NAS query

will56

HI,

Is it possible to have a NAS running with only an External HDD connected to it, not an internal HDD.

I have some HDDs, but they aren't suitable for mounting in a NAS. Rather than spending money on new Drives can I just buy a decent enclosure and plug my current drives into it ?

advertsfox

Every external USB drive has a traditional HDD inside it, assuming they are 3.5" drives I recommend you open them and take out the drives to add to a NAS enclosure. Alternatively you can just buy a NAS USB Adapter that connects directly to your router and external drives. Limited for features but will work for SMB / FTP / DLNA.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-PS310U-Single-Storage-Server/dp/B002LB8XFK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421247850&sr=8-1&keywords=nas+adapter

will56

Will one of these fit in a NAS ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Passport-Ultra-Portable-Drive-Backup/dp/B00CRZ2G7Q

advertsfox

will56 wrote: »

Will one of these fit in a NAS ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Passport-Ultra-Portable-Drive-Backup/dp/B00CRZ2G7Q

Some do support the 2.5" drive that is in the Passport but if your case, you might be better off purchasing the simple USB to NAS adapter I linked.

BTW, what is the router / ISP you are using BTW? Does it have a USB port?

will56

I have a Zyxel F100 from Eircom. It has a USB port but I had trouble getting it to work with a USB flash drive

advertsfox

will56 wrote: »

I have a Zyxel F100 from Eircom. It has a USB port but I had trouble getting it to work with a USB flash drive

That router isn't great, it's better to separate it entirely. Since you have a Pi, you can turn that entirely into a NAS with a few commands. Then you will have a Samba server running (a traditional Windows network share) that all devices can connect to, including your Android Box (it can be located by it's hostname or IP) like such:

//WILL56/Share/Videos/Bla/Bla
//192.168.1.15/Share/Videos/Bla/Bla

http://www.raspipress.com/2013/05/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-nas-network-attached-storage-server/

PS: I use Antek Explorer on my phone / stick for accessing network shares - you can and it detects it for you, you only need to enter login credentials.

will56

advertsfox wrote: »

That router isn't great, it's better to separate it entirely. Since you have a Pi, you can turn that entirely into a NAS with a few commands. Then you will have a Samba server running (a traditional Windows network share) that all devices can connect to, including your Android Box (it can be located by it's hostname or IP) like such:

//WILL56/Share/Videos/Bla/Bla
//192.168.1.15/Share/Videos/Bla/Bla

http://www.raspipress.com/2013/05/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-nas-network-attached-storage-server/

PS: I use Antek Explorer on my phone / stick for accessing network shares - you can and it detects it for you, you only need to enter login credentials.

Is samba on the Pi okay for other devices to stream videos from the PI ?

advertsfox

will56 wrote: »

Is samba on the Pi okay for other devices to stream videos from the PI ?

No it's more for direct file access, in your case you would want DLNA setup. This guide shows you how, it also mounts your External Drive so SMB should work along side it.

http://bbrks.me/rpi-minidlna-media-server/

What use is a media server if you have nowhere to store your media? This will walk you through auto-mounting an external drive upon boot.

will56

advertsfox wrote: »

No it's more for direct file access, in your case you would want DLNA setup. This guide shows you how, it also mounts your External Drive so SMB should work along side it.

http://bbrks.me/rpi-minidlna-media-server/

Thanks for your help.
I assume if I've already mounted the HDD for a Samba file share I won't need to do it again for the DLNA set up ?

advertsfox

will56 wrote: »

Thanks for your help.
I assume if I've already mounted the HDD for a Samba file share I won't need to do it again for the DLNA set up ?

Yup, just do the Samba guide first and skip to the "Next we'll find our device UUID and filesystem type" part of the DLNA guide so you can correctly map your partition and go from there before you setup MiniDLNA.

28064212

advertsfox wrote: »

Every external USB drive has a traditional HDD inside it

Caveat: Not all of them do. There have been a couple of popular drives that don't have standard connections. Also, you'll void your warranty opening them up

will56

Finally have it set up and running properly. Did some searching and found a simpler guide that works.
This site has a guide from increasing the power output on the USB ports straight through to DLNA

http://www.htpcguides.com/power-2-5-hard-drive-with-raspberry-pi-b/