Newbie Elements question

I’ve recently bought an 8Tb Elements drive.

it has a USB Connector cable. Is there any way to connect it directly to my router. ie is there some adapter I could buy?

Check your user manual for your router. Most routers have USB ports to attach drives. The drive then appears as a “network attached storage” device. You’ll need to configure it in your router settings (hence the manual).

Apologies, I meant to add that my router only has an RJ45 connector. I’ve googled adapters but so far not found anything.

I’m not aware of any currently sold “adapters” that turn your USB drive into a NAS short of buying an actual NAS. You may consider upgrading your router.

As an alternative, you can connect the drive to a desktop or laptop and “share” the drive. This does requires the desktop/laptop to remain ON when folks need to access the drive.

Ok many thanks for the help