Help with correctly setting up usb drive with router for streaming use

[grimy]

I'm new to directly attaching storage to the router as my last router was a solid dinosaur(linksys wrt54gl). That router served me well until it kept crashing and I had to install a custom firmware on it(ddwrt).

Now its been 6+ months of loving this router and enjoying the new features added in fw updates(when stable :\ ). current version: 3.0.0.4.254

I've plugged in a portable 320gb wd laptop drive into the router and I'm not hooking it up correctly apparently. The harddrive will randomly disappear from my network devices(samba shared folder) but I can always see the DLNA. This has happened to me on every fw version. When it IS up, I can stream just fine locally but NOT on the go from my iphone, it always wants me to download the file then play it. What settings do I need to stream media files on the go.

Eventually what I would like to do is purchase a larger drive(2-3tb) and have PC backups being put on it and also placing media(movie backups @ 720/1080p and high res DSLR pictures) on it to stream locally/on the go. My guess would be at this point when I am purchasing storage I should buy something with an rj-45 plug to turn it into NAS. The only problem I see with that is you really pay a pretty penny for NAS it seems. I've also seen articles on building a NAS setup yourself but still seems so much pricier than just plugging in a harddrive to your router at the cost of some speed

Can someone point me to how to correctly set up my harddrive/network settings for the type of use i've described?

 

[fritsp1989]

I'm new to directly attaching storage to the router as my last router was a solid dinosaur(linksys wrt54gl). That router served me well until it kept crashing and I had to install a custom firmware on it(ddwrt).

Now its been 6+ months of loving this router and enjoying the new features added in fw updates(when stable :\ ). current version: 3.0.0.4.254

I've plugged in a portable 320gb wd laptop drive into the router and I'm not hooking it up correctly apparently. The harddrive will randomly disappear from my network devices(samba shared folder) but I can always see the DLNA. This has happened to me on every fw version. When it IS up, I can stream just fine locally but NOT on the go from my iphone, it always wants me to download the file then play it. What settings do I need to stream media files on the go.

Eventually what I would like to do is purchase a larger drive(2-3tb) and have PC backups being put on it and also placing media(movie backups @ 720/1080p and high res DSLR pictures) on it to stream locally/on the go. My guess would be at this point when I am purchasing storage I should buy something with an rj-45 plug to turn it into NAS. The only problem I see with that is you really pay a pretty penny for NAS it seems. I've also seen articles on building a NAS setup yourself but still seems so much pricier than just plugging in a harddrive to your router at the cost of some speed

Can someone point me to how to correctly set up my harddrive/network settings for the type of use i've described?

Maybe you should check that the disk isnt consuming to much power from your router.
Its a common problem that the adapter you get with the router is insufficient for powering hard disks.
Also did you check the disk spindown settings of the router isnt the disk just spinning down because of a setting ?.
When jumping from firmware updates did you ever do a NVRAM reset 30/30/30?

How is the disk partitioned?, how many partitions and wich style , fat fat32 , NTFS , ext2 ,ext3.

It think you just need a simple solution but we need a bit more info

 

[grimy]

Maybe you should check that the disk isnt consuming to much power from your router.
Its a common problem that the adapter you get with the router is insufficient for powering hard disks.
Also did you check the disk spindown settings of the router isnt the disk just spinning down because of a setting ? Please run me through how to check this
When jumping from firmware updates did you ever do a NVRAM reset 30/30/30? Reset nvram for update by holding wps while powering router on

How is the disk partitioned?, how many partitions and wich style , fat fat32 , NTFS , ext2 ,ext3. NTFS

It think you just need a simple solution but we need a bit more info

No problem at all, this is an area outside of my expertise so I don't realize the pertinent information. If it is possible that the router just doesn't have the ability to power the drive while utilizing it, I will ensure during black friday to get a external hard drive that is powered separately. Any easy way to check the power issue?

 

[fritsp1989]

No problem at all, this is an area outside of my expertise so I don't realize the pertinent information. If it is possible that the router just doesn't have the ability to power the drive while utilizing it, I will ensure during black friday to get a external hard drive that is powered separately. Any easy way to check the power issue?

Yes you could use that , but be aware that i have heard a couple of problems with 3TB drive.
For some people they tend to work and for some they give some problems.