How To Share External Hard Drive On Network Windows 10

If y'all're looking to access your external hard drive without having to deal with the archaic method of lugging it around your home and plugging it into every device with which y'all need to utilize it, at that place are two elementary solutions on how to share your external hard drive via your Wi-Fi network.

For the first solution, you'll need to check your router. Nigh mod routers have a USB port into which yous can plug in a USB-compliant device to share with other devices on your network, like a printer or, in this instance, an external hard drive. Once you've located the USB port on your router, go ahead and plug in your USB external hard drive. Most modernistic routers should instantly recognize that an external hard drive has been continued. Information technology is likewise recommended that you sign in to your router'south settings, whether it's through a browser or its mobile app, and discover an option for file sharing, USB application, or something similarly labeled. Depending on your router, you may have access to more options. For example, the ASUS RT-AC68U router allows for file sharing or multimedia access. Using ASUS AiDisk, you'll even have remote admission and quick content streaming.

ASUS RT-AC68U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1900 Gigabit Router

The method above supports up to 4TB external difficult drives, depending on the format. You lot tin can opt for the WD 4TB My Volume Desktop External HDD or the WD 4TB Elements Desktop External HDD, merely some external difficult drives are designed to be shared across your network, similar the WD My Cloud Home 4TB ane-Bay Personal Cloud NAS Server. With the WD My Cloud, you lot can connect it to your router via Gigabit Ethernet instead of a USB port.

WD My Deject Home 8TB 1-Bay Personal Cloud NAS Server

When continued, you accept remote access to your WD My Deject Home through a browser or a mobile app. WD My Cloud Home allows yous to store and organize your photos, videos, and music on your home network and streamed to multiple devices, like other PCs, media players, gaming consoles, and other DLNA-certified devices. You can also back up files from multiple computers to your WD My Cloud Home. Another handy choice is uploading photos and videos directly from your smartphone to costless up storage on your mobile device. The WD My Cloud Home likewise has a USB expansion port, which y'all tin can use to adhere a uniform USB 3.1 Gen 1 hard drive to expand your storage capacity. You can set up up password protection on your WD My Deject Domicile, which is recommended.

It's also recommended that yous map the external drive on your computer for fast, easy access. Mapping a network drive is uncomplicated. Just follow the steps listed below.

Windows ten

Open File Explorer from the taskbar or the Start menu. Alternatively, you can utilize the Windows Central + E shortcut.
Select This PC from the left panel so select Map network bulldoze in the Estimator tab.
In the Drive listing, select the drive letter of the alphabet (any bachelor letter will exercise).
In the Folder box, type the path of the folder or computer, or select Browse to find the folder. To connect every time you lot log onto your PC, select the Reconnect at sign-in check box.
Don't forget to click Finish when you're finished.

macOS High Sierra

In Finder, click Go in the menu and select Connect to Server.
Enter your external hard drive's address and click Connect.
Choose the radio button Registered User and enter the Proper noun and Password of the user with access rights to the specific share to exist mapped.
Choose a share on the bulldoze and printing OK.
To show the mapped drives on the desktop open the Finder preferences (Select Finder and so Preferences) and bank check the Connected Servers box.

Have yous tried connecting an external difficult drive to your router via USB or Gigabit Ethernet? Permit u.s. know what your setup is like in the Comments department, below.