I want cheap barebone NAS with SATA for my ShieldTV, what are my options?

by neocodex87

Heya all,

I recently got ShieldTV as was suggested by this sub (love the device, super fast) but it doesn't like my external drive, keeps disconnecting, and there's a lot of users with this problem for years without any solution for it. A bit strange nobody warned about that, it seems to be a very common problem. I kind of threw away 30 bucks for the hard drive enclosure because of this.

But whatever, after some thought I just figured what the hell, screw it, I would actually prefer networked storage now since so many things are working faster and better on the Shield, it changed up quite a lot of perspectives I've had until now.

Did some google search for recommended NAS for Kodi... Whoa there buddy, 300€+? That's a whole damn lot for just a box sharing my network drive. I know they have all these extra features and can do transcoding but I don't need that or at least I don't want to pay this much for it.

I'd just like to have a very simple Network Attached Storage - it's what NAS should stand for, but why do they come with all these extra features that jack up the price? I just want my HDD to operate on it's own and be available on my network, does it really cost 300€ to make this work?

I looked into Raspberry Pi, but that's still USB connection, I'd rather have SATA if I'm going into this.

Is there a way to put my drives on network without busting a hole in my wallet?

edit: would this be ok?

JimboLodisC

an old computer, a thumb drive, and FreeNAS

Or buy a router that has a USB port

pjmcphee

A different option that may work is by using a powered USB hub. I had the same issue as you with my HDD but once I purchased an amazonbasics powered hub, I have 2 external drives now plugged in with other accessories as well with no problems at all.

Also, you might have a feature on your router where you can plug the drive into it and access your media that way.

exodus_cl

Just buy a slim factor, old computer with a second gen i5 and you're set, cheap and expandable as you may need it in the short mid term (wake on lan is mandatory I guess?)

I have been on the same ride lately, but I still have my good old WDTV live with a couple of 2tb external drives + a minix x8 with the same storage, but I guess soon I'm going to have to make the jump to a computer solution.

CuvisTheConqueror

Out of curiosity, is your external drive a Western Digital? There is a known issue with those, where the WD drive goes to sleep and the Shield has problems waking it up. You can work around it by installing WD Drive Utilities on a PC, connecting your external drive, and using the program to disable sleep mode.

BiggussDikkuss

2.5" HDD disconnects on ARM chipset based devices usually always points to a power supply issue simply because the mobile chipset based media players cannot supply enough power over USB to reliably power connected 2.5" HDD's. Desktop / Laptop PC's can.

The solution is to use an external powered USB Hub, or self powered 3.5" HDD's.