Wireless router w/USB for NAS. Recommendations?

[BarkingGhostar]

Morning All,

I am thinking of introducing a wireless networking leg in my home to support the wife's future iPad. This will be the non-3G version and I figured I could control the one-IP for the iPad by simply plugging a wireless router into a switch.

At the same time, I figured I could also use any USB feature to connect an external hard drive and make available all her music, pictures, and videos at the same time.

I have no experience in wireless (another story), but I am curious to hear feedback on the good, bad, and ugly of USB-based router/NAS products out there. Anyone care to relate their setups?

Prefer something other than Apple products as this iPad will be the only Apple product in the home and thus looking for something more Windows friendly (and price competitive).

 

[Emulex]

cowboom has the timecapsule on sale from time to time. or get the airport extreme and plug in a 3tb external drive.

should take care of your needs - you get a router and wireless time machine device for your pc for cheaps.

 

[JackMDS]

I have no experience in wireless (another story), but I am curious to hear feedback on the good, bad, and ugly of USB-based router/NAS products out there.

There is No good product like this.

The resultant NAS is slow and many have compatibility problems.

The best solution is to configure an inexpensive computer as a NAS.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Jack, why would you make such an absolute? And hard drive will be more tan capable of keeping up <30 Mbps maximum data rate needed--as would the USB2.0 interface. Have you evaluated products that I can avoid? I'm assuming you haven't tried them all, but which have you tried.

Dedicating a PC defeats the purpose.

 

[Emulex]

apple product (timecapsule or their airport extreme) is the only solution period. if you want 100&#37; solid multi-apple backups over lan to a single point (time machine) you will use their product.

or plug in a drive to each machine and babysit that (lol).

i mean $169 for a nice router (solid) with a 1TB drive is not that hard of a stretch. osx is a bitch when it comes to time machine. the nfs based solutions do not work as fluidly when it comes to d-day.

just sayin'

 

[ultimatebob]

Try the Netgear WNR3500L. I use the USB NAS feature on it, and it works great!

 

[JackMDS]

Jack, why would you make such an absolute? And hard drive will be more tan capable of keeping up <30 Mbps maximum data rate needed--as would the USB2.0 interface. Have you evaluated products that I can avoid? I'm assuming you haven't tried them all, but which have you tried.

Dedicating a PC defeats the purpose.

The issue is Not the hard drive or the USB but the Network interface of these Gizomos.

If the back up is for few to medium size files here and there, then it does not matter which (so call) NAS is used.

It is a totally different story if there is a need for GB volums, they all are slow.

I have a rather simple Video cards ( like 8400 type) in most of my computers, they all work great for whatever I do with my system.

However I will not tell a gamer to buy them because they are working great for me.

 

[Jimmah]

I would like to second the pc as a NAS idea. Simple to set up with Linux (there are tons of guides on making one with Ubuntu) and you could make a reliable box for under 200$ easily.

If I may use my own experiences as referrence: I have a DIR-655 router, it has the USB port and such. I can and have plugged an 8gb stick into it and transferred files both wired and wirelessly to and from it. On average I was seeing 1-5mb/sec, and you had to log into the thing to use it, then log out before anyone else could use it. Really didn't like it and stoppe dusing it shortly after.

Built a cheap (like beyond uber el-cheapo) NAS, mostly from the Egg, installed Amahi and was off to the races. 100&#37; stable, not once has it broken down, and has a bajillion times more functionality over a normal router with built-in NAS.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

apple product (timecapsule or their airport extreme) is the only solution period. if you want 100% solid multi-apple backups over lan to a single point (time machine) you will use their product.

or plug in a drive to each machine and babysit that (lol).

i mean $169 for a nice router (solid) with a 1TB drive is not that hard of a stretch. osx is a bitch when it comes to time machine. the nfs based solutions do not work as fluidly when it comes to d-day.

just sayin'

Thanks for the advice, but you missed the part that the iPad introduction would be the only Apple product in the home.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

This isn't meant for backup, but a simple library of existing media files for which one doesn't want to run a PC 24x7. Not planning on using any stick-Flash, but something like a HDD-in-docking station. Having a PC on for this and on the same wireless router isn't desired, but thanks for the advice.

Ultimatebob, thanks for the recommendation. Seems it can be had for <$80 currently.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I just picked up a Netgear WNDR3400. It has USB built in for NAS setup, but I haven't tried it yet. It's ~$80..

 

[sxr7171]

I can't find a router that can reliably handle basic DHCP service and WAN connectivity. I would be very suspicious of a router that claims to reliably handle USB NAS capability. Those things are very underpowered. If you look at smallnetbuilder.com you'll see that even some Intel Core2 based NASes are limited in transfer rate.