Is there such a thing as cheap USB storage to LAN "NAS" adapters?
Something you connect a UFD or USB HDD to, that allows configuring IP, MS shares, etc.
Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, morphine, Steel
meerkt wrote:Not the WiFi ones, but the $10 LAN one might be interesting. Although the "internet sharing" orientation is not promising.
meerkt wrote:Are Pogoplug known? But even if they're shifting a way, if the obsoleted product works it works.
just brew it! wrote:meerkt wrote:Are Pogoplug known? But even if they're shifting a way, if the obsoleted product works it works.
Given that it is internet-enabled and (apparently) discontinued/deprecated, I'd be really concerned about security vulnerabilities not getting patched. If it has issues working with newer versions of Windows, that may not get fixed either (assuming it even supports Windows-style folder sharing to begin with).
I suppose for the price it's hard to go wrong, but I'd be a little leery of it unless you can find info online from other people who have used it for your intended purpose.
bthylafh wrote:just brew it! wrote:meerkt wrote:Are Pogoplug known? But even if they're shifting a way, if the obsoleted product works it works.
Given that it is internet-enabled and (apparently) discontinued/deprecated, I'd be really concerned about security vulnerabilities not getting patched. If it has issues working with newer versions of Windows, that may not get fixed either (assuming it even supports Windows-style folder sharing to begin with).
I suppose for the price it's hard to go wrong, but I'd be a little leery of it unless you can find info online from other people who have used it for your intended purpose.
Yeah, this. OEMs at the bottom of the market don't give one single crap about security or bugs because caring would make the price go up.
just brew it! wrote:meerkt wrote:Not the WiFi ones, but the $10 LAN one might be interesting. Although the "internet sharing" orientation is not promising.
Yeah, from the description it is not clear that it even supports local shares on the LAN. Plus, I believe Pogoplug is shifting their entire business model to be a remote access service and cloud storage provider. There isn't even any mention of that device on their web site any more.
I bought one of these about a year ago. It is Great! I used the default software for the first few months. It's is very easy to use. Basically Plug it in and and setup your account. It literally takes less then 2 minutes. And then, login from anywhere in the word to access your files.
After a few months I decided to install Arch Linux on it so that I could ssh tunnel and do some other advanced things with it.
I just bought a second one for a friend.
Pros:
Easy to use.
It really is great for anyone.
Simple for the average person, but easily customizable to give the advanced user more power and option.
Cons:
It's not the fastest thing in the world. But I didn't expect it to be. When using the default software, it wants to convert videos for better streaming. This can take a while. But, other then the converting of the videos it works great and an advanced user can make that more efficient with a few scripts. It's as fast as I would expect from the specs.
The stock software appears to have a few good features but I wiped it and set it up as a NAS:
Arch Linux
1TB Hard Drive
SAMBA set up for Windows access
Backed up to Google Drive with Insync software
Transfer speeds of around 21MB/s... fast enough for my purposes.
This is a great $25 headless Linux box if you don't need a lot of power and don't want to spend a lot powering it.
Great resource for setting this up http://blog.qnology.com/2013/03/tutoria ... linux.html
For those interested, I bought the P22 and it was version E02 and came form Ibex Technology.
bthylafh wrote:Except for the "Arch" part, maybe.
just brew it! wrote:If you're willing to tinker and don't need much in the way of throughput (i.e., you're OK with 100 mbit LAN connection) you could cobble something together with a Raspberry Pi and a USB hub.
UberGerbil wrote:Yeah, but I haven't been able to find a cheap used one that satisfies: USB storage + gigabit ports, low-power/12V (i.e., rules out Asus it seems), external antennas (don't know if it matters), good stock firmware or properly supported by *WRT. So I'm trying to separate the "NAS" requirement from the router. It's a bit like with modems. Router-modem combos are nice in theory, but in practice the conflicting goals make it difficult to find a worthy one.Wifi routers started including USB ports a couple of generations ago ...
meerkt wrote:UberGerbil wrote:Yeah, but I haven't been able to find a cheap used one that satisfies: USB storage + gigabit ports, low-power/12V (i.e., rules out Asus it seems), external antennas (don't know if it matters), good stock firmware or properly supported by *WRT. So I'm trying to separate the "NAS" requirement from the router. It's a bit like with modems. Router-modem combos are nice in theory, but in practice the conflicting goals make it difficult to find a worthy one...Wifi routers started including USB ports a couple of generations ago ...
meerkt wrote:Hootoo: I don't like the idea of the NAS device having its own WiFi connectivity...
...The RT-N16 is very old, but might be interesting. Have you tried it yourself?
trackerben wrote:The HooToo's WiFi can't be turned off and its Ethernet port is WAN-only, so it's not for you. But what's the issue with consumer NAS gear having a wireless interface?
just brew it! wrote:I assume he's concerned about the potential security implications. Don't most of them allow the WiFi connectivity to be disabled?
