Wireless Hard Drive?

I was thinking of getting a wireless hard drive setup for storage, so I could mount it on my computer as a samba share. That way I won't ever have to worry about going low on space.

To make this setup work though I'll be using a wireless N router flashed with dd-wrt and connected to a notebook hard drive in an enclosure via usb (I'll be using a usb-equipped router, like the WRT350N). The only issue I think i'll facing is speed - how fast are the draft 2.0 N routers? They boast 300mbps or whatnot, but going by past experience I think that translates to around 18MB/s (real world speed). Even if it is higher then I'm guessing the USB will be the bottleneck (I think its max realistic speed is around 25MB/s?)

I figured this method would be best since I need to buy a new router anyway when I move in for college. Am I going about it the right way or do I need a completely different setup?

 

Isn't it easier to just get a NAS?

 

I've read a thing or two about NAS but I'm not sure if thats what I need. How does it plug into a network, does it just use gigabit ethernet (at this point hard drive transfer speed would no longer be a bottleneck). NAS also seems to be an expensive option...

 

wireless hard drives are sooo slow, you want to avoid it unless you are very patient.

 

Even with the new wireless N transfer speeds?

 

Unless you need constant access to the drive and you are completely mobile in your dorm room, you might consider picking up a cheap USB 2.0/Firewire enclosure and a desktop drive. It's much cheaper than a NAS and you don't have to worry about securing a wireless network to keep unwanted "visitors" out.

I have both a NAS and a USB drive. The only reason I have the NAS is so that my wife, my son, and I can all access shared pictures and movies. However, I actually prefer running a true server instead of the NAS, as a server has better access control, better shared printer capabilities, and can also double as a DNS server (although it's better to have a separate server for each role). Plus, Windows updates can be pushed to all computers (and I like using Active Directory to manage all the users).

From what you've written, I don't think a NAS is necessary in your case.

 

Either way your speed will depend on network traffic, and in the case of wireless, you not only have to worry about traffic but interference. GL

 

Well basically me and my roommate want to setup a media drive, so we can dump all our stuff onto it and share it all. Having the enclosure means no more sharing, and having to plug in the drive and copy files over (vs downloading files directly to the hard drive). This will basically be a storage drive so I wont need all the access functions and extra capabilities that come with a NAS.

I guess I had too much faith in N. I was hoping that i'd receive file transfer speeds similar to of a plugged in external drive. Internet traffic should only be a fraction of an N router's throughput capability.

 

Is this going to be just a media drive? If so, there are solutions out there to stream media, like the Buffalo LinkStation Live or LinkStation Pro. From what I've read, they do a great job with media over a wireless connection. Get a router with a gigabit connection and A/B/G/N wireless and you should be more than happy with the speed. The great thing is if you choose to load movies to the device, you can plug into the router and transfer the huge files over a wired connection.

 

there are really alot of ways to go with this.. just check them all and decide what is best for you , for myself - i've decided to go the NAS way.
you can use an old computer for that job so that's cheap , the expensive parts are the hard-drives ofcourse , and the N-router if you don't allready have it.
so why NAS ? - it's basiclly more flexible than buying something prepered - I can add space ( I currently have 1.5tb and can add 2 more hard-drives ) , I can update software easily (windows , drivers ,UltraVNC - a must for NAS .. check it out).
again - you can do it in so many ways , but every1 have other preferences on how he would like to share media files .. my personal opinion is going the NAS way since it's easily upgradable , and have familiar usage.
good luck