Add USB Storage Drive to Your Router. BT Hub, Plusnet and Others.

How to add a USB stick to the USB port on the back of your wireless router. This will create a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device for sharing files and media over your home network.
Text version of this video is on our website. Here is the link to the full article.
www.computroon.co.uk/2021/02/...

[@montynorth3009]

Excellent! Logical and easy to follow. Worked perfectly. So many KZbin videos out there that tell you what you can use the router USB port for without telling you how to do it in clear simple terms.

[@andrewwade2022]

Thank you so much for these clear and concise instructions, which I've used to configure a 2TB Western Digital USB drive for network storage. Everything is so easy when you know how! Keep up the good work.

[@q8386]

Wow, quick and easy solution. Been looking for something like this for a while, since my Raspberry Pi stopped acting as my NAS. I hope you are still posting as I see this vid is from some time ago. THANKS.

[@ProffyChaos]

Thank you so much for this. I searched for ages and you made this so easy.

[@paulr.5704]

Thank you for your video. Step by step ... easy to follow...worked like a charm. Paul from Canada

[@mrbruno1946]

Thank you very much for the instructions. You was very easy to follow.

[@David-ec2qp]

Fantastic! I’ve been looking into this for ages, before I could only access my movies via VLC player from router but I always had to put the storage into pc first to move the movies onto it. Now I can transfer everything via the network. Great job

[@bfd1918]

Does creating a Map network drive! Will it affect the C capacity storage? Thanks

[@functionatthejunction]

Thanks for the tutorial! I finally decided to wipe the dust off the back of my "rooter's" ;) USB port and put it to use! Subbed and thumbs upped!

[@SartorialPictures]

Can't believe I haven't come across this technique before. Well presented, straightforward, clear and great delivery, thanks. Off now to put a stick in my mother in laws hub for backups. Rooter v Rowter lol.

[@JohnonaBike]

Thank you very much that worked great - I now have my 2TB western drive attached and its a god send as laptops now come with small hard drives now

[@adamronson3428]

Thank you. I wondered why there was a USB port on the back of my BT Home Hub. Have just followed your instructions and now have a shared drive which is really useful as I use 2 computers at home.

[@Computroon]

Great to hear!

[@denissetiawan3645]

@@Computroon I've read the article. Can I use other than FAT 32? I have many big files over 4gb.

[@9hints]

​@@denissetiawan3645 bro did you get your answer ? I want to know too

[@p.l.5860]

Thank you. Thank you. So many other videos were unclear.

[@pdw170]

I was stuck but followed this and it made it nice and easy - thanks for a great video

[@naveenraja7]

Liked this video right away for saying you are not going to put a link to amazon in the discription!

[@jerry4012]

Great video m8, never knew my rooter could do this!

[@adamcharlottelotan4558]

Thank you so much! Very clear, very prctical, very helpful!

[@goodev88]

Great tutorial thanks

[@joramgarcia1495]

Thank you for this video! I really need this. It's nice that I found this vlog. Hahahaha!

[@sergiomarroquinjr3587]

Helpful in that I didn't even think of using the USB port on my 'Rooter' ;) I do love a good Scottish accent! (still think Scottish Engineers are the best to work with!)

[@nazninjahan3540]

Thank you Man, it's working.

[@wizbot]

good video mate thanks

[@albertob6076]

Beautiful! Excellent explanation! Question please. Is there a way to make PLEX see this drive?

[@Labible289]

Thank you so much, you save me.

[@MrTipsoTV]

Thank you for the video, it's very informative & straight forward. How to map it on android tv?

[@falfield]

Good clear instructions - thank you. I'm assuming I'm getting different results from others who are happily reporting success below. With my BT HomeHub4 my data transfer rates for file copying are 1.5-2Mbps, whether I use flash disk, external SSD or self-powered HDD (ie not related to the power delivery capacity of the USB socket on the router). I have both wired and wireless connections to the router which are reported as running at 100Mbps and 87-144Mbps respectively. There is no other network activity to distract the router from the transfer job beyond sustaining my internet connection. Are there protocol/other configuration options to look at or should I write this off as a rubbish router?

[@nickhardiman2142]

Excellent thank you

[@TheGugunea]

thank you!

[@HumbertoMesa]

Good tip ... thanks 🇺🇾

[@phildaniels6117]

This is old now (its Feb 2023) but its not simple like this suggests. In order for the USB port to be found then SMB1 protocol needs to be turned on within windows. Now bear in mind this protocol is turned off by Microsoft because of severe security risks, with ransomware using it to attack computers. And people want to turn it on to get access to a USB stick? wow lol. The fault of course lies with BT using an old protocol within the Smart (irony not lost there!) Hub 2. They should of course be updating it to SMB2 or 3. But they wont, think of the costs to them. So the USB port is useless apart from charging a phone, if thats your bag.

[@kwawkieExp]

yeah insecured

[@norndev]

If it's only for unimportant crap it's not really an issue. Though a raspberry pi connected direct to an ethernet port on the back would be infinitely better

[@RamazanG]

You mean for SMB 1.0? That option is disabled for me, but I can still transfer files between the computer and the router driver.

[@darryljames0111]

Brilliant tutorial. Out of interest, would this format a drive full of existing media?

[@thatslife9446]

Hello! I've got a 1TB harddrive connected to my BT smart hub 2. It says on the smart hub menu on the browser that it's connected. I'm having trouble finding it on a macbook, and also a macbook running parallels. Can you let me know how to do it on one of these places please?

[@markcooper9480]

Thank you

[@christophermorris8809]

A great video works great for me. Is there a way . I can access my hard drive off the local network. I want to access this away from home.

[@RamazanG]

The video worked, thanks. So how can I watch movies on the network drive in the Kodi app installed on the Android TV Box?

[@TerryWindell]

Is that "rooter" made of plastic or "al-yoo-MIN-ee-um"? LOL! Nice video.

[@notaniitian3988]

saved my 30 days and fixed a issue when i tried to connect to connect to my network storage it always opens in browser as new tab, i just mapped it as drive and bow everything is fixed.

[@-GlasgowsLastTram]

Hi did you make a utube video on connecting a wifi camera to a pen drive via the router to store images

[@robingmarsh]

Good easy to follow video, much simpler solution for basic NAS than alternatives I had looked into. Question: any instructions/video for mapping same drive on android phone/tablet? (and other networked devices such as TVs)

[@Computroon]

Hi @ Robin Marsh. I'll look into that, thanks for the suggestion. That would make helpful video as I imagine many users are looking to do this. Off the top of my head, there is directional access via devices such as using the "Your Phone" app that is built in to Windows 10 and the other way using something like the Sweech app on Android. Butyeah, good point. Accessing files from the shared drive. I know that for photos on a NAS drive, apps like FEFileExplorer allow access. Fine for streaming shorter videos but unsure about streaming longer videos. I'll do some more digging on this and try and come up with a practical solution. As for TVs accessing NAS content, this would probably differ with different makes and models so casting from the Windows or Android device to the TV would be the simplest way. I'll do some experimenting with this. Many thanks.

[@leeisds]

Say I wanted to do this but use the drive as a remote drive so I can access it outside of my own network, how would I do that? Ideally I want to be able to install Plex Media Server on a hard drive connected to my router and be able to watch these movies from outside of my own local network, is this possible or would I need more of an actual computer for processing power to be able to stream videos? Thanks

[@zbigniewgr8526]

Hello, ButBut as a remote client (Windows10 PC) I want to have Internet access to HD (or flash drive) connected to the router so that icons of graphic files can be displayed in the directory. I'm talking about previewing a file's icon without needing to open the file. (I won't run samba on my PC) How to do it? Thank you in advance. Regards

[@craigr306]

Love it find your own stuff

[@Funkfreed]

Also note that your modem version is also important, mine is only SMB1 and windows suggests that SMB1 is no longer safe so I can't do the same thing he did.

[@andrew39454]

You can go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Windows features > enable SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support to make it work

[@LalanDesai]

I am using PlusNet broadband connection with a static ip. How can I access my nas over the internet now?

[@sonarfreq]

A BT Homehub 5 requires SMBv1 to be installed in Windows 10 in order for this to work apparently?

[@BARNEY_1337]

Does this mean i can find this drive via my tv's if they have chromecasts or are connected to the same network ? As this would be very handy ...

[@adamharris7913]

could you also use an usb to lan adapter to connect one

[@m0gga]

Great video, can you tell me if using an SSD as a storage device would overcome the power problem? Thanks.

[@Computroon]

Haven't tried but will suggest it will be fine to run SSD as there is no drive to spin. The concern with 2.5" external hard drives (HDD's) is that they are self powered. The port on your router will be sending out 5v power. Test this by connecting your mobile phone to it and see if it takes a charge (or at least lights up). Thing is, a 1TB USB stick is a fraction of the cost of a 1TB SSD so there's this to consider. Let us know how you get on with that.

[@viktor6772]

How to use NAS for backup ip camera data?

[@darrinlong8038]

now how do access the files from outside my network can i add an web address to look at files from another location?

[@machman23]

I am using Linux, when I type \\192.168.1.254 into the browser I get the router settings page. The USB drive is listed and says it's connected, but I have no idea how to access the contents of the drive. BT sent me a link to this video but it is not the solution for me. If I was was to get a folder as a network device how would I get to the router settings as they are the same IP address. Something is missing somewhere.

[@usrao2148]

Can we be able to access this from workplace computer?

[@groundbeef662]

Stupid question but if you haven't got a usb port could you use an ethernet to usb adapter ?

[@waynesharp1690]

Can it be accessed remotely when I'm off the LAN?

[@Jokermaniac]

On my settings for usb its saying disconnected idk how to change it

[@DezRock2]

How do I set up and connect drive on a mac?

[@paulruffy8389]

Would be handy if worked between Linux and Windows? and Chrome OS?

[@nickcowen4565]

Ive done this but I would like my Iphone to also be able to connect to the drive how can I do this?

[@tcb133]

is it only if conected via ethernet cable?

[@zee708258]

Is anyone know how to setup nas usb storage device on Google onhub router?

[@manojkumarramalingam5701]

Great video thanks. By chance you able to share similar steps for MAC.

[@FarebrothaChronicle]

This doesn't work for me. When I open the network via the Default Gateway it show that the "folder is empty". I have the T-Mobile router / 5 G modem with my USB external harddrive connected in to the USB C slot on the T-Mobile router modem.

[@9hints]

Can this work over mobile phones too?

[@OrchestralChord]

Does this work on Virgin's Hub 5 / 3?

[@tpcomcam]

Thank you for your video. I have followed your instructions to the 'letter' but have failed to see the drive. I have tried several USB sticks. No USB icon appears and therefore I am not able to map it. I have a BT router (fibre). Any suggestions would be gratefully received. I the router admin I can see the named USB and it says 'connected'. Any ideas would be appreciated. (David).

[@FlyboyHelosim]

I'm in exactly the same boat as you. No USB drive appears in order to access it or map it to a drive letter.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Update: After further testing, the router seems to be fussy about the file system the attached USB stick is in. The problem you describe appeared for me when formatted to exFAT, but NTFS and FAT32 worked fine! Note that I used Windows 7 and have a BT Smart Hub 6.

[@mdyusufkhan101]

How do I open the pen drive on an Android TV ?

[@ARogers]

When I click okay after typing my default gateway nothing happens. Any ideas why?

[@johnhickton2922]

When I do the run command I get a message saying I can't do it because my system has old unsecure SMB1 and it needs SMB2.

[@andrew39454]

You can go to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Windows features > enable SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support to make it work

[@JoeSmith-zu6lb]

The USB by default is formatted as exFAT. Do I need to format it as NTFS ? Which one is better?

[@Computroon]

Hi Joe. If you want to format the USB, right-click it when you see it in This PC. Choose Format and FAT32 usually works fine. Is it a USB stick or an external hard drive?

[@JoeSmith-zu6lb]

@@Computroon Hi, it's a USB stick. I plan on using it to record TV shows from an IPTV service.

[@GiNodrog]

Very easy with Windows , but i was trying to share with a Linux pc , i had loads of probolems .

[@ccdd24]

Window says i need smb 1 which is not secure and not allow access

[@JorgeHMartinez]

Is there a way to do this but access the drive from over the internet even when you are traveling?

[@christygarcia4843]

From what I have read, yes, but you have to leave a port open and leave your system vulnerable to hackers.

[@batvanio]

With a router at most you can make an FTP server and a media server. They only offer this extra. This is not NAS.

[@blljonez4]

Hi, After entering the IP. address I got a warning that I could not connect as it is insecure, obsolete SMB1 protocol etc. Have I missed something? Or can I do something else to work around this? Thank you.

[@Computroon]

Hi Bill. How old is your router? You could enter the command to enable SMB1 protocol. I found this link with instructions to do that. Hopefully that helps. www.prajwaldesai.com/cant-connect-to-file-share-obsolete-smb1-protocol/

[@WltchDoct0r]

Bad advice! - Unless you want to open you're self up-to attacks, i would not recommend enabled SMB1 protocol this day n age. 😕

[@CrustyBiker]

@@WltchDoct0r what would you recommend? ... not doing this at all? ...as I get the same message..

[@derekaston145]

Did anyone get around this problem (without using SMB1).

[@jameslonghorn5939]

once this is set up how do i access the drive from my smart tv?

[@Computroon]

Hi James. Instructions would be different for every make / model of TV. The option to "Cast to Device" is available though. Simply right-click on the media files and cast to your TV.

[@3D_Printing]

X Box and Playstation?

[@LucasDaVoice]

HOW DO i MAP IT ON MY PHONE?

[@BataPobric82]

Hi, I got a comment "windows cannot access //192.168.1.1. Is it possible for the router to be locked or something? because I cannot even reach the properties of my router

[@Computroon]

Let me check, are those back slashes or forward slashes before the gateway number. They should be \

[@portlandchurch8127]

I had to enable SMB1 to get this to work. Is my system now insecure?

[@rexthewild1183]

Yes and no, normally SMB1 is an old standard, it's open for attacks, the virus "Wanna Cry" started with an infection at network level because somebody found an insecurity in the SMB1 standard...but the fact is... old/cheap equipment still use it... if you can not make something that will make your router support the latest SMB standard... it's impossible for you to use the usb from your router, but keep in mind that problably you don't have sensitive data on your pc, you just want some network storage and it's not likely for someone to come near your house and try to sneak a virus in your network.. it's for you to decide if it's worth the risk or not, my advice is to think about what the risks are, research a bit how the SMB1 was defeated and in what circumstances then think if you can avoid it.. and in the end think if you still wanna use it if is the only option

[@jackvanvoren]

I can save a Word document, but when I want to open this document I get a fault message.

[@d0u6la5m]

how do i do this in linux?

[@willhunter1457]

How do I setup a username and password for it?

[@HarryOrenstein]

Why do this? Most people have Google Drive or similar? Thank you,

[@BladedFish]

Just tells me windows cannot access the default gateway path :(

[@olican101]

my default gateway is a bunch of letters...

[@jadavhemal]

Can we access drive via mobile?

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Yes.

[@spatt833]

Why are you blocking out your private IP information? Private (internal) addresses are not routed on the Internet, and no traffic can be sent to them from the Internet.

[@qkcam45]

Anyone have luck doing this with an ATT router?

[@wesleybello9753]

i have a problem, i don't have a permission to access that server

[@wesleybello9753]

nvm, i just need to enable smb1.

[@ytfanboiii_exe7519]

My wifi dosent have a usb port

[@darthkielbasa]

0:06 it’s router, sir. Router.

[@ricko13]

when content creators put links to Amazon products, it's because those are affiliate links and they earn commissions for each purchase, not just because they trying to save us a search tho

[@ramonalejano671]

You skipped on how to do this w/out ur previous usb drive. it would have been better/complete. Thanks.

[@purushothamadv1394]

You would have produced many informed students. Are you a teacher. English is not my mother tongue, I used to pronounce " rooter not Ritter". Simple.

[@guayabito6946]

Its router because it routes, not roots.

[@IulianLogan]

32 gb is not a nas

[@bomark2002]

ROOTER????

[@hansreynders6853]

Rooter (pronounced) for the British, Router for the Americans.

[@R1CK_54NCH3Z]

Is this like when Canadians route about [roo-t a-boot]. Or The enemy was routed. [roo-ted] [rout-ed] So don't claim too much superiority in your pronunciation

[@valparry7071]

I set this up a few weeks back with no problems and then the brand new memory stick failed so I bought a new one. I have gone through the same methods again and when I type \\192.168.1.254 in the RUN dialogue box, the folder opens but says "This folder is empty"

[@sinkyboy2000]

I had exactly the same issue. Did you get this resolved?

[@FlyboyHelosim]

The new USB stick was probably formatted to a different file system, especially if a much bigger capacity than your previous one. The router seems to be picky about that.

[@olican101]

"Windows cannot access \\192.168.1.254"

[@Chuppa2]

same

[@FlyboyHelosim]

I got this error when the USB stick was formatted to the exFAT file system. I tried NTFS and FAT32 and both worked!

[@scotteverett7834]

Can i use android to ccess this drive when ive set it up on windows?