This type of conversions cause more issues than they create. USB 2 max speed is 480Mbps, but typically people get around 200Mbs, with a ethernet conversion expect it to be even slower.
So I'm looking around for a NAS and although Free-NAS sounds interesting, my old box is too bulky to move to where I use the router is. Then I thought about the HP Media vault, but I've got an older non SATA hard drive that I'd like to get some use out of. THEN...this thing comes along:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/11/addonics-usb-to-nas-adapter-all-your-external-hdds-now-networ/
excerpt:
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This little box enables any USB hard drive to be placed onto a network for network access, essentially turning your stale USB HDDs into NAS drives. The device supports both SMB (Server Message Block) and the open source Samba network protocols, which allows for cross-platform access of shared data for most versions of OS X, Windows and Linux.
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And it's just $55 - not bad huh?
thoughts?
Best,
Shalin

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