Can I plug in an external USB3.0 harddisk, and then share this volume like it was an internal disk of the NAS? If not, why not? Of course, it couldn't be a member of a RAID configuration, but I plan to use JBOD anyway...
Or is it only meant for backups of the internal disks to fast external ones?
The primary purpose of the USB ports on any NAS is to provide a connection for an external USB drive for backup. However, you can access the contents of a connected drive via the network access. In Windows for example (I know you have Macs, but I don't speak Mac) when you open Windows Explorer or Computer, the NAS units are listed under the Network heading. Clicking on the NAS name will display the shares including usb_hdd_x (where x is a number assigned by the NAS). If you then click on it, you will be asked for your userid and password (admin and NAS password should work) after which you can access the drive contents.
Secondary uses are as a print server and to access a flash drive.
The primary purpose of the USB ports on any NAS is to provide a connection for an external USB drive for backup. However, you can access the contents of a connected drive via the network access. In Windows for example (I know you have Macs, but I don't speak Mac) when you open Windows Explorer or Computer, the NAS units are listed under the Network heading. Clicking on the NAS name will display the shares including usb_hdd_x (where x is a number assigned by the NAS). If you then click on it, you will be asked for your userid and password (admin and NAS password should work) after which you can access the drive contents.
That's what I wanted to hear. So I can add 2 high speed USB3.0 disks to the 4 built-in drives, and thus have the NV+V2 serve 6 volumes... Yeah!
Secondary uses are as a print server and to access a flash drive.
I already have 4 slow external USB2 drives - which I would connect to the remaining USB port of the NAS for backing up the internal drives.
You misunderstood what I said. The external drives WOULD NOT be added to the RAID volume. You said share - and they would be shared across the network, but as stand alone volumes, not part of the RAID volume. When I connected a USB drive to my NV+ as a test, I could access the USB drive (after entering a password which is not needed for the RAID volume) and see the files. That is what I meant by sharing. I do not consider the RAID volume as sharing drives, for they are configured as one large volume with multiple shares. Share in this context is the same a a first level directory/folder off the root.The external drive is shared as a drive by itself.
If you intend to share this external drive to multiple users, permissions could be a problem. I do not have users set up on my NAS unit, and had to enter the ADMIN sign on and password to gain network access. I don't know if you would want to do this in the case of multiple users.
Read my original post: "Of course, it couldn't be a member of a RAID configuration, but I plan to use JBOD anyway..." So I never intended to use the USB3.0 disks in a RAID.
The NAS will just be used in my home - giving the credentials to my girlfriend is no problem. Except for the WAF of course, needing to login to access her music would annoy her, so that should be on an internal drive. But perhaps I could use this USB3 drive as storage for adult movies 😉
