Anyone using old pc or laptop as NAS with external HDD attached?

[rsjaurr]

I recently tried TrueNas on a old laptop (i5 5th gen, 8GB RAM, 240GB SSD for OS, External hard drive on USB 3.0 for data) but I wasn't impressed with the results since the data transfer speeds I got was around 4MBps. I used this link to help set-up the system. The guide is super simple to use.

Make sure you try out TrueNas first on a spare harddrive first, see if you are getting decent speeds on file transfer..if that works out, then you should be good to go! I didn't troubleshoot the reasons for slow speeds further, you might have better luck!

After the successful install I am also getting speed between 7-8mbps which is very low for my needs. I do not have the time and patience to go through troubleshooting so I have to sell both WD hard drives.

I have the feeling that NAS will be too complicated for my system and me and I should stay away from it.

 

[dilliaudiophile]

After the successful install I am also getting speed between 7-8mbps which is very low for my needs. I do not have the time and patience to go through troubleshooting so I have to sell both WD hard drives.

I have the feeling that NAS will be too complicated for my system and me and I should stay away from it.

I've found a MUCH easier way. Just install any lightweight linux distro (Lubuntu maybe) and then install Samba share on it (if already not present). Set up folder sharing and then connect with it using any other device. I'm getting decent speeds (17MBps - more than good enough for streaming) and I think it'll stick with this.

 

[rsjaurr]

I've found a MUCH easier way. Just install any lightweight linux distro (Lubuntu maybe) and then install Samba share on it (if already not present). Set up folder sharing and then connect with it using any other device. I'm getting decent speeds (17MBps - more than good enough for streaming) and I think it'll stick with this.

Fortunately I have also started getting speeds up to 17-18MBps though sometimes it falls to 7-8MBps.

Is there any way I can attach a USB drive directly to NAS and transfer the files directly instead of routing through a router?

 

[dilliaudiophile]

Fortunately I have also started getting speeds up to 17-18MBps though sometimes it falls to 7-8MBps.

Is there any way I can attach a USB drive directly to NAS and transfer the files directly instead of routing through a router?

the USB drive should show up on your NAS setup as another drive. But it will be formatted to work with the NAS, don't think you can hot swap it (move between NAS and other systems) though.

 

[souravin]

I am mostly into analogue audio. However I possess a good amount of digital music, CD collection and own vinyl rips. So was impelled to build a small digital set up within my shoestring budget. I have a recently made a desktop PC with mid fi level hardware. All lossless or mp3 format are stored in either internal HDD or external HDD. Desktop is the backbone transport. Bose Sound touch 30 and Altec Lansing PC speaker are hooked to PC via Creative sound card.

My music den and main set up is in another room. I simply use HP laptop Foobar through UPnP or IPaD foobar UPnP to access homegroup network desktop PC (external + internal HDDs) and pass music from laptop or IPaD through IFi Zen blue BT> Schiit Multibit DAC>tube pre. A budget set up yet very useful for me. Never faced any streaming issue.

Combination of old laptop, IPaD and desktop is doing the magic.

Thanks,
Sourav

 

[blrvenky18]

I have a spare motherboard, Intel processor and 8gb RAM. I just need to buy a case, UPS and a couple of hard disks.
But first I will try it on my spare laptop and see how it goes.
If I'm not satisfied buying a dedicated NAS is always a option.

I tried flashing TrueNAS with BalenaEtcher but lost two USB drives in the process. Now both drives are not even getting on three different window based systems.

I have been able to recover the corrupted usb drives from using the tools, check this link on recovering corrupted pen drives

 

[rsjaurr]

I have been able to recover the corrupted usb drives from using the tools, check this link on recovering corrupted pen drives

Thanks for the reply but I am using 120GB SSD for that purpose now and it is working good so far.

 

[big2all]

I am able to build NAS on my old T450 as per

How to Convert Old laptop like T450 to perfect NAS for Home Network - LinuxSME - SRE and Cloud

In this T450 laptop NAS conversion series, I will explain in detail end to end process of building 1 GBps of NAS without wasting money on Fancy NAS products. You may ask why we can't use VM by Vmware workstation or Virtualbox. Here is the reason why never use VM…

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