A reader asks: “What’s the cheapest way to network an external hard drive?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

How about $0.00?

Plug the drive into any PC that’s on the network; use that PC’s built-in OS tools to “share” the drive on the net.

For example, let’s say you plug the drive into a Windows 10 PC. When Windows recognizes the drive and assigns it a drive letter, right click on that drive’s icon (in File Explorer), and select/click Give access to/Advanced Sharing/Share this folder. You can share the entire drive by sharing its root folder; or you can select specific folders to share.

If you wish, you can dig into the sharing menus to assign different levels of access privilege (read-only, read and write, full access, etc.) to everyone, or to just the individuals or groups you wish.

This approach has obvious limitations and works best in low-volume SOHO-type uses.

But you asked for “the cheapest,” and you can’t beat free! 🙂

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8 Replies to “A reader asks: “What’s the cheapest way to network an external hard drive?””

  1. If supported see if you home router has a USB connection that accepts a USB hard drive and kill two bugs with one stone. This should put the drive on your network and for Windows machines define the router as the Master Browser, reducing Windows 10 file sharing over the network grief.

    Reply

    1. I have to absorb the coffee before posting, trying again..

      If supported see if your home router has a USB connection that accepts a USB hard drive and kill two bugs with one stone.
      This should put the drive on your network and for Windows machines define the router as the Master Browser, reducing Windows 10 file sharing problems over the network.

      Reply

      1. Yes, if your router allows it. Mine, alas — a glorious Verizon/Fios rental — has live USB sockets that can deliver power to attached devices, but cannot pass any data in either direction: they’re OEM disabled for data, with no way to turn it on. Grrr.

        Reply
  2. Pingback: Fred Langa: “What’s the cheapest way to network an external hard drive?” @ AskWoody

  3. Maybe a silly question, but I’m a newby to this topic: How do I manage to keep the connection to the plugged in hard-drive (our WD Elements Desktop is connected to our router) alive?
    I tried to set up an encrypted container (via VeraCrypt), but it seems that the drive “falls asleep” in those ca. 2 minutes it takes to go through the setup procedure. Now I wonder if it will even work to use that external drive for automated backups. (Note: I didn’t get one with a proprietary backup software since I have my own (Cobian).) We’re on Win7, btw.

    Reply

  4. My question would be, if you can do that with a single drive, could you do that with a full laptop? Let’s say I would like to share my laptop with those in the network. Without having to use file/folder sharing, could I just connect the laptop directly to the router and accomplish the same thing? And if so, would that allow the laptop to have access rights to the other computers on the network?

    Reply
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