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Take advantage of your router's USB port with a little trick that lets you share a hard drive with anyone on your Wi-Fi network.

But they're not always better than external hard drives.

These NAS Drives can directly connect to the existing WiFi or Wired Network. If your hard drive has its own Ethernet port, you can connect the device to the network directly.

The hard drive appears in the Network window along with other drives shared on the network. Third method Choose portable hard drives that plug in via USB or firewire for fast transfers of even the largest files. Network-attached storage devices are accessible, versatile and easy-to-use. Internet access is not a problem nor is file sharing with my girlfriend's laptop connected via Wifi. We run through everything you need to know to share a folder or hard drive on your home network. If everything went down smoothly you should be able to see your drive in all of your computers while the host PC (Comp A) is turned on, the drive is connected to it and the Comp is connected to the same network than all of the other computers. Best Network Attached Storage for 2020. For “Drive,” select the letter that you want to give to the shared drive. 3.2.- Select "Reconnect at login". 4.- Click "Finish". Our editors hand-picked these products based on our tests and reviews.

Sharing a folder or an entire hard drive on your PC has a number of benefits.

Simply plug the hard drive into its power supply, connect the device to the router using an Ethernet cable, and you’re done. WD 16TB My Cloud EX4100 Expert Series Network Attached Storage - NAS WDBWZE0160KBK-NESN.

The second method to connect a hard drive is directly. Typically, the WiFi-based Hard Drives are portable drives, and Ethernet-based are large external hard disks.

Wireless hard drives mean you can get extra storage quickly, without having to fiddle with cables. Now your hard drive will be available for remote connections over the network. I doubt it's router-related because my girlfriend still has access (via Wifi) to the 2 NAS. NAS stands for Network Attached Storage and by connecting to your network, it allows every device to access the files stored on it, as if it was a hard drive directly installed in the device. With multiple hard drives contained within bays, some NAS units are even upgradable when you need to add more storage capacity to your server. NAS (Network Attached Storage) based External Hard Disks are coming with built-in WiFi or Ethernet Port. I recently lost access to my 2 network drives.

Easy to slip into your bag or even a pocket, these hard drives are more portable than ever, without the need for a dedicated power source. On the computer that you want to access the drive from: Select “Map network drive” from the ribbon menu. Share a hard drive with everyone on your Wi-Fi network. Both are connected to the router via Ethernet and I myself am connected to the router via Ethernet as well. This method works only when the hard drive features its own Ethernet port: Simply plug the hard drive into its power supply, plug the hard drive into the router with an Ethernet cable, and you’re done. 3.1.- Select the drive that you want to Map.

From faster data access to ease of configuration, network attached storage simplifies the process of saving and storing files.