Question on Networked drive

[smallclone]

Hi, this is a question on a network drive. It is not a NAS drive (so apologies if this is in the wrong section).

I have an external hard drive that I need to place on my Network. It can't go in my router or my laptop unfortunately. My solution at the moment is to connect it via USB cable into a small media player which is NOT connected to a display, just a switch via CAT5. I can see it on my network fine. The problem is, it is not Gigabit connected. Therefore, larger files have a problem playing and it is a little slow.

Question is: Is there some sort of gigabit server device that I can be using instead of a media player that would do this job better?

Thanks

 

[degrub]

How about one of the single bay nas units ?
pretty simple to extract the drive from the case or just clone it onto a drive in the nas . Synology has a “xx-play” unit for media play purpose.
Otherwise, maybe a Raspberry Pi ?

Does the drive work adequately for that purpose when plugged into a pc on the lan ?

 

[Tech9]

How about one of the single bay nas units ?

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/buffalo-linkstation-210-2tb-external-hard-drive-nas-black/9508927.p?skuId=9508927

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/buffalo-linkstation-210-4tb-external-hard-drive-nas-black/8485085.p?skuId=8485085

 

[dosborne]

+1 for the raspberry pi option, for cost if you are relatively comfortable with the setup.

+1 for a "real" nas if you are serious and want 24/7 access plus a lot of other options, but I wouldn't waste time and money on a single bay unit. Minimum 2 bay.

 

[smallclone]

How about one of the single bay nas units ?
pretty simple to extract the drive from the case or just clone it onto a drive in the nas . Synology has a “xx-play” unit for media play purpose.
Otherwise, maybe a Raspberry Pi ?

Does the drive work adequately for that purpose when plugged into a pc on the lan ?

Hi,

Yes drive works fine when in a laptop. I didn't realise R Pis were gigabit these days. Nice suggestion. Thanks