Storage on my old router?

K

Hi,

I own the TP link TL MR3420 version 2 router with an USB port that was meant to support a 3G modem or dongle.

Is there any way that I can use this port for storage purposes so as to access the files on a connected flash drive on all the connected devices.

Tried plugging in a USB drive and there seem to be no USB settings within the router configuration page..

Any thoughts?

Usually flashing openwrt, ddwrt or tomato firmware on these routers with USB, allow using USB as a storage device.
But in your case, it seems, the router only has few kbs of firmware space left and storage functionality cant be added even if you flash.

Take a look here

*openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-mr3420

K

Thanks for clarifying!

K

Is there any other setup possible such that I'm able to access files/folders stored in a common place from all devices connected to my home wifi?
I don't want a pc running 24/7 though!

Buy a raspberry PI, convert it into a miniature NAS and connect it to your Router.

K

Thanks for that.. This is new to me, approx cost for the setup?

*geek.digit.in/community/threads/raspberry-pi-4-devils-curse-from-hell.207836/post-2378521

K

Looks like making an investment is a No. So falling back to the PC option. Got a 13 year old 32 bit intel pc lying around and planning to make use of it as a NAS

Spent last couple of days researching freenas, openmediafault, etc. But the challenge is either these are not compatible with a 32 bit system or there are no proper tutorials for earlier 32 bit versions of the softwares.

Could you pls suggest a good 32 bit NAS option for my usage (media share on windows/ios/android on lan & wan) that most importantly has an a-z setup guide please !

Freenas definitely doest support 32 bit. Open mediavault is possible but you will need to do manual debian installation 32 bit and then install OMV (old version) on top. I will search for some easy tutorial but I wouldnt get my hopes up.

There is a third option, just install lightweight ubuntu or debian on it and setup SAMBA share yourself.

Can you give some info About PC, like processor?

K

P4 2.4ghz 1gb ddr3 ram
Hope this helps..

karthik316_1999 said:
P4 2.4ghz 1gb ddr3 ram
Hope this helps..

Better go Linux + SAMBA way as pointed out by Nerevarine above because of Ease and Lesser hardware resources.

Use Ubuntu No GUI/ CLI version as it will work much better.

K

Any specific version & guides please?

karthik316_1999 said:
P4 2.4ghz 1gb ddr3 ram
Hope this helps..

Are you sure its DDR3

*ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-ubuntu-desktop#1-overview

*ubuntu.com/tutorials/install-and-configure-samba#1-overview

K

Thank you ! Yes it is ddr3

K

And this will also support accessing media from my android tv?

Yes it will. Media can be accessed from iOS, linux, windows, android etc. But you might need to do a bit of setting up in your TV.

I use solid explorer on my phone as its easy and convenient.

K

Hope it wont involve rooting the tv, etc..

No, you just need an app that can browse network share. My phone isnt rooted and its a very common feature. Your TV might already have this capability.

Btw i just read latest version of Ubuntu does not support 32 bit. you might need to install and old one, or some other flavor of linux. Maybe @Desmond can suggest.

Debian might be a great choice.

K

Spent a couple of hours installing Debian on my 1TB external HDD after burning the ISO onto a flash drive.
Post installation though, I changed the boot device to the above HDD, but nothing comes up apart from a blinking cursor...
Tried both the 64-bit PC netinst iso & 32-bit PC netinst iso (on my current amd 64 bit system - just to check if its working before installing onto the p4 system) and the same blinking cursor issue on both the versions...
Downloaded from : Debian -- Getting Debian
Video guidance -

K

Anything that I’m missing?

Try booting onto your flash drive first using Live USB. See if everything is working.

Then proceed to install it.

Make sure you choose MATE/LXDE or some lightweight launcher!!!!

Also blinking cursor, when you type something, do you see the typed characters ? It might mean you installed a server only version of debian (no GUI). That is actually perfect for usecase.

Also installing on external hard drive is a nono, do you have any internal drive you can use for this purpose ?

If you have no other choice, partition it properly! Debian FS should be in 1 partition and your shared NAS Folder should be a completely different one !

K

Reply was right on time ..
Just trying the installation on my intel laptop after it ‘failed’ on my amd desktop
Using the gui version only. And need help on this final installation screen :

Im trying to install debian on my external hard drive after changing the boot mode from uefi to legacy on my dell laptop that has win 8.1 installed.

Is it a yes/no to the below?

“
Install the GRUB boot loader

It seems that this new installation is the only operating system on this computer. If so, it should be safe to install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive (UEFI partition/boot record).
Warning: If your computer has another operating system that the installer failed to detect, this will make that operating system temporarily unbootable, though GRUB can be manually configured later to boot it.

install the GRUB boot loader to your primary drive?”

What I understand will happen is,

1. It might replace your regular windows bootloader and you would have to configure a tiny bit of file inside debian to present you with the choice to boot into windows or debian.
2. It might automatically do it and you wouldnt need to do anything.

Things arent very apparent to me based on just the message details above. I dont remember when scenario 1 occurs. Just make sure your are not REPLACING windows 8.1. (i.e. formatting the ENTIRE drive and then installing)

K

Question is a bit confusing to me since laptop OS 8.1 is on an internal ssd while im trying to install debian on an external 1tb drive ..

With regards to the partitioning, i have followed the default options shown by the installer at the beginning ..

okay if you are installing debian on external 1tb then you should be fine.

K

Same road block !

Completed installation (by opting to install the Grub boot manager onto the external disk) and nothing happens when trying to boot from the external drive.. just a blinking cursor and nothing that I type comes on the screen..

Booted into windows and the drive isn't even shown on My Computer
Disk management shows 2 partitions on the drive - 930.56 GB (Primary partition) and 976 MB (Primary Partition)

It wont show in windows because its an ext4 partition.

Can you tell me if you can boot from live usb flash and everything worked fine ?

K

Trying.. I hope there is an explicit option that shows the 'live boot' thing..

K

Okay i have the below options :
Graphical install
Install
Advanced options
Accessible dark contrast installer menu
Help
Install with speech synthesis

Where do i find this live boot ?

Post a screenshot or a photo. Did you boot from your USB Flash drive?

K

Yes the usb flash drive that i burned the iso onto..

Give me a few mins, im trying on my end.

I downloaded the live iso from debian from here Debian -- Live install images

I used rufus to burn this onto a USB. I set Persistent size to 20 GB. Partition Scheme = GPT (modern systems only). Rest everything is default.

In your case, first try with your flash drive to save time. If everything boots fine using the above option, then we can proceed forward with HDD.

K

Trying now with debian-live-11.5.0-i386-standard

K

Can the partition scheme on Rufus be set to MBR ?

Yes it can. Do it if your PC is oldish.

K

Done & booted as above..

Prompt visible as below :
User@debian: ~$

Which exact version of live iso did you download ? Is the iso named something like

debian-live-11.5.0-amd64-mate

K

Nerevarine said:
Which exact version of live iso did you download ? Is the iso named something like

debian-live-11.5.0-amd64-mate

debian-live-11.5.0-i386-standard

I think "standard" doesnt come with any GUI launcher, but you should be fine regardless.

Atleast we found out that debian live usb is working fine. Id suggest you try setting up samba and see everything works before doing the entire procedure on your HDD next. Reason we want to set it up in HDD is because a flash drive isnt meant to be plugged in 24x7.

*help.ubuntu.com/community/How to C...minal) - Uncomplicated, Simple and Brief Way!

Step 5 might be a difficult one if you dont know how to operate nano text editor in command line. Be careful while doing it.

use this to do a quick trial of samba share.

K

Getting the "mate" version now.. just to avoid the codes..
Hopefully I trust you can help me with a similar test instruction page for this GUI version..

Wait, just try the commands on the standard installation first. its not that difficult.

You would have to run the codes on the mate version as well, except on a terminal window.

If you have discord, PM me your useranme.

K

Not on discord.. let me try the codes then

K

Nerevarine said:
I think "standard" doesnt come with any GUI launcher, but you should be fine regardless.

Atleast we found out that debian live usb is working fine. Id suggest you try setting up samba and see everything works before doing the entire procedure on your HDD next. Reason we want to set it up in HDD is because a flash drive isnt meant to be plugged in 24x7.

*help.ubuntu.com/community/How to C...minal) - Uncomplicated, Simple and Brief Way!

Step 5 might be a difficult one if you dont know how to operate nano text editor in command line. Be careful while doing it.

use this to do a quick trial of samba share.

completed until step 7
can u pls guide me on the last step.. where do I type in these commands on windows?

Okay, Let me see.

On windows you dont need to do anything, type \\<IP ADDRESS OF YOUR LINUX MACHINE\ into any windows explorer bar. you should be able to browse contents

K

Okay i was able to see the folder created on the server but got an access error when trying to open it with the correct credentials.. maybe I’m missing a few commands. What’s next now since the test seems to be okay ?!

The correct credentials are most likely what you use to login to your debian os. If everything is working fine, its best to do this entire thing on a hdd, so you can run it for longer hours.

K

Since this was the test live environment, I don’t think I set a password for the O.S..? The user password that i had set did not work though..

What about the issue with the blinking cursor which is why we started this entire ‘test’ procedure !

Im not sure what the reason of that blinking cursor was and without more details its impossible to say.

You can double check samba authentication here

*www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-set-up-quick-and-easy-file-sharing-with-samba/

You can do anonymous shares as well where you dont need password to enter.

K

Thanks, will review!