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jenrou

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I'm sure I made a mistake ordering this with a sata hardrive. I wanted one, but it is like crazy trying to figure it out, besides having to format the hardrive. I'm hoping I can return it!

Anyone ever used this? You are supposed to create a server type thing connected to your modem. I just wanted to connect it to my pc. I've heard many people say they have, but the instructions are another story.It would hold two hard drives.

Jean

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Jean, I'm guessing a little since I don't have the model, but if there are more people in the household with computers, the server option gives all of you the option to share the storage on this device, even a second drive.

 

If it's just for you, then you don't need it right now. If you decide to add a second drive later, it's nice because it doesn't require another connection to your computer (wow, it's easy to use up all the USB ports!) If you think you don't want that option in the next year or two, then you could return it.

 

That said, hard drives are more scarce than usual these days due to the terrible floods that hit Thailand. If the price was right, because this configuration was lingering on the shelf compared to "plain" EHDs, then it might make sense to keep it anyway. It won't hurt anything. Hope this helps.

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Morning Jean,

 

Hope I can help you out here as I use 3 External Hard Drives (all 1 Terabyte drives) and one NAS (Network Attached Storage) with (2) 1 terabyte drives in a Mirrored Setup.

 

Basically your NAS (Network Attached Storage) is exactly that, you attach it to your Network instead of your PC and is accessed via a shared drive instead of a physical drive on your workstation.

 

Without me getting to deep not knowing if this is what you want and if you have a setup to use this device I will keep it brief and let me know if you need more information.

 

1) If you have a Modem going directly to your PC you are missing a Switch or Router to connect this device so you may want to consider an EHD to keep it simple instead.

 

2) If your modem also has switch ports or you have an extra switch or router you can plug this device directly into the switch ports (don't worry if it's in another room as it's accessed over the network, mine is tucked in the crawlspace under the living room).

 

Quick summary on why you would want a NAS over a EHD is this :

 

- NAS Bay can accommodate more than 1 drive as yours has 2 you mentioned

- Hard Drives can be setup to use different configurations for flexibility but more importantly redundancy

# IE... (2) 1 terabyte drives can be used for 2 terabytes of space

OR they can be used in a MIRRORED setup so total space is still only 1 terabyte "BUT" if one drive fails you don't lose anything, you replace the failed drive, Mirrored raid rebuilds and your data is protected again.

Bigger NAS bays have 5 or more bays and can be used in a Raid 5 array so up to 2 can fail before data loss (Standard in Company Network setups)

 

If you have the setup and someone to help you get it running I would keep it and add another drive in a Raid 1 (Mirror) setup and tuck it away somewhere and your all set.

 

If you don't have switch ports on your modem, or your modem is connected direct to your PC you may want to exchange for a simple plug and play EHD.

 

Hope that helps, if you decide to keep it and have further questions let me know otherwise it may be un-necessary to talk about configuring it.

 

- Basically once it is plugged in it should obtain an IP address the same as a computer

- Open a web browser and browse to the configuration page of the device to whatever IP address was obtained from DHCP

- Add Users and Passwords to connect to the device

- Add a shared drive from your PC, with Win7 etc it should be seen automatically.

 

It may seem scary at first, but it truly is another type of network technology compared to a straight EHD connected directly.

 

Finally, I don't think I would recommend connecting it directly to your PC and use it as an EHD as it is overkill and more expensive then a normal hard drive solution. Further networking would be required and static IP addresses for both your PC and NAS to work correctly assuming you have an open network port to plug it into.

 

L8r,

Vince

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Thanks! I am using a laptop, and although I plugged into something on my laptop that looked like an ethernet slot-I'm not sure. Of course the drive isn't formatted and the router is across the house from my office. There's no other person who has any need to use it but me. My husband checks email or listens to music on Utube, but that's it.

I basically wanted all of the room I wanted to back up anything. Not to share. I have several EHDs but it just seemed that a real hard drive would be better.

I'm not even sure about returning it to Tiger, although they have a good rep. I may have to learn to use it.

Vince, I appreciate being able to ask questions of you. Next week I'll be able to see what I can do, even if it is overkill.

Wouldn't going through the router/IP compromise the safety since I would have to go wireless? some years ago I did all sorts of working on hardware and software in the pc world & have done so since the 1980's, but these days, most of it is over my head.

Jean

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Thanks! I am using a laptop, and although I plugged into something on my laptop that looked like an ethernet slot-I'm not sure. Of course the drive isn't formatted and the router is across the house from my office. There's no other person who has any need to use it but me. My husband checks email or listens to music on Utube, but that's it.

I basically wanted all of the room I wanted to back up anything. Not to share. I have several EHDs but it just seemed that a real hard drive would be better.

I'm not even sure about returning it to Tiger, although they have a good rep. I may have to learn to use it.

Vince, I appreciate being able to ask questions of you. Next week I'll be able to see what I can do, even if it is overkill.

Wouldn't going through the router/IP compromise the safety since I would have to go wireless? some years ago I did all sorts of working on hardware and software in the pc world & have done so since the 1980's, but these days, most of it is over my head.

Jean

 

Hooking the drive up to the same router your computer is connected to just lets the drive communicate on the same "Network" as your computer, that way ALL computers on your network can also access the drive.

The NAS drives are great because there always on, don't have a operating system like a computer, minimal updates, and very stable. The sure do have there PROs for sure.

 

If your Laptop is currently connected to your network via cable it stays that way so you don't have to be concerned about wireless.

 

If your Laptop is already connected wirelessly and the NAS is on the same network again, it's behind your router so you don't need to be concerned as your router is also a firewall to the outside world.

 

Think of the NAS as another networked computer that you configure and access via a webpage, your laptop can be wired or wireless whatever you wish but the NAS would be plugged in via ethernet cable to the router across the house from your office.

 

Vince

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  • 3 weeks later...

By the way Vince, I am returning the D-Link and hard drive to TD. Now I have to wait to see if they are charging me a restocking fee. It cost 20$ ro mail it back. I wasn't too smart there.

Thanks for your help.

Jenrou

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