# Best way to connect my hard drive to the network??



## mousewithatache (Apr 11, 2014)

Hi,

I have a 2TB internal hard drive which I'm going to make external by connecting it to a USB enclosure. I then want to essentially turn it into a NAS by either:


Buying a this router which I can connect it to via USB
Keeping my Virgin Media Superhub and connecting the hard drive to this network adapter

What I want to happen is for my hard drive to be readable by both my laptop and Windows Media Centre via the Xbox. Which method is best? From what I can make out, the network adapter thing will not format my hard drive so that's a plus (as I have a LOT of stuff on that drive which is irreplaceable) but the router option seems more straight-forward. But, I've read that sometimes there are compatibility issues doing it that way, so possibly my hard drive may not be readable by let's say Windows Media Centre in that setup. Does anyone have any advice? Thanks in advance!!


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## LottieWinde (Aug 27, 2014)

Hay
Quote from https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20140317133604AAOQjnq


> You can buy a NAS or you can use an old computer preferably running Linux and not Windows , for security reasons. The computer only has to be as fast as your network and hard drive. If the drive is external=USB you may want to take it out of the external box and put it in the PC connected directly for better performance.


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