September 20, 2011

Using D-Link DSL-2750U's Storage Service feature

UPDATE: My 2750U has kicked the bucket due lightning striking my house, quite a shame, while it wasn't much to look at, it performed very well, R.I.P little modem-router. And so dear reader, I am not able to try out any new firmware versions. That USB port on this model isn't a swift one, so if you can't see it or can't get it to work, my opinion, not something I'd lose sleep over. Have a great day. Love you, fellow human!


The manual doesn't explain this feature in detail, so here is a quick guide on using the Storage Service feature on D-Link DSL-2750U.

For firmware SE_1.01

You can see firmware version on the top right corner of the router control panel. On this version, Storage Service is much more direct, I like this a lot more. Here is how it can be accessed.

Windows


Open up any Windows Explorer window like My Computer for example and type the address of your D-Link router, by default its: "\\192.168.1.1"


Use "admin"  for both username and password (without quotes). I did not see anyway to change that, might as well because it gives the impression the drive is secured by user accounts, which is not the case.

Mac


Go to Finder > Go > Connect to Server ...

And enter "SMB:\\192.168.1.1"


Use "admin"  for both username and password (without quotes). I did not see anyway to change that, might as well because it gives the impression the drive is secured by user accounts, which is not the case.

I got both read and write access now, where as on firmware 1.0 it was only read and delete access, I'm not entirely sure if its because I have Fuse and NTFS-3G installed, which are for native writing to NTFS drives. So I guess you'll have to try and see, apologies.

(Everything below is for firmware SE_1.0)


For firmware SE_1.0

On firmware SE_1.0, Storage device is read and delete but not write access if accessed from a Macintosh; on Windows, you can both read and write to the drive.

Step 1

Plug in your USB device into the USB port at the back of the DSL-2750U, you should see the USB indicator light at the front panel light up when it's recognized.

Step 2

Go to the router's administration interface on your computer, access this on your web browser by typing in http://192.168.1.1/

If you didn't update the admin password at all, then the login username and password is the default admin and admin. You can update this under: Maintenance > Access Controls.

Step 3

Now head to Advanced > Storage Service.

There are two links here, click on Storage Device Info first, you'll see your USB device listed, make note of the Volumename field, like for example: usb1_1.

Step 4

This is the main step, head to Advanced > Storage Service > User Accounts, the screenshot below shows this page.


Create a new user, this will be your account credential when you access your USB storage, create your username and password and fill in the VolumeName as noted earlier in Step 3.  My Username is sundaymorning and the volumeName is usb1_1. Hit the Apply button and we are done with the admin interface.

Accessing your storage device on both Windows and Mac is pretty easy too, here are the steps.


On Windows XP

Launch Windows Explorer, just any window basically and type in:
\\192.168.1.1\sundaymorning\usb1_1

Note the pattern is: \\ Server Address \ Username \ Volume Name.

You'll be prompted for your login credentials you created earlier in Step 4,  click OK and that's it!

Type in the address any window's address bar (top), the login panel will appear.

Once logged in successfully, you can start browsing the volume!
You can add this address to Favorites or you can go the more advanced route of Mapping the Network Drive, I'm not familiar with Mapping, so for convenience here is a Google search result link if that is what you want to do.



On OS X

This doesn't work well with Macs. On all media and formats I tried, I can read and copy files, even delete files, but could not write to it, the Finder error I get is along the lines of "no space available ..." on the device. Those media I tried were empty, and I can write to them via Windows without problem. Especially the FAT32 formatted USB thumb drive where I can write to it on the Mac if connected directly.

Snow Leopard was my first OS X, but I'm guessing its the same with earlier versions since it is using SMB, I could be wrong. Make sure Finder is selected then choose Go > Connect to Server ... (or Cmd+K), then type in:
smb://192.168.1.1/sundaymorning/usb1_1


Note the pattern is: smb:// Server Address / Username / Volume Name.


Enter the username and password you created in Step 4, click Connect and done!

Type the address here at, Finder menu > Go > Connect to Server ...
then hit the Connect button

Finally, type in your login credentials and hit the Connect button,
if everything is set correctly, the file browser will appear, however it seems to be read only for Macs.

[Updated on Oct 29, 2012 added firmware 1.01 changes]

71 comments:

Rece22 said...

thanks so much!! i been looking every where for help with this!! but now i still have one problem ,when i first tryed todo it my self i added two accounts and now they wont delete so now i cant even do what you did, please help

Suryamohan said...

Thanks. It was not available anywhere on documentation.

Umesh Balikai said...

Great! Thanks a lot for this post, especially since the product docs don't explain this feature in detail. I brought this Modem+Router yesterday especially because it helps me share my USB external hard-disk across my home network. I'm waiting to try my hand on it; waiting for the Airtel BB guy to come and install it first. :-)

On the product packing, it was indicated we can use the USB port with D-Link's NAS server. I was worried I wont be able to use my external hard-disk in its place. This post has put an end to my worries. Will try this out soon and update again :-)

Umesh Balikai said...

Hi,

I have setup my D-Link DSL2750U modem router. I plugged in my SanDisk Cruzer 4GB Thumbdrive into the USB port on back of the router and LED came up for USB. I logged in to admin console, and under Advanced Settings > Storage Service > I could see my USB drive listed along with used and free space. I created an user account, added password and saved it, but some how from explorer I am not able to access the drive. When I try \\192.168.1.1\\usb1_1 it says location could not be found. Can you pls help me resolve this?

Thanks,
Umesh

Umesh Balikai said...

BTW, I am using Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit edition.

kc said...

@Umesh

Access the file system by typing
\\192.168.1.2\public and then you should be able to see usb1_1 folder. Just see if it works for you. It worked for me.

Thanks a lot Hew for this posting.

Umesh Balikai said...

Hi kc,

Thanks a lot for your hint! It worked when I tried \\192.168.1.1\public but didn't ask for any authentication, perhaps coz its on a public profile. Thank you so much :-)

Ron G Liew said...

Thank you so much...I had been looking for the solution high and low. Thought my router modem had usb problem but found the service storage feature, configure it but could not find the way the access it. Great of you to post the solution up.
Cheers and happy new year 2012!

Ron G Liew said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Max said...

I had the same problem with the OS X support and I contacted the d-link support centre in singapore. After a few weeks and a couple of follow ups, they were able to send me a firmware upgrade that now seems to work ok with OS X (did not do too much testing yet).
So I would recommend you get in touch with the support centre there.

SA-7 said...

Thanks for the walkthrough. Please mail me a link if you find a firmware that enables write access from a Mac. I have looked everywhere for this firmware update but haven't had any luck.

Max said...

The link they send me doesnt work anymore but you can contact

support@dlink.com.sg

Ask for the beta Firmware that resolved Samba client file copy issue on MAC OS.

Chingatch said...

Hi there

I recently bought this router, but for some reason, it does not show my samsung terrabyte harddrive under storage info? Any help will be greatly appreciated>

Mike

Edward Hew said...

Wow, usually nobody reads my blog hehe, 13 comments is a record!! Some of these is pretty old, I'm sorry I only see them now end of January 2012 ^_^" , some of you probably won't ever return ^_^*" but I'll reply because I'm so impressed that people actually left comments!!

@Rece22:
To remove accounts, its actually pretty easy, my firmware bte is SE_1.00, you can see this on the top right corner of the router web interface.

So to remove on SE_1.00, go to
> Advanced tab (top)
> Storage Service (left side navigation),
> Go to User Accounts
> On that page and simply check the accounts you want to delete and hit the "remove" button at the bottom!

Edward Hew said...

@Umesh Balikai

Did you omit the username? \\192.168.1.1\username_here\usb1_1

This brings up the login dialog box for me.

\\192.168.1.1\public brings up the public shared folder the system created on the drive, its a sub-folder within of the drive.

NItish Kumar said...

Good job for sharing the info. I have bought the same router and its about to be delivered to me by tomorrow.

Would love to try the same.

Navneet said...

Anyone knows how to access on iphone or android?

Anuradha said...

Thanks you very much.It works me as \\192.168.1.1\usb1_1. But copying speed is very slow(About 2mbps) how can i increase it?

Anuradha said...

Thanks you very much.It works me as \\192.168.1.1\usb1_1. But copying speed is very slow(About 2mbps) how can i increase it?

Edward Hew said...

@Anuradha

That may be it, I actually didn't test with big files or file speed, and I am no expert in this matter, just sharing some discovery. Also, I have not used this feature myself due to incompatibility with Macs.

Edward Hew said...

@Max

I didn't write to D-Link about Mac compatibility, thought about it but came to the conclusion that I didn't want to mess with the router since I rely on it for work. Sorry Max.

Channu's Blog said...

hey Edward ..i can access files on \\192.168.1.1\public..but not asking for authentication so i m concerned how safe it is...i mean if others can access it without my knowledge..

Edward Hew said...

@Channu's Blog

Hey there, actually yeah, its not secure, anybody can access the information, on Windows, the password is not necessary at all when you want to browse the volume. And if you connect the storage device directly to a Mac or Windows, the whole volume can be browsed no password needed. This is a very basic file server, as basic as it gets looks like.

And its still read-only on the Mac, no official firmware updates available from D-Link.

Saurabh Godbole said...

Thanks a lot ... Have been looking for this for a long time ...

Unknown said...

Thanks for the info - REALLY helpful. I have 1 question - is there a limit on the size of the drive? Will only USB thumb drives work - or can I use a USB disk (250GB)?
Many Thanks,

Umesh Balikai said...

Kanchan,

Not sure if there is any limit on size of the drive, but I am able to use my 2TB external USB hard-disk without any issues.

Regards,
Umesh

Unitech Buyers Blog said...

Just wanted to update that - the same procedure works in Linux (ubuntu) too. Install smbfs and add an entry in /etc/fstab - works like a charm :-)

Unitech Buyers Blog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Thanks Umesh. I was also able to connect my 1TB disk. It works with my XBMC Live (linux) and I could mount it and I'm keeping my media in this drive. But, found a few things that I wanted to share with the group:
1) It does not recognize large (>4GB) files. So, If you have large movie files - that's an issue.
2) The read rate is about 2mbps but the the write rate (under Win7) is 1mbps - very slow. Forget copying movies to the disk. Playing hi-def movies from the drive is also not that great.
3) A elegant way to 'disconnect' the drive would be nice.
Cheers!
Kanchan Ray

Unknown said...

Whenever i try to access my storage device it gives a 404 error with micro_httpd in the bottom. how should i rectify this.

Akhil said...

I have connected my 1 tb external hdd to the modem. All my files from that appear in the public and u_disk folders. Is there a way to remove them from the public folder?

Unknown said...

I have connected DSL2750 Usb port to my 1TB harddrive, from windows i can access it but need help to access it from ubuntu PC. thx

Unknown said...

how to access from Ubuntu? how to mount the drive connected to USB port of 2750U? pls help

Unknown said...


Unknown said...

Thank you soo much...

Victer said...

Hi Edward

Do you know if it's possible to access the root or the USB drive?
Would like to see all my existing files on the drive :-/

Thanks
Victer

Edward Hew said...

@Victer

Update the firmware to SE_1.01 (originally its 1.0). It makes my whole post above obsolete, you access the root of the device by default.

First update the firmware, you'll have to redo all settings including your internet ISP settings, backups from 1.0 won't work on it. Once that's done, check the Router UI for your device name at Advanced > Storage Service > Storage Device Info, for example when I plug in my usb device it is listed as "usb1_1"

Lastly, access it from any Windows window with that name, this is my address for example:
"\\192.168.1.1\usb1_1"

Login username is admin and password admin, I don't see a way to change that at the moment.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much !

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much !

Unknown said...

Hi
I connected the HDD, but it does not see the drive - so there is no allocation. I am running Windows Xp, and I bought a WD 3TB hard drive. I could do this with a flash drive before, but it is not picking up the HDD. Any views on this?
Thanks for the service. D-Link Support do not seem to know how to help me.

Harshdeep G Mehta said...

Hi There,

smdfs, mentioned by you seems not to be maintained any more, is there any other alternative for accessing storage in Linux?

Appreciate your help, Thanks,

Harshdeep Mehta

Edward Hew said...

@Tyrone Ford

Sorry, I was hoping maybe others might answer that actually, but I just don't have enough traffic here at all for that to happen. Personally I do not know the reason, it might be 3TB is too large to be recognized by the router, that is an uneducated desperate guess, I don't own a 3TB drive to test, biggest I tried was a 1TB. It should be able to read Windows file systems generally. That port is very slow, for backing up movies or digital download games, it'll take a long time.

@Harshdeep G Mehta

I'm sorry, I don't use Linux, so I don't know how to do it on that platform.

Unknown said...

Thanks Edward! A pity....

Ashiq Al-Moosani said...

Thank you. I found this helpful.

Aayushgx said...

i found something interesting for mac users

if you change the download directory of your p2p software like uTorrent to the usb on your dlink router, its able to write it!
this way you can connect a big storage disk to your router, download torrents on it through your system, and access those files on your network or on your smart tv!

Karthik CS said...

excellent Thread, I Got To Know That Access Speed Is Slow. THanks Guys

Side_Winder said...

Has anyone tried accessing the storage using an iPad ?? works fine in Windoze. Thanks

Munro said...

I've been trying all the above mentioned!! and it just doesn't work for me!!

My modem ip is 10.0.0.2, and using the \\10.0.0.2\username\diskname method gets me as far to ask for authentication.

When i insert the created username and password it fails. I have retried this many times now and its just not working.

When prompted for the USername and Password, do i have to indicate the domain of m router? i.e.
Username: 10.0.0.2\Username

or do i leave it as local computer?

Any help will be appreciated.

Unknown said...

Guys simply just type \\192.168.1.1 in windows and see magic

Unknown said...

i followed all your lead till Advanced, but i dont see storage device after that. Please Help Me.

Unknown said...

I followed all your lead till Advanced, But I Dont see the Storage device/ option at all. can u help me.

Tempered Radical said...

bought this modem 2 days back and was struggling to get the usb drive working and came across this post..

Couple of differences that I came across:
1. I am on firmware IN_1.08
2. I dont have a Storage Service menu at all; instead I have a SAMBA option, inside which there is a Enable USB checkbox.
3. The username is hardcoded (greyed out, cant be changed) to root
4. I changed the password to blahblah and hit apply.. Note that this is different from the admin-admin access for the router itself

now, when you key in \\192.168.1.1 and are asked for the login details, i provided the below:
username: \root
password: blahblah

and it worked like a charm, showing me usb1_1, and click on it, and voila! you have access to your usb drive..

hope that helps the newer buyers who have SAMBA instead of "storage Service"

Dakshesh said...

Dear All,
I bought the Routers this week... its superb. I just want to know if I can use USB Storage with DLNA compatible devices. also tell me the Max Storage size that can be used.(currently attached 500gb HDD).
I am too on. V.1.08.
can any body guide me regarding FTP/Virtual server etc.
thanks

Unknown said...

Hi,

I am not able to access the USB drive in Dlink DSL-2750 .

\\192.168.1.1\u_disk\usb1_1\

While trying to access its giving me a pop-up window to enter username and password.

I tried entering default user namr password: admin

Please guide me how do I access the USB drive without entering any User name or password

I am totally zapped which user name or password to enter.

I havent setup any a/c on admin panel.

I really get to work this as I am tired of connecting USB drive or Hard-drive to my laptop.

Please respond to me!

It will be great if you could share the email id with me so that I can share the screenshot.

Many thanks in advance.

Cheers!

THE MECHANE said...

hey, i have a new dsl 2750u. the firmware on it is 1.08. there is no option of storage service option under the advanced tab. i could not do anything. please help me.

THE MECHANE said...

hey, i have a new dsl 2750u. the firmware on it is 1.08. there is no option of storage service option under the advanced tab. i could not do anything. please help me.

Edward Hew said...

@THE MECHANE

You might have a different generation of DSL-2750U than mine, the latest product looks different, if you cannot find the USB storage feature, it may exist in your version of the product. Furthermore, its a slow port, with slow IO, even direct USB2 is much faster.

Anonymous said...

Can i use this USB function to dowload files even when my PC is switch off??? You know when downloading huge filea PC needs to be switched on...is there a way i can download without turning on my PC...??? If yes, How to do it?

Anonymous said...

MY firmware version is IN_1.08. What to do with this???

ben0teach said...

Thanks man... I have been trying for ages to get this to work on my Mac ..

Dr.S.Bhoopesh said...

I have Dlink 2750u. Like to know how can I enable dlna streaming.
On my previous DSL modem+router! I used to stream YouTube videos to smart tv. Now after this dlink modem.. I cannot find the stream button.

simmash said...

1. I am on firmware IN_1.08
2. I do not see Storage Service menu at all;
3. Go to SAMBA option, inside which there is a Enable USB checkbox.
3. The username is hardcoded to root
4. Changed the password

go to explorer and map network drive type \\192.168.1.1\usb1_1 and give login as root and password....
it will connect....

impossible is nothing said...

thanks i was able to access my en drive in the internet explorer however i am not able to use it as my any other external drive i cannot drag and drop items between the explorer and my laptop

Unknown said...

thanks the map network drive worked :)

Tanuj Lakhina said...

Hi. I have been trying for the past day in trying to make it work but it just wouldn't work. Would really appreciate your help. Each time I try to connect to 192.168.1.1, I get an error. And it works fine when accessing from the browser.
Details:
Firmware: 1.02
OS: Yosemite
I don't see option of Storage device etc which have been posted as solutions in this regard.
Screenshot of the Samba page: http://i.imgur.com/edkc6WI.png

Thanks.

Naturofix said...

Is it possible to access the storage from outside of the local network.
How do you find the IP address for the router when connecting from outside the local network

Thanks
Shaun

Unknown said...

hey the writing speed is really bad even though i have a usb 3.o for my hard disk it goes at just 1 mbps. can it do better than this cause normally i get more than 30 mbps on my computer port.!!

Unknown said...

I cannot see the 'storage services' tab

Unknown said...

I have dsl 2750U and firmware version is IN_1.09
Gude me i have 2 tb hdd of WD
Router works on pen of 16 gb but hdd doesnt.
The settings show SAMBA and already enable all storage service.

Unknown said...

even if this router is so old, your post just made my day. I've been trying to map the USB drive for ages, never got it to work. On WIN10 mapping to \\x.x.x.x\public after turning on the Storage Device sharing in the router setup did the job!!!
I'm on firmware IN_1.10 and I don't have the SAMBA server feature but apparently that's not needed.
Thanks a lot folks!

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