USB-to-NAS device

[Handruin]

This neat little device seems like it could be useful.

Storage junkies, your dreams have just been made into reality. Addonics has just introduced a marvelous new piece of kit, the simple-yet-useful Network Attached Storage Adapter. This little box enables any USB hard drive to be placed onto a network for network access, essentially turning your stale USB HDDs into NAS drives. The device supports both SMB (Server Message Block) and the open source Samba network protocols, which allows for cross-platform access of shared data for most versions of OS X, Windows and Linux. For users not directly connected over the LAN, the adapter provides FTP access for up to eight simultaneous users anywhere in the world, and it can even be used as "a print server or as a BitTorrent file downloading appliance." Best of all? It's available right now for $55. Like we said, dream come true.

 

[Mercutio]

Well that's certainly nifty!

 

[Handruin]

I will likely be trying one of these when I find them available. As I was discussing with a coworker, he asked if a USB hub could be attached with multiple drives...that might be even more interesting if allowed.

 

[udaman]

This one is way cooler/geekier...and only costs 23x more

http://www.electronista.com/articles/08/12/10/buffalo.external.240gb.ssd/

 

[Handruin]

Doesn't look cooler or geekier to me. I'm not at all likely to buy that product and could build my own portable SSD if I thought it was needed. It's somewhat of a waste of SSD potential if their only interfaces are ethernet or USB.

 

[ddrueding]

It's somewhat of a waste of SSD potential if their only interfaces are ethernet or USB.

I doubt that. There are some real dogs in the SSD world, and I bet that the USB port is not the restriction in this device. It also uses some of the strong points of solid state; silence and low power consumption. I am interested in this thing.

 

[Howell]

If that little guy could be made to copy backups to another one with out user intervention it would be awesome.

For now, I like this guy for only $150:
http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Sate...nksys/Common/VisitorWrapper&lid=8301433766B01

 

[Handruin]

I guess the silence and low power consumption would be nice, but looking at the asking price I bet you could do fairly well with a 5400RPM large capacity notebook disk drive that would offer more space and still be quiet and low power consumption.

I realize that there are many slow SSD drives, but if there going to make the switch for this type of product, why put a POS SSD into this thing for no other benefit than for lower power consumption and silence at a dramatically increased price?

 

[sechs]

I imagine that performance is pretty underwhelming with this thing.

 

[mollyjack]

Now lets be clear here - its not turning your HDD into a NAS. It is turning your HDD into a networked HDD. Quite a difference. You dont get all the functionality you get from a NAS by using this device. I do have to say though, that it WILL suit some peoples needs

 

[Howell]

Isn't a networked HDD the most simple definition of Network Attached Storage? : )

 

[sechs]

I think that wiring a CAT5 cable directly to a flash drive might be.

 

[Howell]

I wonder what the gauge of Cat5/6 cable is and if that is sufficient to withstand the power requirements of a hard drive.

 

[ddrueding]

I have a 1000' box of Plenum rated CAT6 here next to my desk. It says it is 23 Gauge.

 

[Handruin]

I wonder what the gauge of Cat5/6 cable is and if that is sufficient to withstand the power requirements of a hard drive.

Power over Ethernet is claimed to have:

It allows the powering device to use a voltage between 36–57 V DC, though the nominal voltage is 48 V, over two of the four available pairs on a Cat. 3/Cat. 5e cable with a selectable current of 10–400 mA subject to a maximum load power of 15.40 W. Only about 12.95 W are available after counting cable losses, and most switched power supplies will lose another 10–25% of the available power.

 

[Howell]

Apparently the POE standard is for ~13W over one pair. POE is technically capable of sending power and data over the same pair so technically as long as a HD does not pull more than 48W (to be safe) it could work. How many watts to desktop and laptop HDs normally pull?

 

[Howell]

Power over Ethernet is claimed to have:

That link had a lot of good pertinent info!

 

[CougTek]

How many watts to desktop and laptop HDs normally pull?

Normal 3.5" SATA drives eat less than 20W. Green drives are consuming between 8W and 12W. Laptop drive (mecanical) use less than 5W.

Greg's drives (scuzzies) can climb up to almost 30W. Or at least they used to.

That's all from my memory and mostly came from old SR's database.