How do I share a USB Hard Drive as a Network Drive ?

[ahmadka]

Hi guys ... Well I bought the ASUS RT-N66U about a month or so back .. Till now I was using a very very old stock ASUS firmware, but today upgraded it to the latest Merlin build, 374.41 ..

My question is simple. I have a 2 TB Portable USB Hard Drive which I want to share on the network, preferably as a Network Drive ? How do I do this ? I'm not a linux expert, but Samba is basically linux jargon for network drive sharing ..

I've partially gotten it working .. I have the drive connected to my RT-N66U, and I've enabled the Samba share option .. On my Windows 8 Laptop, I see 'RT-N66U' listed as a Network Place (like another PC), and when I open it, it shows me all the folders in the drive .. But there are a few problems:

1) I cannot see the files which are in the ROOT location of the drive .. I only see folders .. However if I go inside these folders, I do see subfolders and files there ..
2) all the folders in ROOT location of the drive have a string added at the end: (at Elements) .. Elements is the name of the drive ..
3) I cannot rename or delete folders which are in the ROOT location ..
4) I also cannot create a new folder in the ROOT location ..

How do I fix the issues mentioned above ?

And is it possible to map the whole drive as a standard Network Drive, instead of showing the folders inside the 'RT-N66U' device ?

 

[ahmadka]

Another problem I see:

If I have TWO USB portable Hard Drives connected to the router, the 'RT-N66U' Network PC will list the ROOT folders from both the drives in the same location .. This can potentially cause problems when you connect two hard drives which both have a ROOT folder of the same name ..

Isn't there any way to show the contents like this ?:

RT-N66U (Network PC)
|
--------> HardDrive1
.................|
.................-----------> HD1-Folder1
.................-----------> HD1-Folder2
.................-----------> HD1-Folder3
.................-----------> HD1-Folder4
--------> HardDrive2
.................|
.................-----------> HD2-Folder1
.................-----------> HD2-Folder2
.................-----------> HD2-Folder3
.................-----------> HD2-Folder4

Ignore the dots (.) .. Empty space kept getting trimmed out ..

 

[ColinTaylor]

1) I cannot see the files which are in the ROOT location of the drive .. I only see folders .. However if I go inside these folders, I do see subfolders and files there ..

Yes, that's the way it works. "Allow guest login" has changed from on to off so you will now be sharing individual folders whereas before you were sharing the whole disk.

2) all the folders in ROOT location of the drive have a string added at the end: (at Elements) .. Elements is the name of the drive ..

USB Application > Miscellaneous setting > Simpler share naming (without the disk name) = Yes will remove the "(at Elements)" part.

3) I cannot rename or delete folders which are in the ROOT location ..
4) I also cannot create a new folder in the ROOT location ..

You can't do this from Windows because of answer 1) above. Instead you do it from USB Application > Network Place(Samba) Share / Cloud Disk. Select the folder and click on the icon on the right.

And is it possible to map the whole drive as a standard Network Drive, instead of showing the folders inside the 'RT-N66U' device ?

See answer 1) above.

 

[ahmadka]

Thanks.

Your answer to the first question seems to be suggesting (kind of) that I can somehow share the whole disk instead of individual folders ? Is that so ? If yes, how do I do this ? I want to be able to see the files in ROOT location too, and also be able to create/delete/modify ROOT folders directly from Windows, without having to go to the Router's config page.

 

[ColinTaylor]

If I have TWO USB portable Hard Drives connected to the router, the 'RT-N66U' Network PC will list the ROOT folders from both the drives in the same location .. This can potentially cause problems when you connect two hard drives which both have a ROOT folder of the same name ..

Give each disk a different volume label and leave "Simpler share naming (without the disk name)" set to No. Then you will see:

RT-N66U
----Folder1 (at Elements)
----Folder1 (at MyOtherDisk)

Isn't there any way to show the contents like this ?:

Turn on "Allow guest login".

 

[ahmadka]

Give each disk a different volume label and leave "Simpler share naming (without the disk name)" set to No. Then you will see:

RT-N66U
----Folder1 (at Elements)
----Folder1 (at MyOtherDisk)


Turn on "Allow guest login".

Turning on "Allow guest login" fixed my problems! Both drives are now showing in their own folders just like I wanted ! Thanks a lot

 

[cdbma]

what is "admin" and how did it get there?

I have my HDD working fine on my 56U, with "allow guest login" enabled. I can even mount it as a network drive, in addition to seeing it in my "network" folder.

I don't understand where the "admin" owner comes from. I'd like to own the disk, so that I don't have to enable guest login. If I try to add myself as an owner, the router informs me that I won't have R/W access. That won't work!

What am I missing? Thanks.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I don't understand where the "admin" owner comes from. I'd like to own the disk, so that I don't have to enable guest login. If I try to add myself as an owner, the router informs me that I won't have R/W access. That won't work!

admin is the name of the "super user" account on the ASUS. The super user account is sometimes called "root". The equivalent account in the Windows world would be "Administrator".

It sounds like you're trying to take ownership of the disk using Windows' security settings? If that is the case then that won't work. You can't take ownership of the disk because the account management is controlled by the ASUS, not your Windows PC.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I'd like to own the disk, so that I don't have to enable guest login.

Disable guest login and create an account on the ASUS with r/w permissions to the folders you are sharing. If the account you create has exactly the same name and password as you are currently using on your Windows PC it will automatically connect to the shares without asking you for a password.

 

[cdbma]

Thanks again, Colin. I'll give that a try. I did notice that the router does not allow me to add a user that does not have a password. I currently do not use one to login to my laptop, so I need to trade that off with just turning on the guest feature.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I currently do not use one to login to my laptop.

Even though you do not enter a password when your computer starts up it is possible that you did set a password when you installed Windows. It's just that it is logging you into that account automatically. You can check by going to Control Panel > User Accounts and seeing if it says "Password protected" in the box with your user name on it. (Even if it doesn't have a password you could set it here if you wanted to)

 

[sammyano]

Disable guest login and create an account on the ASUS with r/w permissions to the folders you are sharing. If the account you create has exactly the same name and password as you are currently using on your Windows PC it will automatically connect to the shares without asking you for a password.

thanks for your comment man - the admin account will not accept my router user/password on my laptop - but after creating new account as you said it works

 

[mig0]

Found this thread as I was having a similar problem as OP (but using just a thumb drive and could not access files in the root directory).

With guest access enabled, does this mean there is no way to keep anyone on my lan from accessing these files? Even if I were to set up a guest network?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Found this thread as I was having a similar problem as OP (but using just a thumb drive and could not access files in the root directory).

With guest access enabled, does this mean there is no way to keep anyone on my lan from accessing these files? Even if I were to set up a guest network?

If they are connected to your LAN then they would have full access to the USB drive. However, if you were to set up a guest wireless network for them to connect to then they would not: "Guest Network: The Guest Network provides Internet connection for guests but restricts access to your Intranet."

 

[dennis97519]

Is there a way to share the whole disk as a folder without enabling "allow guest login"?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Is there a way to share the whole disk as a folder without enabling "allow guest login"?

Not through the router's web interface. Using Merlin's firmware you could write a custom config file or script.