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Calling the Geeks!

Scott

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Hiya,

So I want to connect an external HD to my wireless system in the house. Unfortunately, the rental Arris modem I have, while it does have a USB connection, comes with this disabled, so I am hooped on that front.

But hark, I have my old D Link router just sitting here, a 655 model, and something tells me I can connect the router to the modem and the external HD to the router and, voila! (?)

My question is:
-by connecting the HD to a router, will I now have to access the HD through that router? That seems useless to me because I have a modem I want to connect to and stay connected to. The whole reason I went with this rental was to avoid upgrading routers, and to use LESS BS parts and pieces in my setup. Ideally I just hit the HD from my machine and use it, but the stupids at Arris don't see fit to allow this.

I am confident that with a little more google-fu I can get this system set up and going, but my question above is the show stopper (for me right now, maybe it's a non-issue)

The reason for the external HD: I use GoPro a lot and it's a memory hog, so I thought of just dropping everything into the external and using it when required. Then we could also store photos, and music, etc. in one location sans wires that you usually connect to your puter when using an external HD. We have portable external HDs for travel already, I just wanted some big honking fucker for the office and for all to use.

Help?
 
And what I am really driving at with my question, in case it wasn't clear:

Does doing this make any sense at all?

I got the new modem because it promised faster internet (which it delivers on) and so would this be taking a step back?
 
How complex a network do you want to have?  You can get quite fancy by adding a Network Attached Storage device (NAS), which lets multiple computers access and share files.  Mine is a Synology; it has a photo album, music streaming, video streaming to coputers or smart TVs, security cameras...

If you have a HD connected to the router, you can usually only access it by one computer at a time; a NAS gives more features and multiple user access, but a greater learning curve.
 
How complex? Just above using a rock as a hammer.

One computer at a time is fine.

I just want to be able to use one computer to surf and to access these files, which will mostly be GoPro stuff, but also a backup for music, etc.

My nightmare would be having to connect to differing wireless signals in order to access the drive, or am I getting ahead of myself?
 
Assuming the d link supports a USB connection to provide NAS, you could configure is to shut down it's onboard DHCP, DNS, wireless etc and any other router functions, and plug it into your modem as another node, using the normal ports - leave the wan/internet port empty. (assuming your modem has a free port)

that way the dlink would work as another computer with the drive set up as a network share. At that point as long as you're connected to your WiFi you'd be able to access it the same as any other network storage drive.

Based on what you've posted though, I don't know that you would have the required skillset to do so.

I don't know that I'd recommend trying it, as if you don't disable the router functions on the DLINK it will fight with your modem and possibly bring down your network while it's installed on it.

Your best bet is to have a computer guy over to do it for you and walk you though it. Be aware though, while we do this stuff for fun, we only find it fun once to learn how to do it and to have it for ourselves.

After that it's work, so offer some compensation to grease the wheels. I'm partial to a case of keiths or a bottle of Glenfiddich myself, ymmv with your local it geeks.
 
c_canuk said:
Assuming the d link supports a USB connection to provide NAS, you could configure is to shut down it's onboard DHCP, DNS, wireless etc and any other router functions, and plug it into your modem as another node, using the normal ports - leave the wan/internet port empty. (assuming your modem has a free port)

that way the dlink would work as another computer with the drive set up as a network share. At that point as long as you're connected to your WiFi you'd be able to access it the same as any other network storage drive.

Based on what you've posted though, I don't know that you would have the required skillset to do so.

I don't know that I'd recommend trying it, as if you don't disable the router functions on the DLINK it will fight with your modem and possibly bring down your network while it's installed on it.

Your best bet is to have a computer guy over to do it for you and walk you though it. Be aware though, while we do this stuff for fun, we only find it fun once to learn how to do it and to have it for ourselves.

After that it's work, so offer some compensation to grease the wheels. I'm partial to a case of keiths or a bottle of Glenfiddich myself, ymmv with your local it geeks.

:cheers:

Thanks for that. I have just the guys in mind who can help with this, and it won't be without compensation.
 
Well. This has been a week of wasted time and a couple of returns.

The whole external HD/old router thing is a no-go. The fellas at the tech shop tried and couldn't get it going. They did, however, suggest the purpose built NAS and so I dutifully went and got one thinking it sounded like my issues would be addressed.

Nope.

I loaded my GoPro software on to the thing no problem, but when I went to access it, the software downloads back to my Mac. This means, leastwise as far as I can tell, that I would have to use the Mac for the software and video editing which runs me smack into my space issues again.

I still have one more out: the portable 1TB hard drive I carry with my Mac for small backups, sharing, etc. Perhaps I can load the GoPro stuff on there and use it to run the program. I won't pin any hopes there until I have some time to try it and see.

My last thought/question is if I should purchase the Apple built NAS, if that would somehow make a difference?
 
Scott said:
Well. This has been a week of wasted time and a couple of returns.

The whole external HD/old router thing is a no-go. The fellas at the tech shop tried and couldn't get it going. They did, however, suggest the purpose built NAS and so I dutifully went and got one thinking it sounded like my issues would be addressed.

Nope.

I loaded my GoPro software on to the thing no problem, but when I went to access it, the software downloads back to my Mac. This means, leastwise as far as I can tell, that I would have to use the Mac for the software and video editing which runs me smack into my space issues again.

I still have one more out: the portable 1TB hard drive I carry with my Mac for small backups, sharing, etc. Perhaps I can load the GoPro stuff on there and use it to run the program. I won't pin any hopes there until I have some time to try it and see.

My last thought/question is if I should purchase the Apple built NAS, if that would somehow make a difference?

In my personal belief system, Apple is evil. I don't touch their hardware where I don't have to.

I am setting up a NAS for my dad this weekend, however, and he does use a Mac. I might makes some notes for a walkthrough for you.

To confirm, you're planning on using this for your files, and you have room for the application itself on your system? As you said, you could move any stored files off the system and onto the NAS. Depending on the NAS, it would be straightforward to have a redundant storage array so your files wouldn't die with a single hard drive.
 
Brasidas said:
To confirm, you're planning on using this for your files, and you have room for the application itself on your system? As you said, you could move any stored files off the system and onto the NAS. Depending on the NAS, it would be straightforward to have a redundant storage array so your files wouldn't die with a single hard drive.

I just thought, simple minded me, that having like for like hardware would make some sort of difference. I was pretty certain it wouldn't, but had to make the statement in case it caused some eureka moment.

I have room for the application, but when I load files into the application I will, very soon, run into space issues because I "upgraded" to a 128 GB SSHD. So my thinking was/is: place the app on external HD and just open the bastard from there to utilize it, and the source video files. And the whole reason to go with the unit that has the SSHD was to get better processing which is needed for the goddamned GoPro.

Anyway, appreciate your attention to this. I am going to continue trying to solve this tomorrow.
 
Scott said:
I just thought, simple minded me, that having like for like hardware would make some sort of difference. I was pretty certain it wouldn't, but had to make the statement in case it caused some eureka moment.

I have room for the application, but when I load files into the application I will, very soon, run into space issues because I "upgraded" to a 128 GB SSHD. So my thinking was/is: place the app on external HD and just open the ******* from there to utilize it, and the source video files. And the whole reason to go with the unit that has the SSHD was to get better processing which is needed for the goddamned GoPro.

Anyway, appreciate your attention to this. I am going to continue trying to solve this tomorrow.

No problem.

I'm surprised you upgraded to a relatively small SSHD. If all you want is some extra storage, there's 1TB SSDs out there running for $300. That's a sweetspot, but you can still go smaller and cheaper. It doesn't give you some of the advantages of a NAS, like a redundant array, but it would be substantially faster.
 
Yeah. The overwhelming thought with everyone I spoke to was that I shouldn't need shitloads of memory on the laptop, that portable storage is the best route.

Then I started down the rabbit hole with GoPro.
 
I don't quite comprehend what you're doing here, are you trying to use the NAS as a place to store the application, not the data?

Can't you install the application on your computer, and tell the go pro software on your computer to store your raw footage and the processed footage on the NAS?

I thought that's what you intended to do. I must be missing something here.
 
c_canuk said:
I don't quite comprehend what you're doing here, are you trying to use the NAS as a place to store the application, not the data?

Can't you install the application on your computer, and tell the go pro software on your computer to store your raw footage and the processed footage on the NAS?

I thought that's what you intended to do. I must be missing something here.

Expansion on this. Scott, do you know how to set the directory for working files to somewhere other than the local disk?
 
Scott has released the nerds.

Using a program installed over a NAS is likely problematic. As I'm not familiar with the GoPro software, does it allow you to change its save directory to something else? I can see this being the memory hog portion, as HD videos are very large in size (especially with the limited space on the SSD) you have. If you can change the default import/save directory, likely someone here can easily help you set up the external HDD on the network, map it, and then you can set that new mapped drive as the default import/save space for the GoPro.
 
c_canuk said:
I don't quite comprehend what you're doing here, are you trying to use the NAS as a place to store the application, not the data?

My bad, sorry.

I have no preference where the application is. I thought (yeah, I did that) that I could move the GoPro software to whatever I want to use for a storage device and then run the application from there which, to me, would solve the memory issues.

Can't you install the application on your computer, and tell the go pro software on your computer to store your raw footage and the processed footage on the NAS?

Perhaps? I'd have to look into that, but it's an idea that sounds like a solution.

I thought that's what you intended to do. I must be missing something here.

I'm about doing whatever is easiest and doesn't make me want to put both feet right through my Mac.

Brasidas said:
Expansion on this. Scott, do you know how to set the directory for working files to somewhere other than the local disk?

Fuck no.

PuckChaser said:
Scott has released the nerds.

Using a program installed over a NAS is likely problematic. As I'm not familiar with the GoPro software, does it allow you to change its save directory to something else? I can see this being the memory hog portion, as HD videos are very large in size (especially with the limited space on the SSD) you have. If you can change the default import/save directory, likely someone here can easily help you set up the external HDD on the network, map it, and then you can set that new mapped drive as the default import/save space for the GoPro.

That's what I am going to have to look in to, and now I have shiny new terms to plug into the googler to see if I can find a resource reporting this. Yes, the HD videos eat about a GB for five minutes worth of film. I had thought, when I first hit this problem, that I would simply finish an edit and then delete source files to save space, but I started running into difficulty far sooner than I thought I would.

Incidentally, I bought a WD My Cloud or whatever to backup files wirelessly. Seems to be working so far with a backup of iTunes.

Thanks again, guys. Virtual beers?
 
You SHOULD be able to storage the video footage on the NAS and access/edit it via the App on the Macbook itself.

Having said that, the software may keep a local version in the cache while you're working on it, but all footage would be saved to the NAS.

I don't have a GoPro anymore, so I can't 100% verify it. A quick google search showed lots of people using it with external drives... a NAS isn't that much different in the grand scheme of things.
 
Thanks.

I am letting it rest for the weekend, today anyway, and will be looking further Monday and will report back.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to respond here.
 
Okey dokes, so I managed to get GoPro studio on to the external HD and deleted from my Mac. All video files are on the external as well. I just fired the software up and then tried loading a stupid amount of videos into the editing software, something that would have run me afoul of memory limits before, and it seemed to work.

I am not calling it complete yet, I still have a season's worth of ski videos to get together as the first true test, but it sure seems like it is sound.

I may have issues again the first time I go to transfer video files in, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Thanks again to anyone who chimed in.
 
I'm confused.  Unless I'm misunderstanding something, the GoPro Studio software is the application that processes/edits/handles the video files produced by the camera.  It should reside on the hard drive of the laptop/desktop because video processing is very processor intensive and adding network delay to the mix will only slow things down.  Look at it this way - if you have the application and the video files on the same machine, then the processor should almost never be waiting for data from the hard drive.  If you have the video files located on an external hard drive (especially a USB variety), then your processor is going to process video, wait for data from the much slower USB connection, process, wait, process, wait, etc.

What's the purpose of having the video on an external drive?  Simply for archiving purposes?
 
The software and source videos are on my external HD, the networked hard drive is now just for mass storage for the whole house - GoPro fits in there along with reams of everything else.

I intend to run the studio software from the external (USB) hard drive to edit videos, I have not done this yet so perhaps I am running headlong into issues you've mentioned. It totally makes sense and would effectively set me back to square one.

Before trying this latest bunch of steps, when I tried loading video into the program I would run into memory issues because GoPro files are huge, so I thought this might be a good alternative.

Thanks for the feedback, Occam.
 
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