Auto sync photos and video from Android phone to router connected HDD

[max.hellstrand]

I have a 4TB Seagate Expansion STEA4000400 that I have connected via USB to my ASUS RT-N56U router.

I would really like to set up so that the photos and videos I take on my phone (Samsung S8+) are automatically synced to the hard drive, maybe scheduled for every night.

I have tried to read up on the subject but I get stuck, maybe because the router is slightly old (bought in 2014) and maybe don't support ASUS newest features for this, or maybe just because I'm not tech savvy enough..

I've heard of Samba, but I don't really understand how to approach it, and also I use a Macbook computer so setting up something in a Windows environment (which most tutorials focus on) is not possible either.


Router says HDD is Unmounted, don't know if that's an issue:

AiDisk which may be something I would want to use says that no HDD is plugged in, don't understand why, or if that even matters for what I want to do.

There is some feature for setting up accounts to access the disk, but I haven't set anything up and don't know if that's the correct approach either.

If someone please could guide me in how to set this up I would love you forever.

Best,
Max

 

[Alabalcho]

If you can see your HDD from your MacBook over Samba (or "Windows sharing"), this means you should be able to access the HDD from your Android. Install a LAN-aware app like "ES File Manager", and see whether you can transfer (manually) photos from your phone to the HDD.

If you can, look for an Android app which can sync your files (photos etc) over WiFi, on schedule. Unfortunately, I can't recommend an app.

 

[max.hellstrand]

If you can see your HDD from your MacBook over Samba (or "Windows sharing"), this means you should be able to access the HDD from your Android. Install a LAN-aware app like "ES File Manager", and see whether you can transfer (manually) photos from your phone to the HDD.

If you can, look for an Android app which can sync your files (photos etc) over WiFi, on schedule. Unfortunately, I can't recommend an app.

The only way I see the HDD is by logging on to the router UI, there I can see that the router accepts that a HDD is connected, but I haven't seen it outside of the router UI:

I haven't seen the HDD over Samba, I don't have Samba. I tried downloading it but I have no idea of how it's supposed to work. Tried looking up a guide but all guides aimed at Samba with Mac seem to refer to accessing files between a Mac and a Windows PC, which shouldn't be what I'm after.

I don't know if Samba is something I should be using, I downloaded the 4.9.1 version but I don't understand how I'm supposed to run it. It's just a folder with lots of files and folders, nothing that I can "start".

 

[Alabalcho]

If your router says "Unmounted" for HDD, then there's something wrong with the setup. Possible reason could be 4TB capacity. You might need to update your router' firmware, and check again what HDDs are supported.
https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTN56U/HelpDesk_BIOS/

"Samba" is Unix/Linux/BSD implementation of Windows (actually, LAN manager) file sharing protocol. The tutorials you've seen about MAC are just that - how to access files on Windows computer from a Mac / Linux workstation.

It might turn out that your router just cannot support your 4TB drive (being too big). Try plugging a USB flashdrive, and see whether you can "mount" / share it, as an experiment.

 

[jsmithepa]

Androids have no cloud-sync like iPhones?

 

[Alabalcho]

Androids have no cloud-sync like iPhones?

They do - but instead to iCloud, they sync to Google' Photos. But this is not what the OP is after.