How to network share without computer

hello, im using a wd my net n750 router with my 2tb harddrive connected thru usb. is it possible to access my videos with the wdtv without a computer turned on? if so, how? i’ve been searching but can only find reference to dedicated nas or windows. just dont like having pc running at all times. thanks for any help that can be given.

Is there a reason you can’t plug the 2TB USB drive to the WD?

It used to be that way. But I would also like to use it as a network drive to access other files from pc and tablets.

Plug the USB drive into the WD and enable the internal Network Share Server.

TSCHAMP14 wrote:

hello, im using a wd my net n750 router with my 2tb harddrive connected thru usb. is it possible to access my videos with the wdtv without a computer turned on? if so, how? i’ve been searching but can only find reference to dedicated nas or windows. just dont like having pc running at all times. thanks for any help that can be given.

If your router has a USB port, it is almost certainly because it can share files from an attached drive.  I would suggest that you look at the manual for the router and figure out how to do this.  The WD SMP units can access SMB/Windows shares and NFS/Linux shares.  If it can share files, your router will certainly support SMB sharing, but it very well might also support NFS.  There are postings on this board about people using their routers for file sharing to the WD units.

The WD TV Live SMP is capable of serving files from USB attached storage. All the OP has to do is enable it.

gderf wrote:

The WD TV Live SMP is capable of serving files from USB attached storage. All the OP has to do is enable it.

 

You already posted that advice.  I offered an alternative.  If the files are needed only by the WD unit then by all means plug the drive into it.  I assumed that he wanted sharing to other devices, since plugging the drive right into the WD units is covered quite well in the manuals.  How could he miss it?  If he wants to share to multiple devices, then  I certainly would not use the WD units if my router could do sharing.  You are welcome do it that way if you want to, though.

Until recently I’d used a 1TB usb portable drive plugged into my WDTV Live as a NAS, mapping it from a Windows PC was very straightforward,and I found it invaluable for backup purposes too. I had all my media stored on the USB drive. The whole setup worked well for two years, except for the WDTVL having to be switched on all the time (not in standby). If not it rebuilt the media library every time you switched on, and could take a minute or five to recognise the USB drive as a media source- therefore the power-up process could take up to half an hour!

I started to run out of space and bought a MyCloud 4TB last month, now that is a combination that works really well! 

I have a 2TB USB drive attached to my WD TV Live SMP. The WD TV Live SMP is always left in standby mode and I never see the behavior you are seeing with Media Library rebuilding or USB drive recognition.

Interesting. I never really had an issue with leaving it switched on as no difference in power consumption, so didn’t investigate further.

No longer relevant with the new setup anyway. All working a few moments after powering up :-)