External USB HDDs as NAS?

bemymonkey · 01-21-2009, 12:50 PM

Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if I can use a regular external 3.5" USB HDD as a NAS with my router (which has a USB port that works with mass storage devices...). I've tried this out with a USB case for regular internal 3.5" PATA HDDs that I had laying around, and it worked fine - but I'm not sure if the drive will actually power down when idle to save power and increase the drive's lifespan.

Any thoughts on the subject? Is it a good idea to use regular USB HDDs as NAS? Or would I be better off getting a real NAS device? I'm assuming those will all have proper power management built in already?

01-21-2009, 12:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
bemymonkey New Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1	External USB HDDs as NAS? Hi everyone, I'm wondering if I can use a regular external 3.5" USB HDD as a NAS with my router (which has a USB port that works with mass storage devices...). I've tried this out with a USB case for regular internal 3.5" PATA HDDs that I had laying around, and it worked fine - but I'm not sure if the drive will actually power down when idle to save power and increase the drive's lifespan. Any thoughts on the subject? Is it a good idea to use regular USB HDDs as NAS? Or would I be better off getting a real NAS device? I'm assuming those will all have proper power management built in already?

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