs etc - even if it's from a big name? Can you do a vid on the steps you take to make sure as best you can that new routers, SSDs, USB cables, flash drives etc you connect up to your system & network are "safe"?
Turns out the USB port on my router is for a printer; can't see how to access anything else via the port. But 10 years ago I had a router which DID allow devices to connect; I put a Lacie drive + power supply on it and it was OK - sort of. File access was VERY slow; think less than USB-1. Likely not the case nowadays tho... I hope!
I do that for decades and this video is still handy.
Thanks
One important piece of advice is if the file manager can't find your drives in TP-Share you'll have to check to see if Windows update turned off your SMB or disabled some of them.
Use ( Turn Windows Features On or Off) typed in the search box. Windows update will do this on all of my network PC's 50% of the time.
My best success with sharing 4 external HDD is with TP-Link routers and a powered 4 port USB hub and the external HDD's are all powered.
I use a TP-Link AX-6000 and 4, 8TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub and Sabrent powered hub.
Cisco and Netgear have always been a big pain. None since I switched to TP-Link.
Brian at 10:45 in the video you said NAS. Did you mean SAN or could it be DAS ? Over all nice video. 👍👍
@Brian, brilliant!
And here I was connecting a single external device to the USB port of my router! LOL!
The beauty is that you come up with simple, no-brainer solutions, that get people like me thing, "Heck, why didnt I figure that out myself!"
Thanks!
Fantastic!
I've just changed BB supplier, and for the 1st time have a router with USB ports. I can't wait to try this out!
Give it a go
Great idea. it really eliminates the hassle of big and chunky device like NAS. For me to do this, I will have to change my Router first because I have tp-link Archer C which does not have the usb. Anyway, I will get it done, because I do not trust the system as systems tends to crash erasing some or all data, so its better to have a backup copy of the data.
Give it a go, works great
A word of warning: I had a usb stick in my tplink router. after last win 11 update, i could no longer connect with router, so I unplugged my usb and plugged in my laptop and all the files were corrupted. Lost a lot of my files, so be careful and make a backup often. Great videos, have learned a lot.
I've been needing a video of this for awhile now; this is perfect!!! Thank you mate for this information. I think I can finally now resolve sharing problems in my home network, which will be great. :) Cheers mate, from central Kansas USA. Be well, stay safe and Gob bless. Rev. D.
This is a good reminder video of what you can do with a router. I thought about doing this before but forgot. Adding a hub is also a great idea. I have so many old drive just sitting around. If there is a way to add more apps or functionality to the router, it will be great to learn. would like to turn any router into a NAS.
Glad it was helpful!
Ha ha. I was about to comment until I saw this from you.
This first two sentences almost mirror my initial response.
As you say, "a good reminder".😉👍
@@ericsbuell Great minds think alike.
Thanks for this Brian
What I have trouble with is trying to get the USB port working on a slave router that I use to extend my network (it happens to be in a place where there is more space to connect additional external hard drives).
Great stuff really informative more please
Thanx for the info. A cheap and easy NAS.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is the type of setup I want to have for my current PCs. Yes, I want to see more videos like this in the future. In fact, I have a video topic request.
I currently have an external 4TB WD MyBook HDD installed on my primary PC. What would be the process to move this HDD to the router for use as a NAS?
As long as its got power, should work
hey there is it possible to acess files outside home network as well?? noob here, just want to store photos and videos from phone to disk as backup
I never even thought about using a USB hub in a router port before Brian! Handy if you don't own a NAS. I suppose you could also access them through Kodi or other media player types on your TV.
The only thing you'd really need to be careful of though is not to leave any of the mechanical drives running 24/7 as you'll shorten their lifespan. That being said, you'll probably still get a couple of years out of one connecting it that way.
All you have to do is use your HDD app and put them to sleep.
This is a great thing to do with your internal WiFi/ethernet/router/firewall. This is a lot more risky to do with your edge device, i.e. your DSL or cable modem (which may offer its own WiFi Ethernet etc.).
thank you, is there not a way to use the ethernet ports I have 4 of those but no usb port on my router.
Thanks. Food for thought 🤔
Any time!
In my experience, this works great for file sharing, but full backups take so much longer (or will fail) this way than when the drive is plugged directly into the computer's USB port.
Its OK for people who need simple network sharing.
Excellent video but I do have a question. Is it possible to connect an external drive to a network and leave it on and accessible all the time? Are there any problems with doing something like that?
Thanks chief.
On it!
is there a video where you show us to use our devices to use this as a cloud storage?! If not, its a interesting video to make, isn't it?
I'm thinking we might need to install something to sync the files from smartphone to NAS.
Anyways Awesome video!! Keep it up❤
is there a way to buy a device to assign the USB connected HDD an ip address? for vlan or segmenting purposes
I don't have a usb port in my router but will it work if I just connect it to the lan port (using an adapter)? and my external hard drive has his own power cable
How do u gain access on a iPhone
Quite simple for people who dont want to use a NAS device :)
Yeah, works a treat
Hi Brian. Very useful video. Would this work by plugging a ssd hdd dock into the router
You mean what they call toaster dock?
Yes
How do I access these drives from outside my home...
That’s like asking how can I have 4 seating capacity on my motorbike.
It is most interesting to note the complete absence of any mention of data security in this scenario. This implies either that you had not thought about it - which is irresponsible in a public forum like this, or you don’t understand it - which is equally irresponsible, or you do understand it but chose not to warn viewers - which is the most irresponsible you could be. Until a publicly recognised subject matter expert has looked at the specific implementation of WAN-LAN security on the specific router the viewer is planning to use and proven that data on any device attached in this way is secure, then nobody who might suffer any sort of loss from data ex-filtration should be doing what you suggest - no matter how convenient it is. Remember, your router is being probed continually 24/7/365 by multiple thousands of hackers, world-wide, looking for ways to break in. And don’t forget recent US Government warnings about certain well-known routers. Which do you want the more: ‘convenience’ or un-constrained trouble?
It was a very easy setup but once I implemented it by plugging 3 drives my whole system sat down on it hunches and became painfully slow with caching every thing. When I removed my external disks I got my speed back. What did I do wrong?
ROOT-ER ! Like we say garage in the UK you say Carage I do this with my firewall IPS updates
Thanks for sharing your video can we share and play video on our smart device like TV or Amazon fire TV box? 😊
can you help please. my router is a virgin hub3. it has no usb port. is ther a way i can conect to it throught ethernet with a usb HDD
On my GL.inet Flint router, I can upload/download about 35MB/s or about 280Gb/s. Enough to transfer 20GB of data in about 9min.
I want to use my external HD FOR TIME MACHINE, I’m having problems getting to do it. At present I have only one EXTHD connected to my router.
Diid you get a solution to this? There doesnt seem to be much videos for Mac users.
@ no, my other issue now is when I use my external hard drive to download as Time Machine, it disconnects from my computer after the backup is complete. I get that message about disconnecting, which I ignore
I assume you don't trust every bit of new kit you get as not hardware hacked - drives, hubs etc - even if it's from a big name? Can you do a vid on the steps you take to make sure as best you can that new routers, SSDs, USB cables, flash drives etc you connect up to your system & network are "safe"?
See what I can do
Turns out the USB port on my router is for a printer; can't see how to access anything else via the port. But 10 years ago I had a router which DID allow devices to connect; I put a Lacie drive + power supply on it and it was OK - sort of. File access was VERY slow; think less than USB-1. Likely not the case nowadays tho... I hope!
What do you do if your router doesn't have a USB port
You should mention that in the UK you use diiffenet fused plug and run on 240 volts
Too bad he didn't show the speed. Access speed via network is very important for a drive to be effective.
Works just fine, you can try that yourself
You pronounced your channel “Brite Tec “ and all this time I thought you were a “Brit Tec” 🤦♂️
Bri Tec = Brian and Tech without the h
But Brian, I don't like to share.🤣👍
Why not?
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
the words USB & Router would have helped in title ... but then again you wanted me to click 😝 ... just to find out it something I already know.
Nothing wrong with the title
Been there done that, why is this even being discussed, old news, everybody knows this?
Not everyone
It looks like a VPN
use a simple usb flash drive
Can do
it would be nice if someone who is not a Joe Biden imitator makes one of these videos.
ROOTER😂