NAS Vs USB Enclosure

[Eoraptor]

Okay, So I keep racking my brain over this question, but I cannot find a current answer. The answers I do find are several years old (like 2011), and predate modern N and AC routers with USB ports and advanced firmware functions like guest networks and open firmware.

In short, my question is this; I have a TP Link WDR3600 router and two PCs, plus an android phone, and will be gtting a chromecast 2015 soon; plus whatever guests bring in; and my current (and ancient) USB box is giving up the ghost after over a decade of service. This enclosure is an IDE-USB 2.0 enclosure and has been serving as my NAS since I got my router. The router has a simple samba client in it so that formatted drives plugged in to the USB ports are recognized and made available to linux, mac, and windows via network mapping or direct connect to their local IP (and ftp if I wanted).

I know that dedicated NAS boxes have advanced features like error mitigation, RAID, sleep/wake, etc... but I really only need this as a bucket to drop media and doc files in to and to be served from, so since the router has the usb and basic client on it, can I get by with just another enclosure/adapter, or should I scrimp together the money for a two hundred dollar plus dedicated NAS enclosure instead?

 

[Calculagator]

If you only need to dump files to share, I would just replace the drive: Don't fix what isn't broken.
If you want the features of the NAS, on the other hand, synology makes some nice models. A NAS is great for backing up your systems if you don't already have a good backup solution.

 

[Solandri]

The TPLink WDR3600 has a really slow USB port. 6-10 MB/s with a FAT formatted drive, 2-8 MB/s with NTFS.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/31952-tp-link-tl-wdr3500-n600-wireless-dual-band-router-reviewed?showall=&start=2

If all your going to do is dump a bunch of movies onto the HDD (by plugging it directly into a computer), then plug it into the router and occasionally use it as a media server, then yeah you could just get a new external HDD. But if you wish to do any higher-speed transfers to/from the drive (like backing up your systems, or regularly dumping new movies onto the drive), then you will want either a NAS or a newer router with a decent USB 3.0 port. The newer routers can hit NAS-like speeds over USB, but they also tend to be as expensive as a NAS.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/router/bar/175-ntfs-read-usb-3-0

 

[Eoraptor]

The TPLink WDR3600 has a really slow USB port. 6-10 MB/s with a FAT formatted drive, 2-8 MB/s with NTFS.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/31952-tp-link-tl-wdr3500-n600-wireless-dual-band-router-reviewed?showall=&start=2

If all your going to do is dump a bunch of movies onto the HDD (by plugging it directly into a computer), then plug it into the router and occasionally use it as a media server, then yeah you could just get a new external HDD. But if you wish to do any higher-speed transfers to/from the drive (like backing up your systems, or regularly dumping new movies onto the drive), then you will want either a NAS or a newer router with a decent USB 3.0 port. The newer routers can hit NAS-like speeds over USB, but they also tend to be as expensive as a NAS.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/router/bar/175-ntfs-read-usb-3-0

Thanks Solandri and Calculagator I knew it was slow. But when I got it 2 + years ago, AC and USB 3 were not yet mainstream on routers, and the old ATA150 interface on that USB box was a far bigger bottleneck than the USB2.0 was ever going to be. Sadly I am poor, and I don't exactly have money or justification to just replace a perfectly good router. (likewise hard to justify a fancy dual bay nas at the same price level when I could theoretically get by with a forty dollar enclosure)

I just wanted to know I wasn't completely insane in doing that.

 

[Calculagator]

If you leave one of your PC's on, you could share directly from there. That would use more power but could give you significantly better speeds.