Have a SMP already in the living room. It has an external HD plugged into USB port. If I get a 2nd SMP for bedroom, will it be able to access the media on the external drive plugged into 1st SMP? Thanks
yes, it will be considered a windows (aka smb) share
although throuput will be completely dependant on your network
So I would need to have a PC on as a go-between? Or can the SMPs talk to each other with just router on?
no PC needed
just 2 WD’s and a router
What they’re saying is you can have the drive connected to either WD SMP and as long as it’s in standby the drive should be accessible over your network on the other SMP or PC. Alternatively many routers these days meant for home use have USB ports for drive and printer sharing without having it near your PC. I have a couple asus routers a 56u and 66u that will do this and a linksys model that support these features.
Baconnaise wrote:
…Alternatively many routers these days meant for home use have USB ports for drive and printer sharing without having it near your PC…
Does this mean I could (subject to my router’s/network’s capabilities) plug an external HD into the USB port of my router, and then access the external HD content from multiple WD SMPs in my network? Assuming this is possible (as sounds like the case from the quoted post) what is the benefit of doing this vs. having the HD connected to one of the WD SMPs and then just accessing it that way from the second WD SMP? I’m about to connect a second (and third) WD SMP and this sounds like an interesting option, I’m just trying to understand the pros/cons, other issues/considerations, etc. I do understand that all WD SMPs should have unique names, and I believe I’ve read recommendations that they should have static IPs. I had initially planned to just keep the external HD connected to Box #1 and access it through my network to view on the TVs with Box #2 and Box #3, but maybe the router approach is better?
Thanks for any guidance.
3 reasons from the top of my head:
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the router is always on anyway
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the router most likely will be serving media faster
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if you watch from one WDTV you don’t need another turned on as well
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What Techflaws said are primarily the reasons one would use these features. Keep in mind these features could perform worse or might be buggy in some way so be sure to check the forums of the manufacturer and model you’re interested in. I doubt for example that these units would have usb3 support (in most cases). They may even only work with certain enclosures or brands with specific feature sets. My experience with these features is very limited as I’ve only used it in a pinch for a cheap all in one inkjet at a small two person office (ethernet port wasn’t functional on the HP inkjet).
I have two WDTV SMP’s two Roku 3’s and a couple XBMC devices on my two main TV’s. Workgroup setting and device name along with a static IP will go a long way to make sure things are accessible most of the time. Any change on your network like a slight breeze will sometimes cause the device to report that the previous folders or shares are moved which require a refresh. You can usually set static IP’s via DHCP with a decent router and firmware options. In my case this is what I’ve done so the router takes each device by mac address and assigns it a static IP (reserved IP in some firmwares). This dumbs down the process another step especially with wired connections as you don’t have to touch a thing just like DHCP but static in this case. If you’re in an area where you have frequent power outages or brownouts (surges and voltage spikes daily due to my area not to mention lightning strikes) will make your life easier. Florida is an electronics nightmare without UPS and surge and even then…
