Ext Back up Drive hooked to my Router

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I want to know what I need to look for to have an external drive hooked to my router?
I found a Seagate wireless, STCG2000100 But I do not necessarily need it to be wirele$$, do I?

I would think plugging in a drive into the router would make it accessible to whomever has router WEP if secured. NO?

If I am correct on this, please let me know what I need to look for on a Drive so it will plug into my Router. I do not think Ext. Drives come with a standard rj45 or whatever it is. Unless there is an adapter?
Please advise, thank you
NC

 

[elmo2006]

You need a drive that basically performs *cloud* duties or a NAS.
You will also need to confirm if your existing router supports connected media and which ones.

 

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Elmo,
Thank you for your input, although your jargon is a bit daunting. NAS ? I am buying a new Router and was going to try and get the right set-up. I am looking for another Ext drive and thought might as well get something all my computers can share for B/U, Stream, etc. I did find a post where someone suggested getting a router that supports Storage. And in turn getting Storage that supports being plugged into a router.

With that in mind, I will have to re-post on a suggestion, for a reasonably budget priced Router and Storage solution. As the router is wireless so will the storage if the router supports it...
Thanks again
NC

 

[elmo2006]

Elmo,
Thank you for your input, although your jargon is a bit daunting. NAS ? I am buying a new Router and was going to try and get the right set-up. I am looking for another Ext drive and thought might as well get something all my computers can share for B/U, Stream, etc. I did find a post where someone suggested getting a router that supports Storage. And in turn getting Storage that supports being plugged into a router.

With that in mind, I will have to re-post on a suggestion, for a reasonably budget priced Router and Storage solution. As the router is wireless so will the storage if the router supports it...
Thanks again
NC

You will need a router that supports external drives and you will need a drive that supports that capability as well i.e. Network Attached Storage devices or other drives like those by WD i.e. Western Digital My Cloud

 

[popatim]

router attached storage can come in 3 forms.
The most common is a USB external drive and connects to the routers USB port. The router must support the drive size you want. Theres usually no issue with drive support until you start to go above 2TB. The problem with USB attached drives is the routers typically have usb2 ports which makes the drives slow. Even the fastest usb3 HDD you get will have to slow down to match the routers usb port speed. The features offered by these setups is usually very basic file storage and sharing so please read the owners manual for your specific desires.

The next type is a NAS (network attached storage) which connects to the router by hardwired network cable. Like USB you cannot go faster then the slowest link in the cahin. Look for a router and NAS with gigabit ports and then use a cat5e or cat6 cable to connect them and you will see much better transfer speeds then a usb2 connected drive. I dont know of any NAS devices that will connect & share wirelessly thou QNap offers a wireless dongle you can install on some of there NAS's to do this. I dont know if others offer the same kind of thing.

The last type of storage is a router+nas combo/ all in one. I think Apple's time capsule was the first of these and the only others I know of off the top of my head is the Netgear Centria, WD MyCloud, and Synology Diskstation and I'm not sure whats still being sold or whats good.

I hope this helped some.

 

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Elmo,
Thank you for your input, although your jargon is a bit daunting. NAS ? I am buying a new Router and was going to try and get the right set-up. I am looking for another Ext drive and thought might as well get something all my computers can share for B/U, Stream, etc. I did find a post where someone suggested getting a router that supports Storage. And in turn getting Storage that supports being plugged into a router.

With that in mind, I will have to re-post on a suggestion, for a reasonably budget priced Router and Storage solution. As the router is wireless so will the storage if the router supports it...
Thanks again
NC

You will need a router that supports external drives and you will need a drive that supports that capability as well i.e. Network Attached Storage devices or other drives like those by WD i.e. Western Digital My Cloud

router attached storage can come in 3 forms.
The most common is a USB external drive and connects to the routers USB port. The router must support the drive size you want. Theres usually no issue with drive support until you start to go above 2TB. The problem with USB attached drives is the routers typically have usb2 ports which makes the drives slow. Even the fastest usb3 HDD you get will have to slow down to match the routers usb port speed. The features offered by these setups is usually very basic file storage and sharing so please read the owners manual for your specific desires.

The next type is a NAS (network attached storage) which connects to the router by hardwired network cable. Like USB you cannot go faster then the slowest link in the cahin. Look for a router and NAS with gigabit ports and then use a cat5e or cat6 cable to connect them and you will see much better transfer speeds then a usb2 connected drive. I dont know of any NAS devices that will connect & share wirelessly thou QNap offers a wireless dongle you can install on some of there NAS's to do this. I dont know if others offer the same kind of thing.

The last type of storage is a router+nas combo/ all in one. I think Apple's time capsule was the first of these and the only others I know of off the top of my head is the Netgear Centria, WD MyCloud, and Synology Diskstation and I'm not sure whats still being sold or whats good.

I hope this helped some.

Yes, your detailed response will help in selecting the right hardware to put together.
IE 3.0 vs Gigabyte transfer etc. Good to know and worth the step up.
From a guy who does not buy Cable and streams all his entertainment.