Anyone using USB HDD attached to router?

[semente]

Hi,

 

Is anyone using a USB HDD attached to the router?

What are the drawbacks compared to a NAS?

I only need to access my files from iTunes and/or HQ Player but have been having trouble (dropouts) with the WD My Book Ethernet since I moved and according to a few reports iTunes doesn't do well when the library is in a NAS...

 

Thanks,

Ricardo

[davide256]

A NAS can run media server software like Minimserver that does transcoding and which provides indexing and other user friendly features. I suspect all your router can offer you is SMB support... the drive becomes a remote HD directory and any media server functionality has to reside in your PC. One of the usual casualties is no gapless support

[wgscott]

Works fine, if you only need to mount things via wireless hard drive. (You can do that using a NAS too, fwiw.)

 

I have five USB drives mounted to my Airport Extreme, mainly for wireless backups. I can mount the music library backup and play it using a memory-player like Audirvana with no problems at all.

[semente]

I am currently using the USB HDD connected to the Macbook but find it's operating noise disturbing and would rather move it out of ear's reach.

But since HQ Player read in real time it looks like I'd be losing gapless and that is out of the question.

 

Thanks to both for your replies.

[CatManDo]

Some routers like the Fritzbox have a NAS function with connected USB storage. The main difference with a dedicated NAS is the limited CPU processing power and RAM, which results in low file transfer speed and slow reaction. The functions are also more limited.

 

So if you fill a USB drive on your computer with music, videos or pictures to be streamed/viewed over the network from the router, it may work fine, but if you want to copy files over the network to and from the USB drive attached to the router, it will be very slow. Also if two users access the USB drive at the same time, the router may soon reach it's limits, compared to a "real" NAS, not those Western Digital networked drives, which suffer from the same performance limits.

[Melvin]

I use an Oyen Digital MiniPro attached to my Airport Extreme. No dropouts playing music with either my Mac mini or Bluesound Node 2. Works great.

[semente]

Some routers like the Fritzbox have a NAS function with connected USB storage. The main difference with a dedicated NAS is the limited CPU processing power and RAM, which results in low file transfer speed and slow reaction. The functions are also more limited.

 

So if you fill a USB drive on your computer with music, videos or pictures to be streamed/viewed over the network from the router, it may work fine, but if you want to copy files over the network to and from the USB drive attached to the router, it will be very slow. Also if two users access the USB drive at the same time, the router may soon reach it's limits, compared to a "real" NAS, not those Western Digital networked drives, which suffer from the same performance limits.

What would you suggest for a real NAS?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[wgscott]

I am currently using the USB HDD connected to the Macbook but find it's operating noise disturbing and would rather move it out of ear's reach.

But since HQ Player read in real time it looks like I'd be losing gapless and that is out of the question.

 

Thanks to both for your replies.

 

Try it. You shouldn't lose gapless playback. It should behave identically to a USB-mounted hard-drive. A memory player provides an additional buffer in case of wireless glitches, etc, but assuming your connection is reasonably decent, and your router is reasonably fast, this shouldn't be a problem. I can stream video this way too, which is way more demanding. You might as well try it.

[wgscott]

I use an Oyen Digital MiniPro attached to my Airport Extreme. No dropouts playing music with either my Mac mini or Bluesound Node 2. Works great.

 

Sorry, didn't see this until after I replied, but I agree, It should work fine.

[r_w]

QNAP are excellent, can't praise them enough.

 

Have 3 of them (2 at work, 1 at home)

 

 

What would you suggest for a real NAS?

[plissken]

I like NetGears ReadyNAS...

[Fitzcaraldo215]

There are 9 Synology 1813/1815 8-bay NAS's in use by me and my circle of friends, some with optional 5-bay expansion units. We are all quite happy with them. The oldest of them go back 2-3 years since acquisition.

[Screwdriver]

I use a USB Drive attached to a Linksys WRT1200AC and get pretty decent read and writes. About 90/80MB/s. Someday I will get a dedicated NAS, but right now it is working fine as a file server for music and movies.

[plissken]

What would you suggest for a real NAS?

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Computer Audiophile mobile app

 

What's your current USB enabled router? It may offer DNLA, Minimserver etc... If it offers this you may not benefit from a NAS.

 

I have several people setup with a 3TB $79 NAS and a $60 year Amazon Drive account that everything gets archived to for backup.

 

Just depends on what your needs are. I need the extended functionality of a NAS (FTP, SSH Server, SMB, ZFS etc, MySQL/PHP/Apache) so I have one.

[semente]

What's your current USB enabled router? It may offer DNLA, Minimserver etc... If it offers this you may not benefit from a NAS.

 

I have several people setup with a 3TB $79 NAS and a $60 year Amazon Drive account that everything gets archived to for backup.

 

Just depends on what your needs are. I need the extended functionality of a NAS (FTP, SSH Server, SMB, ZFS etc, MySQL/PHP/Apache) so I have one.

 

I currently own a BT Home Hub 4, sold by British Telecom.

 

I would like to be able to access music stored in a USB HDD with HQPlayer, and if possible use iTunes as the file browser although I tunes doesn't really like remote libraries...

 

But in the meantime I have been having problems with my Audio wlan because there's another wi-fi router in the house at it seems to interfere with the BTHub...

I can use the house's wlan because it's connected to the University.

 

R

[plissken]

I currently own a BT Home Hub 4, sold by British Telecom.

 

I would like to be able to access music stored in a USB HDD with HQPlayer, and if possible use iTunes as the file browser although I tunes doesn't really like remote libraries...

 

But in the meantime I have been having problems with my Audio wlan because there's another wi-fi router in the house at it seems to interfere with the BTHub...

I can use the house's wlan because it's connected to the University.

 

R

 

Buy a $30 wireless router, put it in AP only mode. Give it it's own SSID and put it on a channel 3 numbers away from what you are currently using.

 

Or put your current WLan on another channel. You may have to try a few channels out. You may need to find the channel that your BTHub is on.

[plissken]

I use a USB Drive attached to a Linksys WRT1200AC and get pretty decent read and writes. About 90/80MB/s. Someday I will get a dedicated NAS, but right now it is working fine as a file server for music and movies.

 

Since it's a 1200 speed unit the 80-90MB/s makes perfect sense as you are hitting the limits of the wireless throughput and potentially the limits of the drives write speed.

[semente]

Buy a $30 wireless router, put it in AP only mode. Give it it's own SSID and put it on a channel 3 numbers away from what you are currently using.

 

Or put your current WLan on another channel. You may have to try a few channels out. You may need to find the channel that your BTHub is on.

 

Thanks. I'll see what I can do.

[jvlata]

I have a Western Digital 2TB "My Cloud" connected (wired) to my Comcast Router for my music database. I noted that the sound got more warm.. less edgy compared to my 4TB Thunderbolt.. I have never experienced any problems..

Buying a new WD My Cloud 4TB soon..