Member Avatar for gurupts

i had a 8 port (Ethernet) router, 2tb usb external hdd, and 5 desktops,1 laptop (wifi embedded) and a epson printer.

i need to use that 2tb usb external hdd as centralized storage and as well as epson printer too.

First of all i get internet from dsl modem which has 4 ethernet ports and also wifi in it.

A wired connection from dsl moderm to router.Then i connect Ethernet wires to each pc's from router. Printer is connected to first pc.

note: my dsl modem doesn't support inter-connective so i used a all-in-one-router.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by peter.j.hutchison

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Short summary and practical alternatives

described the common home setup (DSL modem, an 8‑port switch/router, five wired desktops, one WiFi laptop and an Epson attached to the first PC). ’s point — that a USB drive shared from a PC becomes unavailable when that PC is off — is correct, but it’s only one of several workable choices. The goal is an always‑available share and printer access without depending on a single desktop.

Options that actually solve the “host must be on” problem

  • Router with a USB host: if the 8‑port box or the modem/router has a USB port and firmware for file/print sharing, plug the HDD there and enable the router’s file server and printer server features. Check whether the router supports 2TB (and the drive’s filesystem), and whether it can power a bus‑powered drive. Performance and features vary by model.
  • Low‑cost always‑on server (Raspberry Pi or small headless PC): connect the drive to a small Linux box, run Samba for file shares and CUPS or a print‑server for the Epson. This is inexpensive and flexible.
  • Buy a purpose-built NAS or a USB print server: a single‑bay NAS gives a reliable, always‑on SMB share, user accounts, backups and better throughput than most consumer routers.
  • Keep a PC as the host but make it a server: set BIOS/OS power settings to prevent sleep, use Wake‑on‑LAN if needed, reserve a DHCP address, and attach the drive to that always‑on machine.

Practical cautions and quick tips

Confirm filesystem support (NTFS/exFAT/ext4), ensure the router or server can handle 2TB volumes, and that the HDD gets proper power. Don’t expose SMB shares to the Internet, use strong passwords and recent SMB versions, and keep backups — a single USB drive is a single point of failure. For printers, a router print server or a small dedicated print server avoids tying the device to one PC.

Recommended Answers

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Member Avatar for peter.j.hutchison

You need to connect the external drive to the a desktop pc or laptop, then create a share to the external drive and give everyone read/write access, then other users can access to it via the \computername\sharename.

Member Avatar for gurupts

thank you. Mr.peter.j.hutchison . But what happend that particular PC/laptop is switched off. still i need the hdd from the other pc. is it still share the hdd for data manipulation.

Member Avatar for peter.j.hutchison

No you will lose connection to it as the laptop is providing the service. If you want genuine network access independant of PCs or laptops, then you need a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device , which is basically an external HD with an Ethernet port and built in NAS services.

Member Avatar for peter.j.hutchison

If you want to reconnect, you cannot connect to another PC, set up a share on that PC, and connect via \newpcname\sharename.

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