12-04-2019, 12:02 PM
DeusxMac wrote:
Dear departed Apple Time Capsule WiFi router had a USB port for connecting an external drive, but replacement Netgear WiFi router has only Ethernet ports.
Is there any way - adapter/cable/? - that would allow connection and access to an external hard drive to the Netgear router?
The USB port wasn't the only thing the router had. It also had (1) driver software built-in to read write to the hard drive that you connect via USB. It also had (2) the server software built-in to share a storage volume over a network.
With only ethernet, you would need to find a device that does both of these additional things.
You could find another router containing a USB port and the required software inside to fill this role. This router could be connected to that ethernet port and have its router features turned off but its drive sharing features left on. I have an older inexpensive Asus router with a USB port that I changed the firmware on to TomatoUSB. This router can now have a connected drive, but I've never used that feature.
You could instead attach a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device that is specifically designed to do what you ask. Install hard drive(s) inside and plug it into an ethernet port on your network and you now have those drives available. These also come with a USB port, but I'm not sure if it can be used to serve up an external drive to the network. I use a very old Synology NAS for a networked Time Machine backup. I use a second newer Synology NAS for storing files that I want to be able to access easily from any device on my network.