Network Storage (Non-NAS?)

[Fineghal]

I'll be living in a townhouse next semester of college, and I know we'd all like to be able to share things from a central point. Since I'm the resident tech I'll end up setting up the network and what not.

What I'd like to do is get an external HD enclosure and be able to attatch it to the network without connecting it to a computer. One method would be to get a router that includes a USB interface and connect it that way, however I have no idea how major file transfers would hurt router performance, if at all. Is there anything like those little d-link print server appliances that'll do the equivalent for the enclosure?



Or should I just bite the bullet and drop for some kind of NAS?

 

[tomt4535]

Some sort of NAS wouldnt be a bad idea. I saw this hot deal the other day: 250gb NAS $100 + ship
That should do what you want to do, and is a decent price. If you or any of your roomates have an old comp hanging around, you could make that into a fileserver/NAS device fairly easily. There are also external enclosures that have a RJ45 network port on the back.

 

[nweaver]

If it's storage, and attached to the network, it's a NAS. Something has to eventually do the duty of converting IP traffic into files for a local filesystem.