Instead of shopping for a NAS, I turned an outdated laptop computer and exterior drive into dwelling community storage

Years in the past, I constructed an arcade cupboard from scratch and powered it with a Dell laptop computer from 2010 operating Windows 7. It performed video games like Halo, Dragon’s Lair, and loads of different basic video games. I additionally used it as a jukebox in my man cave. It bought a whole lot of use through the years, and it lasted a very long time, however a number of months in the past it began to really feel underpowered for what I used to be utilizing it for. After wanting round on Facebook Marketplace, I discovered an awesome substitute. It was a Dell desktop unit that already had Windows 11 put in. Once the change was made, my old laptop didn’t have a lot to do.

For the subsequent few months, the laptop computer sat round unused. It nonetheless labored, had an awesome docking station, and had no actual points apart from its age. I began enthusiastic about how I may put it back to work. It wanted a job that didn’t demand much performance. Turning it right into a shared community drive that I may entry from another PC on my community appeared like a good way to place this outdated machine again into service.

I had two items of outdated {hardware} that also labored

The laptop computer turned the host, and an outdated 1TB drive provided the storage

While my laptop computer labored with out difficulty, it did not actually have the cupboard space to make turning it right into a shared community drive worthwhile. Thankfully, through the years, I’ve retired a number of exterior arduous drives, and I occurred to have a 1TB Western Digital My Book that was nonetheless working.

The exterior drive would maintain the recordsdata, whereas the laptop computer’s job was merely to make that storage accessible to the remainder of my dwelling community. I appreciated the concept as a result of neither piece of {hardware} needed to work significantly arduous. The laptop computer supplied Windows and the community connection, whereas the 1TB My Book supplied storage. It was a easy technique to take two items of retired {hardware} that had been sitting round and switch them into one thing I may truly use once more.

Mapping it on my principal PC made it really feel like native storage

Giving it a drive letter made entry a lot less complicated

Once the My Book was shared from the laptop computer, it was straightforward to browse it from one other laptop on my dwelling community, however after I mapped it to my principal PC, it made that setup much more handy. Mapping a community drive is de facto easy. It simply means assigning that shared location a drive letter on my principal PC, just like how C: represents the principle native drive.

All the recordsdata are nonetheless bodily saved on the My Book that is related to my laptop computer. Windows is solely giving me a everlasting shortcut to that community location. In observe, it simply implies that I can entry the drive with out having to flick through Network > Laptop Name > Shared drive.

The setup was easy, but it surely got here with a couple of tradeoffs

Keeping the drive accessible meant listening to velocity, sharing, and energy settings

Once I began utilizing it, the most important profit was that I did not should assume a lot concerning the setup anymore. I may save recordsdata to it, transfer folders round, or open one thing instantly from File Explorer identical to I’d with one other drive on my PC. The greatest distinction was velocity. Transfers had been restricted by the outdated laptop computer, the exterior drive, and my community, so this was by no means going to carry out like a brand new SSD. For what I wished, although, that wasn’t an issue. I cared extra about having a easy place to maintain recordsdata that I may attain from my principal PC each time I wanted them.

Setting it up was fairly straightforward. On my Windows 7 laptop computer, I made positive I used to be utilizing my trusted dwelling community, then opened Network and Sharing Center > Change superior sharing settings and turned on Network discovery and File and printer sharing. After that, I shared the My Book drive and set the permissions I wished. On my Windows 11 PC, I opened File Explorer, discovered the laptop computer underneath Network, and confirmed I may entry the shared drive. From there, I used Map community drive, gave it a drive letter, and checked Reconnect at sign-in so Windows would restore the connection routinely.

Another factor I needed to account for was energy administration. Since the laptop computer is performing because the host, the shared drive disappears if the laptop computer goes to sleep or shuts down. I modified the facility settings so it stays awake whereas plugged in, which retains the drive accessible each time I want it. Because this laptop computer runs an unsupported OS like Windows 7, I maintain it strictly remoted to my safe dwelling community and guarantee file sharing stays strictly native.”

This was all of the community storage I actually wanted

This setup is not going to switch a full NAS for everybody, and that is high quality. I wasn’t in search of RAID, distant entry, or a bunch of server apps. I simply wished a easy place on my dwelling community the place I may maintain recordsdata and attain them from my principal PC without buying more hardware. For that job, the outdated laptop computer and retired My Book have labored out properly, and each are doing one thing helpful once more as a substitute of gathering mud.