Hello I am trying to add a storage device to my home network so that all my devices can access the stored movie files. I want a storage system that anyone on my network can access, much like my network printer, without need to logging / logout I am looking for help / suggestion on what to do.
Here is what I have.
Verizon fios 1gigabit internet. I am using a Verizon router and from my research, the USB on the router is nonfunctional (charging only)(thank you Verizon) . I have a network printer connected wirelessly. I have a TP link (TL-SG108E) network switch that routes Ethernet ports to every room in my house. I am looking to connect a storage device to this so that all my TVs / devices can access the device. I am mainly storing movie files.
From my research, it looks like I can either connect an external hard drive or a NAS.
It looks like my cheapest option is external drive. I have looked at a lot of external hard drives, it looks like Seagate and WB are the two that goes on sale often, but none of them have Ethernet connectivity. They only have USB connection, and my router (thank you Verizon) does not support USB and my network switch does not have USB port. So how do I make this work? use a USB ethernet hub? are they reliable?
I have also looked at some NAS. The once that looked affordable to me are the WD WDBCTL0040HWT and the SeagateSTCR3000101). From looking at these two, it looks like you would need to download an app and grant specific users access/sign in before devices can access the drives (I'm not sure how my TVs will access the storage). So it looks like this will limit what I want to do (even though it sounds like it is the safe thing to do).
Any thoughts / suggestions / help will be appreciated.
Again, I want a storage system that anyone on my network can assess, much like my network printer, without need to logging / logout.
Thanks in advance.