NAS-less Network attached storage

[input username here]

Hello CA Community. I have a question that I was hoping someone could help me answer...:

 

I recently bought a Asus AC1900 router and was surprised to see that it has DLNA/UPNP software built-in... to the router. I was thinking of upgrading my old 2TB HP NAS, but now I am trying to figure out why I would buy another NAS if I could just plug one (or more) HDDs into the ASUS router and be done with it. No noise, no fans, at least as quiet as, say, a Q-NAP.

 

So, bottom line: with UPNP software built into the router, is there ANY REASON AT ALL that l I would benefit from buying a new NAS? (I don't care about AirPlay/streaming over the internet, etc., just playing music on my PC/QB-9DSD and, maybe in the future, a steamer, like the Linn DS or PS Audio Bridge.)

 

Thanks for any advice that you can give me!

[Paul R]

The only things I can think of are

 

• The processor in the router may not be powerful enough to provide a good DLNA experience
  
• The disks may spin down and cause a delay when you first access it
  
• It may have a deleterious effect on other network traffic in your home network.
  
• The attached disks may need to be formatted with a less than optimal filesystem, FAT32 or something like that.
  
• The drives will probably need to be externally powered, and may make a rats nest of power cables.
  

 

But given all that, plug a disk in an give it a try! It might work just perfectly for you!

-Paul

 

Hello CA Community. I have a question that I was hoping someone could help me answer...:

 

I recently bought a Asus AC1900 router and was surprised to see that it has DLNA/UPNP software built-in... to the router. I was thinking of upgrading my old 2TB HP NAS, but now I am trying to figure out why I would buy another NAS if I could just plug one (or more) HDDs into the ASUS router and be done with it. No noise, no fans, at least as quiet as, say, a Q-NAP.

 

So, bottom line: with UPNP software built into the router, is there ANY REASON AT ALL that l I would benefit from buying a new NAS? (I don't care about AirPlay/streaming over the internet, etc., just playing music on my PC/QB-9DSD and, maybe in the future, a steamer, like the Linn DS or PS Audio Bridge.)

 

Thanks for any advice that you can give me!

[PewterTA]

The only real issue I've seen with any router being your DLNA player is if you have a lot of songs (maybe 20K+) a lot of the times it'll start giving little issues due to the limitations on the size of the database, memory and processor in the router.

 

I find it's still better to have a computer or NAS device serving up the data.

[input username here]

Interesting. Thanks for the reply. I am right at about 20k songs (about 18k, I think). My HP NAS is still chugging along but, based on your suggestions, I might at least plug some USB drives into the router and see if it works before going for a whole new NAS. Thanks!