External drives and printers

[Peter.Hahn]

I plan to buy a TS-419P II but before I do so, I need an answer to the following questions:
1) Can I connect external USB and eSATA drives to the NAS and share their content on the network?
2) How many external drives can I connect to the TS-419P II via USB (via a HUB?) and / or eSATA?
3) Can I connect USB and eSATA drives at the same time to share their content on the LAN?
4) Can I connect USB dirves and USB printers at the same time (via HUB)? Does this have influence on the number of drives / printers?
5) How will I get updates for the Twonky Media server? From Element5, from QNAP, from the community?
Thanks, Peter

[P3R]

The main idea behind the storage in a NAS like Qnap is to use multiple disks (preferably with some disk redundancy) put together in larger volumes. Not as a connector of many stand-alone disks.

1) Can I connect external USB and eSATA drives to the NAS and share their content on the network?

Yes you can but external disks are primarily meant to be used as backup destinations, not as shared resources so there will be severe limitations.

User access rights aren't supported down on folder level as they are with internal disks. Also upon reboot multiple disks may change share names making it very complicated to manage with anything but very educated users. There may be even more complications I'm not aware of.

2) How many external drives can I connect to the TS-419P II via USB (via a HUB?) and / or eSATA?

USB-hubs may work (the thought to try never even crossed my mind) but I would be extremely surprised if there was any support for it. Generally I find hubs a bad idea with storage devices.

I think the number of external disks supported is the same as the number of available physical ports (so of course less if any other USB-connected devices are also used).

This is the list of supported external disks. Many other does work as well but there are no guarantees.

3) Can I connect USB and eSATA drives at the same time to share their content on the LAN?

Yes. In fact one of each would be my recommendation if you intend to use them as shared disks, to avoid the previously mentioned problem where multiple external disks of the same type (USB or eSATA) may change share names.

4) Can I connect USB dirves and USB printers at the same time (via HUB)? Does this have influence on the number of drives / printers?

Up to 3 USB printers are supported. See answer above about the number of disks and when both types are used.

This is the Qnap list of supported printers.

5) How will I get updates for the Twonky Media server? From Element5, from QNAP, from the community?

From Qnap. Historically not every Twonky-release have been brought forward by Qnap.

[Peter.Hahn]

Many thanks for your quick reply. I appreciate!

[marcoshcn]

Hi there... Newbie here!!!

I try to use my two eSATA (WD My Book Studio II) drive with network share.
and...
I try to use my USB pendrive 16GB drive with network share too.

I know I should use "Share Folders" function, and I try it several times!
http://docs.qnap.com/nas/en/index.html?share_folders.htm

The problem is both HD / Pendrive on USB or eSATA the driver NOT SHOW UP at the "Disk Volume" drop down select.
I'm logedin as ADMIN.



What I'am doing wrong?
Hope that is not a BIG FAILURE at my device only...

Thanks for anyone that could help!
Marcos Henrique / BRAZIL

[schumaku]

The external drives are shaed automatically USBdisk[n] or eSATAdisk[n]- and are not intended to be used to hold any other shares.

Due to the dynamic of the plug an play system, the drive naming for external devices can (and will) vary depending on boot sequence, connection sequence, ...

[marcoshcn]

The external drives are shaed automatically USBdisk[n] or eSATAdisk[n]- and are not intended to be used to hold any other shares.

Due to the dynamic of the plug an play system, the drive naming for external devices can (and will) vary depending on boot sequence, connection sequence, ...

Thanks a lot Shumaku for your fast replay (fast response)!
But one big problem remains...

What should I do to see my external devices at my Windows?
I want to see them just like my NAS is. Like a MAPED network drive.

How can I setup this?

Thanks again!
Marcos Henrique / BRAZIL

[P3R]

I want to see them just like my NAS is. Like a MAPED network drive.

How can I setup this?

You map to the share names that are automatically created on connection (USBDisk1, eSATADisk1, eSATADisk2) and that are visible in the background in your screenshot.

Since internal disks aren't really intended to be used as shared resources on a large scale, you will have problems with them not having persistant naming upon reconnecting and reboots. Access rights for other users than admin will have to be manually created and ACL isn't supported on external disks.

If the internal storage is limited, the solution is to get larger disks or a NAS with more disk bays, not adding external disks. The latter is at best a temporary band-aid-fix.