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04Stefan07
20-03-2013, 09:50 PM
I have a modem/router that contains a USB port (Netgear's ReadyShare) which I put an 4GB flash drive in.

I was photoshopping some of the photos contained on the USB over the network. Copying files from and to the USB is slow.

How do you store files to be accessed over the network by multiple computers? ReadyShare is too slow!

My files are contained on my desktop and because of the power it consumes I do not want to keep it on 24/7 to access files.

mithrandir
20-03-2013, 10:20 PM
Stefan, you probably want a NAS. There have been a few discussed on IIS before. QNAP is one brand. You could get a TS-412 for under $400 + whatever you pay for the 1-4 disks it holds. It also draws much less power than a PC.

I probably should get one too since it would be less complex than the way I share files now.

RickS
20-03-2013, 10:48 PM
I expect you meant to type NAS, or Network Attached Storage. A SAN is probably overkill for home use ;)

mithrandir
20-03-2013, 10:51 PM
Fingers 1. Brain 0. I'll fix, but a SAN would be cool.

bert
21-03-2013, 06:31 AM
Dropbox?

supernova1965
21-03-2013, 07:18 AM
+1 for Dropbox wouldn't be without it.

pluto
21-03-2013, 08:38 AM
Dropbox?
I think Stefan's question is because it's too slow accessing files from the shared usb drive on his router. I have a Netgear router and have also tried this and it is pretty slow but still an order of magnitude faster than uploading files to the Dropbox server then downloading them again!

I would go for a NAS, I've used a friends Synology NAS and it's awesome in every way I would want it to be :D

Also I love Dropbox, just not for this :)

04Stefan07
21-03-2013, 09:04 AM
I already use dropbox for other things. Dropbox in this case would be annoying having to upload and download all the time.

A NAS does sound very tempting, might have to look into it in the near future.

Thanks!

rogerco
21-03-2013, 04:53 PM
If you have the computers all plugged into the same router you should be able to configure them all as a pier to pier network and then simply share your drive and it will appear as a drive on the other computers. Speed will be much faster than USB drive. Same thing applies if you are using wifi instead of cable connections.

naskies
21-03-2013, 06:33 PM
Dropbox automatically performs a LAN sync if your computers are on the same subnet (they usually are if you're connected to the one router), so it's much faster than each computer downloading the content from the Dropbox servers.

https://www.dropbox.com/help/137/en

NAS units are fantastic, but the cheap ones aren't fast (compared to plugging the drive directly into a computer).

If one of your computers has a fast processor with plenty of RAM, you may get better performance by setting one of them up as a file server.

AstroJunk
21-03-2013, 06:55 PM
In direct answer to your question, the bottle neck in your system is likely to be your network. Wired networks are often slower than USB2 and wireless networks are much slower still. Cloud will be even slower, but with the right service, will sync file locally.

I have recently given up on NAS after my n'th domestic unit packed it. I used dropbox for a while and had no real complaints. When I moved to win 8, I discovered that windows skydrive (available for all os/mobile devices) is actually very good indeed and syncs files between devices so that they are available online/offline and on any device you chose.

Works well for me, and cheaper to buy extra space than dropbox.

Try a few out - if you have half decent internet and a good plan, then cloud is a good way to go, otherwise make sure you have a gigabit wired lan...

pluto
21-03-2013, 07:46 PM
That's awesome!