Member Avatar for twoyorkie

I have a usb nas drive that I would like to hide away but connect preferably to my router that has NO USB's.....can I set it up with an inexpensive USB print server ???

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Short answer for : a cheap "USB print server" made only to share printers usually will not turn an attached USB hard drive into a proper network file share. Printers and disk drives present different USB device classes, and to expose a drive over the LAN you need hardware or software that explicitly implements USB Mass Storage + a file‑server (SMB/FTP/WebDAV) stack. (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical, reliable choices (ranked by simplicity → flexibility):

  • NAS adapter / USB‑to‑NAS dongle: tiny appliances that plug a USB disk into Ethernet and serve SMB/WebDAV/FTP (Addonics NAS adapters are a long‑standing example). (manualzilla.com)
  • USB device/“USB‑over‑IP” servers: these boxes share USB peripherals across the network; some support mass‑storage and SMB, others only provide a single‑user “virtual USB” mode—read the manual before buying (Digitus and similar units demonstrate the differences). (manualslib.com)
  • Small Linux box (Raspberry Pi) running Samba: lowest cost and most flexible — full SMB permissions, any filesystem support you configure, and easy troubleshooting. (magazine.raspberrypi.com)

Quick checklist and cautions before buying or reusing hardware:

  • Confirm the spec explicitly lists “USB Mass Storage” and SMB/FTP/WebDAV (some print servers only advertise printer class).
  • Verify filesystem support (FAT32, NTFS, exFAT) and whether NTFS is read‑only or read/write.
  • Ensure the adapter can power a 3.5" drive (or use an external powered hub).
  • Check the Ethernet speed (many cheap boxes are 100 Mbps and will limit throughput). (trendnet.com)

Practical troubleshooting pointers: if a candidate device doesn’t show the drive, look for a “file server” or “storage” mode in the manual, try reformatting the disk to a supported FS (back up first), or use a Pi/Samba if you need robust multi‑user access and permissions. ’s instinct that printer servers aren’t the same thing is sound; is also right that USB→NAS is possible — just pick hardware that explicitly supports mass‑storage sharing.

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Member Avatar for rproffitt

So far you can't. A print server does something else. However I have yet to see an USB NAS DRIVE. USB is not considered by most to be a network system so USB NAS doesn't make sense.

Now there are NAS adapters that take some USB drive and turn the drive into a NAS so shop for those.

Member Avatar for Anna_10

USB NAS does make sense

When you connect usb to NAS, usb-drive should become visible under

`Manager > M90 hub > USB

Just wait for it to be discovered by PnP. Once its there you can 

PM > Share

to share usb drive,

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