USB Storage

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N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR4500

•

Sharing multimedia with friends and family such as MP3 files, pictures, and other

multimedia with local and remote users.

•

Sharing resources on your network. You might want to store files in a central location so

that you do not have to power up a computer to perform local sharing. In addition, you

can share files between Macintosh, Linux, and PC computers by using the USB drive as

a go-between across the systems.

•

Sharing files such as Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and text files with

remote users.

A few common uses are described in the following sections.

Sharing Photos

You can create your own central storage location for photos and multimedia. This eliminates

the need to log in to (and pay for) an external photo-sharing site.



To share files with your friends and family:

1.

Insert your USB drive into the USB port on the router either directly or with a USB cable.

Computers on your local area network (LAN) can automatically access this USB drive

using a web browser or Microsoft Networking.

2.

If you want to specify read-only access or to allow access from the Internet, see

USB

Storage Advanced Settings

on page

49.

Storing Files in a Central Location for Printing

This scenario is for a family that has one high-quality color printer directly attached to a

computer, but not shared on the local area network (LAN). This family does not have a print

server.

•

One family member has photos on a Macintosh computer that she wants to print.

•

The photo-capable color printer is directly attached to a PC, but not shared on the

network.

•

The Mac and PC are not visible to each other on the network.



To print photos from a Mac on the printer attached to a PC:

1.

On the Mac, access the USB drive by typing

\\readyshare

in the address field of a web

browser. Then copy the photos to the USB drive.

2.

On the PC, use a web browser or Microsoft Networking to copy the files from the USB drive

to the PC. Then print the files.

Sharing Large Files over the Internet

Sending files that are larger than 5 MB can pose a problem for many email systems. The

router allows you to share very large files such as PowerPoint presentations or .zip files over

the Internet. FTP can be used to easily download shared files from the router.

Sharing files with a remote colleague involves the following considerations:

USB Storage

47

N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR4500

•

There are two user accounts: admin and guest. The password for admin is the same one

that you use to access the router. By default, it is

password

. The guest user account has

no password.

•

On the FTP site, the person receiving the files should use the guest user account and

enter any password (FTP requires that you type something in the password field).

•

Be sure to select the

FTP (via Internet)

check box in the USB Storage Advanced

Settings screen. This option supports both downloading and uploading of files.

Note:

You can enable the HTTP (via Internet) option on the Advanced

USB Storage screen to share large files. This option supports

downloading files only.

Basic Settings

You can view or edit basic settings for the USB storage device attached to your router.

You can access this feature by selecting

Basic > ReadySHARE

, or

Advanced > USB

Storage > ReadySHARE

.

The USB Storage (Basic Settings) screen displays:

By default, the USB storage device is available to all computers on your local area network

(LAN).

The ReadySHARE print feature allows you to share a printer that you connect to the USB

port on your router. To use the ReadySHARE print feature on a Windows PC, you need to

use the NETGEAR USB Control Center utility. For information about this feature, see

Chapter 6, ReadySHARE Printer

.

USB Storage

48

N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR4500



To access your USB device:

1.

Click the network device name or the share name in your computer’s network folders

list.

2.

For SMB://readyshare, click

Connect

.

Note:

If you logged in to the router before you connected your USB device,

you might not see your USB device in the router screens until you

log out and then log back in again.

Add or Edit a Network Folder

1.

You can access this feature by selecting

Basic > ReadySHARE

, and clicking

Edit

, or

selecting

Advanced > USB Storage > Advanced Settings

.

2.

Specify the changes that you want to make:

USB Storage

49

N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR4500

•

To add a folder, click

Create Network Folder

.

•

To edit a folder, select its radio button, and then click

Edit

.

3.

You can use this screen to select a folder, to change the share name, or to change the read

Access or write access from All – no password to

admin

.

The user name (account name) for All – no password is guest. The password for admin is

the same one that is used to log in to the router. By default, it is password.

4.

Click

Apply

for your changes to take effect.

USB Storage Advanced Settings

You can set up the device name, workgroups, and network folders for your USB device. On

the Advanced tab, select

USB Storage >

Advanced Settings

to display the following

screen:

You can use this screen to specify access to the USB storage device.

USB Storage

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N900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router WNDR4500

•

Network Device Name

. The default is readyshare. This is the name used to access the

USB device connected to the router.

•

Workgroup

. If you are using a Windows workgroup rather than a domain, the workgroup

name is displayed here. The name works only in an operating system that supports

NetBIOS, such as Microsoft Windows.

•

Access Method

. The access methods are described here.

Network Connection

. Enabled by default, this connection allows all users on the LAN to

have access to the USB drive.

HTTP

. Enabled by default. You can type

to

access the USB drive.

HTTP (via internet)

. Disabled by default. If you enable this setting, remote users can

type

http://<

public IP address

/shares>

(for example,

) or a

URL domain name to access the USB drive over the Internet. This setting supports file

uploading only.

FTP

. Disabled by default.

FTP (via internet)

. Disabled by default. If you enable this setting, remote users can

access the USB drive through FTP over the Internet. This setting supports both

downloading and uploading of files.

Available Network Folders

You might need to scroll down to view this section of the screen:

•

Share Name

. If only 1 device is connected, the default share name is USB_Storage. You

can click the name shown, or you can type it in the address field of your web Browser. If

Not Shared is shown, the default share has been deleted, and no other share for the root

folder exists. Click the link to change this setting.