Problem :
I have a 1 TB seagate SATA hdd, i want to connect it to my linksys wireless router using ethernet…
*I dont want to buy a new Drive, but use an existing one, maybe with some kind of external casing.
- Is it possibe?
- If yes, then how
Solution :
Yes, this is possible.
NewEgg sells a product that would fit your need – the IOCell Networks 352ND Ethernet 2 Bay NDAS Network Enclosure – Retail (long name!)
This product is “okay”, according to the reviews – it looks like it has some limitations.
You may want to look into a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, but they’re kind of expensive. http://www.newegg.com/store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=124&Tpk=NAS
If you have an old computer lying around, you may be able to create your own, using FreeNAS software.
For something cheaper, NewEgg also has a SYBA SD-U2NAS-35 Aluminum 3.5″ Silver USB 2.0 & RJ45 External Enclosure w/Big fan (another long name – but, with a big fan!). It’s significantly cheaper than the first one I mentioned (this one’s $39.99 as of this writing) and includes a USB interface.
Well, you’d need to wrap the drive in some sort of external enclosure. If perhaps your router has a USB port, you’d just need to put the drive in a SATA-USB enclosure, and plug it in. If not (and I suspect it doesn’t have a port from the way your question is phrased), you need to either add one, or attach the drive to some sort of NAS device.
I personally use a Linksys NSLU2 with a 500GB HDD attached via USB. I have the NSLU2 connected to my Linksys WRT54G router (running DD-WRT) via Ethernet. I then export a filesystem on the drive using SMB and mount it on the router.
another alternative (maybe not so ‘green’ 🙂 … if you have some old clunker with a SATA controller, you can turn it into a powerful NAS and media streaming server with FreeNAS
If you’re just looking to share the drive on the network, then there are plenty of hard drive enclosures with an ethernet interface. At one time Linksys made an ethernet to USB product, allowing you to attach a USB drive (or flash drive) to your network.
If you want to attach it to the router as router storage (using a 3rd party firmware), it might be possible, but I think it would be quite the hack.