Around a year ago, I embarked on a mission to enhance our home internet experience while saving money by investing in our own modem and router. This decision allowed us to choose equipment with room for future growth and more features than what our ISP provided. I opted for an ASUS RT-AX series router, known for its extensive range, Wi-Fi 6 capabilities, QoS, and various other features. Little did I know that this router would play a crucial role in setting up my own Network Attached Storage (NAS), enabling seamless file sharing among friends and family within our home network.
Let’s Get Started:
The first step in setting up my NAS was to prepare the external hard drive. I wiped it clean, formatted it, and made sure it was ready for use. To my surprise, my new router had the functionality to handle this task for me. I connected the hard drive to the USB 3.0 port at the back of the router and accessed the router’s web portal. Fortunately, I found helpful walkthroughs online to guide me through the setup process.
After logging into the web portal, I navigated to the “USB Application” section and selected “Servers Center.” From there, I clicked on the “Network Place (Samba) Share / Cloud Disk” tab. Enabling the share, I provided a name for the device, adjusted the workgroup settings, and created account credentials for secure access. After applying the settings, I eagerly awaited the successful creation of my NAS.
Roadblocks and Frustrations:
However, things didn’t go as smoothly as I anticipated . Despite following instructions from multiple sources, I couldn’t locate the network drive on my computer or laptop. Frustration mounted as I attempted various troubleshooting steps, including changing workgroup names, rebooting my devices and router, allowing guest login capabilities, updating the router’s firmware, reformatting the drive multiple times, running health scans, and adjusting AiDisk settings. It seemed like there was an insurmountable obstacle preventing me from achieving my goal. Despite feeling defeated, I refused to give up. I saw this challenge as a valuable learning experience for my IT career.
A Break and a Breakthrough:
Taking a break from the project, I returned to it a few days later with renewed determination. I continued exploring the router settings and stumbled upon the option to save router configurations under the “Administration” section, specifically the “Restore/Save/Upload Setting” tab. Recognizing the importance of backups in IT, I decided to save my router settings onto a flash drive I had on hand.
This decision proved invaluable as I encountered a mishap while experimenting with the settings, causing a complete loss of internet connectivity. Ethernet connections ceased to exist, and even the router’s web portal became inaccessible. Panic set in, especially because my wife was working remotely from home and depended on a stable connection. In a desperate attempt to restore functionality, I resorted to factory resetting the router.
A Miraculous Recovery:
Gradually, the router regained its stability and started rebuilding the connections, networks, and settings. During this process, our computer connected to the router, prompting us to set it up again. Luckily, ASUS offered the option to restore settings from backups. Without hesitation, I inserted the flash drive containing the recently saved settings. The router effortlessly retrieved the configurations, resulting in the restoration of our network—full speed, familiar Wi-Fi networks, passwords, and network settings—everything returned to normal. Beyond that, the network drive was miraculously visible, completing my project.