I want to connect a HDD to my network

bungle4by4

Ok i have an existing 1tb hard drive, which is connected to my laptop (my only computer) and i want it to be connected to my network, so it isn't plugged into my laptop all the time.

on it is movies, music and pictures which i watch on my xbox 360 and i want to continue this functionality.

i've been googling and nas usb things seem to be the way but they vary in price from 30 quid on ebay to basically plug my hdd into my router to 500 quid for all kinds of trickery that i dont understand.

Obviously i want to do this cheaply and if anyone has any knowledge or advice on a simple way of doing this i'd be grateful.

Thanks

Ocentric

I use a linksys WRT160NL with DD-WRT firmware to do this. I only spent about £45 on the router.

bungle4by4

would i be able to use this router with my existing sky broadband?

free4440273

http://www.netgear.com/stora is what i use //

Ocentric

Sorry, the WRT160NL has to be connected to a modem, so it is not the best one for Sky Broadband.
Alternatives are: Linksys WAG320N Dual Band Wireless ADSL Router or Netgear DGN2200 Wireless-N300 ADSL or Belkin N+ F5D8635-4A ADSL wireless-N Router W /USB storage port

The linksys one is about £100, the Netgear is about £60 and the Belkin is about £40

EGR

You can buy the linksys for about £60 on eBay, Buy Now deal.

bungle4by4

could you post a link to that please? i cant see it on there for that much

alexlyne

i bought an emprex nsd-100 a few weeks ago, after the same as you. It's a basic box with two USB ports for either HDDs or printer (to use as a printer server). It was a tenner at ebuyer, though I can't see it now. It is useful though underpowered i.e. you get what you pay for with it. I haven't tried streaming from it as it does support UPNP, but not DLNA which my telly is (shame).
The design is 3 years old, and if it is no longer available, there may be better equivelants out there now.

everett_psycho

free4440273 wrote: »

http://www.netgear.com/stora is what i use //

i've got one of these as well, works alright for what the OP is after, but you need to add hard drives like the ones in a PC, a USB one will work as an extension to it though. If all you want is a dumping ground and something to let you watch media on your xbox you need a drive that has what's known as a DLNA server, in simple terms it makes a library of what's on the drive and tells the xbox and laptop it's there to look at.

You can grab a stora with no drives for about £60 online and add a 1TB drive in for another £40 (they are really simple to add, just slide it in the bay until it stops) then plug it in to your routers ethernet socket and off you go. This way you can keep your current 1TB drive as a backup or use it for something else.

edit: I forgot to add that using a non sky router with sky broadband is a pain so i wouldn't advise going down that route. Evan if you're confident you can get the settings right to work it's still against skys T&C's so they can and have cut people off for doing it.