Connect HDD to ethernet port

[iain_33]

One of the frustrating things with my old laptop is it doesn't have USB 3.0 ports, only USB 2.0, so large transfers to an external HDD (ie. backups) are slow. It has an ethernet port though, and I've read that USB 3.0 and ethernet speeds are comparable.

Is it possible to connect a HDD to the ethernet port? I realise it would need an intermediary device, more than just a cable adapter, but is it possible? I've searched on google but can only find adapters to connect network devices to usb, not vice versa.

[Lord Boltar]

It is called a Crossover Cable this will let you exchange data between machines (one laptop to another laptop) via Ethernet port - but not to a external hard drive
here is a diagram on how to make it

The other options are - buy a router which has a USB input for sharing a standard external hard drive over a network or keep your existing router and buy a NAS drive (Network Attached Storage)

[iain_33]

Hi Lord Boltar, thanks for your reply, but I realise I should have checked my specs before considering this ... I've over estimated my old steed again, its ethernet controller (Realtek RTL810xE) is 100Mbps max so a long way short of USB 2.0's 480 Mbps, even allowing for that being theoretical and actually operating at half that.

Never mind. It's solved my curiosity that it *can* be done!

[phd21]

Hi iain_33,

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

There are various cables, adapters, and enclosures available for hard drives to turn them into NAS (network attached storage) devices or USB devices (very handy). If your laptop or computer has external eSATA port that would be much faster than USB v2.x ports, but you will need a eSATA adapter for your drive(s).

You can also get a USB 3.x to Gigabit Ethernet (RJ45) adapter which would still perform better than your built-in 10/100 Ethernet adapter although not as fast as it would be with a USB v3 port.

USB 3.0 to Gigabit RJ45 - Linux Mint Forums
viewtopic.php?f=150&t=294389&p=1635572#p1635572

Amazon.com: nas adapter for external hard drive
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=nas+adapter+ ... _ss_i_2_17

Amazon.com: nas adapter for usb hard drive
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=nas+adapter+ ... _ss_i_1_16


Hope this helps ...

[iain_33]

Hi phd21, thanks for your suggestions.

I presume a USB to RJ45 adaptor will give me an ethernet connection better than the 100Mbps I currently have, but no better than USB 2.0's max 480Mbps, in which case I'm no better off...

I don't have any external SATA ports, but I have in the past considered replacing the optical drive with an SSD - I gave up on that though when I found out that HP have disabled booting from a HDD/SSD in the optical bay, even though it will boot from the optical drive . It's given me a new idea though, to see if I can remove the DVD drive and convert it to an external port.

A check with dmesg at the time revealed the optical drive was connected at 1.5 Gbps, I don't know if that's the SATA channel limit (though the HDD connects at 3.0 Gbps) or if that's just what the DVD drive connects at.

[phd21]

Hi iain_33,

You are welcome...

I presume a USB to RJ45 adaptor will give me an ethernet connection better than the 100Mbps I currently have, but no better than USB 2.0's max 480Mbps, in which case I'm no better off...

True. But, that is still 4.8 times faster than 100mbps, is it not?

I don't have any external SATA ports, but I have in the past considered replacing the optical drive with an SSD - I gave up on that though when I found out that HP have disabled booting from a HDD/SSD in the optical bay, even though it will boot from the optical drive . It's given me a new idea though, to see if I can remove the DVD drive and convert it to an external port.

A check with dmesg at the time revealed the optical drive was connected at 1.5 Gbps, I don't know if that's the SATA channel limit (though the HDD connects at 3.0 Gbps) or if that's just what the DVD drive connects at.

That's probably the DVD drive limits. You probably could remove the DVD drive and attach another SATA drive (HDD or SSD (much faster)).

It would help to know more about your system setup. If you run "inxi -Fxzd" and "lsusb" from the console terminal prompt, highlight the results, copy and paste them back here, that should provide enough information.

Hope this helps ...

[iain_33]

Hi phd21

While 480 Mbps ethernet would indeed be much better than 100 Mbps, my aim was to get a faster connection than 480 Mbps for an external HDD so in that case it's no better for me (I don't otherwise use the ethernet).

As I write, Mint is installing on the shiny new 1TB HDD I've just replaced the old 750GB one with - I "half-installed" Mint a while back on the old drive, with my /home partition still on an NTFS partition but I've gone full Linux now ... so I've got no real need to install a second internal HDD especially if I can convert the DVD drive to an external SATA port. Not especially fussed now about an SSD as Mint boots so fast compared to Windows.

Nonetheless, I'll post an inxi / lsusb output when the laptop is up and running again.

[iain_33]

I'm up and running

inxi -Fxzd

Code: Select all

System:
  Host: xxxxxxxxx Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  compiler: gcc v: 7.3.0 Desktop: MATE 1.20.1 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa 
  base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP G70 Notebook PC v: F.32 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Wistron model: 360C v: 09.48 serial: <filter> BIOS: Hewlett-Packard 
  v: F.32 date: 11/20/2008 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Pentium Dual T3400 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Core Merom rev: D L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 8644 
  Speed: 1330 MHz min/max: 1000/2166 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1330 2: 1330 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Mobile 4 Series Integrated Graphics 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.19.6 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1440x900~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express v: 2.1 Mesa 18.2.8 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 82801I HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.15.0-20-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 
  bus ID: 01:00.0 
  IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: ath5k v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: wls1 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 9.20 GiB (1.0%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD10JPLX-00MBPT1 
  size: 931.51 GiB 
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: Slimtype model: DVD A DS8A2L-A rev: 7H63 
  dev-links: cdrom,cdrw,dvd,dvdrw 
  Features: speed: 6 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes 
  rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 45.58 GiB used: 8.97 GiB (19.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
  ID-2: /home size: 824.22 GiB used: 179.0 MiB (0.0%) fs: ext4 
  dev: /dev/sda6 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 48.0 C mobo: 48.0 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 170 Uptime: 40m Memory: 2.86 GiB used: 982.7 MiB (33.5%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 7.4.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19 
  inxi: 3.0.27 

lsusb

Code: Select all

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 046d:c526 Logitech, Inc. Nano Receiver
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b091 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Webcam
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. USB 2.0 multicard reader
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

[phd21]

Hi iain_33,

The difference in speed from the older mechanical platter hard drives (HDD) and Solid State Drives is phenomenal. I would highly recommend that anyone who can replace a mechanical HDD with an SSD do so especially for the drive you have an operating system on (boot drive). Using an HDD for backups is certainly better than not backing up. Using an SSD for boot drive is one of the best overall system improvements anyone can do and the prices of SSDs have dropped dramatically with 250gb+ SSD around $30us or less.

I certainly understand the desire for a more speedy backup option as I too am limited to USB 2 with my older USB 1tb external backup drive. I usually do drive and partition image backups at night because of the slow speed on my ancient computer.

FYI: Amazon.com: laptop dvd to ssd adapter: Electronics
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=laptop+dvd+t ... ss_fb_1_14

I do not see anything wrong with the results of the "inxi -Fxzd" console terminal command, so that is a good thing.