Can I use a 4TB ext4 drive on an RT-AC86U as NAS?

[BosseSwede]

I have two sites both using RT-AC86U routers with one connecting by OpenVPN to my main LAN OpenVPN server.
It is set up such that the main LAN routes through the VPN tunnel to the other site. So in effect the two LAN are connected and routed between. Both LAN:s have 250/250 fiber Internet connections.

Now I want to make it possible to store backups of data on the remote LAN disk (for disaster protection) but I don't want to spend the money for a "real" NAS. I already have a 4TB Seagate USB3 drive formatted with a 2.7 TB ext4 partition containing about 250 GB worth of backup data.
So can I:
1) Use the already formatted disk (ext4) with data as a "NAS" disk attached to the router by USB3?
2) Make it such that a certain set of users only are allowed to access the disk?

The "client" devices will be Windows 10 laptops and RaspberryPi Linux units.
The data will be rather seldom accessed, maybe a few times a day at most.

I have read a web tutorial about attaching a disk to an RT-AX58U but it formats the drive as step 3 in the process...
I do not want to lose the already existing data on the drive....

 

[bbunge]

Can you. Sure.
But over and over we recommend not to. Do a search in this forum for reasons why and recommendations.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Just share the device using the router's Samba support as you normally would. I've not tried it over a LAN to LAN VPN but I can't think why it would be any different.

 

[bones5050]

The router's CPU and memory weren't designed to be a NAS, you won't be happy. If you have a Raspberry PI laying around try this instead.

how to build a Raspberry Pi NAS (it’s AWESOME!!) - YouTube

 

[follower]

I have two sites both using RT-AC86U routers with one connecting by OpenVPN to my main LAN OpenVPN server.
It is set up such that the main LAN routes through the VPN tunnel to the other site. So in effect the two LAN are connected and routed between. Both LAN:s have 250/250 fiber Internet connections.

Now I want to make it possible to store backups of data on the remote LAN disk (for disaster protection) but I don't want to spend the money for a "real" NAS. I already have a 4TB Seagate USB3 drive formatted with a 2.7 TB ext4 partition containing about 250 GB worth of backup data.
So can I:
1) Use the already formatted disk (ext4) with data as a "NAS" disk attached to the router by USB3?
2) Make it such that a certain set of users only are allowed to access the disk?

The "client" devices will be Windows 10 laptops and RaspberryPi Linux units.
The data will be rather seldom accessed, maybe a few times a day at most.

I have read a web tutorial about attaching a disk to an RT-AX58U but it formats the drive as step 3 in the process...
I do not want to lose the already existing data on the drive....

1) Use the already formatted disk (ext4) with data as a "NAS" disk attached to the router by USB3?
Yes.
2) Make it such that a certain set of users only are allowed to access the disk?
Yes.

1. How about the security? Is that safe?
No. But it's much better than NAS.

2. Why is that?
NAS has a lot of functions. It means NAS has a lot of vulnerabilities. Also there are a lot of targeted attack against NAS which is connected to Internet.

 

[BreakingDad]

I have 2 x 2tb wd passports plugged into mine, they work brilliantly for streaming tv shows and movies to the tv and pcs. Also for storing data, I have one partitioned with a 20gb ext4 for amtm stuff, and 1 setup to backup off the main one with rsync.

I get about 80MB/s transfer rate copying stuff over wifi on them.

 

[BosseSwede]

The router's CPU and memory weren't designed to be a NAS, you won't be happy. If you have a Raspberry PI laying around try this instead.

how to build a Raspberry Pi NAS (it’s AWESOME!!) - YouTube

OK, I have tried manually to do it on an RPi4, but failed to get it where I want even trough trying with different PiOS versions and what not....
The video is inspiring, but he is talking too fast so it is VERY hard to follow and also to execute the commands one needs a list of those. Can't even pause the video and read the screen behind him because not all is shown and the video is too low res.

Open Media Vault
After some head scratching and web searches I found this how-to that is text based but a bit too elementary concerning setting up an RPi. But it still gets to the gist of it concerning installing OpenMediaVault on an RPi4.

I now have OMV running on my RPi. It took 17 minutes to run the install script and at the end it looked like it had died while rebooting but it finally got done.
It changed its IP address when booting and that must be because it issued a dhcp release command in the process which meant it got a different IP address on next boot.
Not good, but I had installed my on-boot script that reports the IP address of the RPi on boot so I could find it.
Now remains all that config stuff via the web GUI and here the Youtube video might come in handy.

Later:
Actually the YT video shows an older version of the OMV so it is no real help...
The whole thing looks different. But I guess it is possible to explore.

 

[alan6854321]

Here's a RASPI NAS setup in text - no fast video to follow!

Build a Raspberry Pi NAS — The MagPi magazine

Got a lot of digital stuff? Make it available anywhere in your home with your own Raspberry Pi network-attached storage

magpi.raspberrypi.com

 

[bones5050]

OK, I have tried manually to do it on an RPi4, but failed to get it where I want even trough trying with different PiOS versions and what not....
The video is inspiring, but he is talking too fast so it is VERY hard to follow and also to execute the commands one needs a list of those. Can't even pause the video and read the screen behind him because not all is shown and the video is too low res.

Open Media Vault
After some head scratching and web searches I found this how-to that is text based but a bit too elementary concerning setting up an RPi. But it still gets to the gist of it concerning installing OpenMediaVault on an RPi4.

I now have OMV running on my RPi. It took 17 minutes to run the install script and at the end it looked like it had died while rebooting but it finally got done.
It changed its IP address when booting and that must be because it issued a dhcp release command in the process which meant it got a different IP address on next boot.
Not good, but I had installed my on-boot script that reports the IP address of the RPi on boot so I could find it.
Now remains all that config stuff via the web GUI and here the Youtube video might come in handy.

Later:
Actually the YT video shows an older version of the OMV so it is no real help...
The whole thing looks different. But I guess it is possible to explore.

I used that video to get my RPi NAS up and running and agree, in addition to the video you do need to search the web. The performance is outstanding and I'm able to stream videos without and problem .

 

[BosseSwede]

There is also this article in MagPi describing setting up a simple NAS using an RPi4.