Tronsmart T428 as NAS

[turtlemask]

Hi,

I'm trying to make a small NAS from my T428 with the lan adapter and a usb hdd.

I'm running webdav server (link) and es file explorer (link) for the ftp part and the speeds are pretty fast around 3MB/s, for the windows/linux computers. For mac/android access I use droid nas (link).

I'm wondering if somebody have a different setup or some other suggestions to make the T428 act as a NAS and also as a mp3/radio player with an external usb sound card and speakers.

This is a nice article about something similar. (link)

Thank you

[fonix232]

I wouldn't say that 3MB/s is a good speed, especially as USB2.0 is around 300Mbit/s, and the network adapter is 100Mbit/s (meaning, your minimum throughput speed should be more like around 10MB/s).

Also I do not see the point of using this device as NAS. A NAS, by definition, is a device that can be accessed at high bandwidth, at any time, and stores a large amount of data. Now, if you can buy a 2TB+ hard drive, I'm pretty sure you could grab one of those cheap NAS enclosures on the market (Synology, QNAP, D-Link, Asus, etc.), instead of using these sticks. No offense, it is a great little project, but you'll never get good performance out of it.

[clarkss12]

Synology NAS

I have a Synology NAS and I love it. However, it does not come close to the power of my T428. I have been wondering the same thing about converting my T428 into a NAS. My NAS is great for accessing my multimedia files, but it is not powerful enough to run Plex or some other streaming programs aka XBMC.

[turtlemask]

I also had a Synology Nas and that's why I wanted something that can be almost the same.
For me this will be a network device that will always be ready to play music, stream/watch Netflix, Youtube and to have access at my data. It's not about the transfer speed it's about being available 24/7 and being low on power. These are my needs so maybe the NAS is not the perfect word to describe it it's more like a media player with storage.
It will be nice to behave as Qnap TS-469L (link)
Also to have some features from Synology ... (link)

[fonix232]

I have a Synology NAS and I love it. However, it does not come close to the power of my T428. I have been wondering the same thing about converting my T428 into a NAS. My NAS is great for accessing my multimedia files, but it is not powerful enough to run Plex or some other streaming programs aka XBMC.

Actually, you're wrong. Synology, while not having that much power, ON PAPER, is a lot better for NAS-related tasks. Why?
- No USB2 bottleneck on networking and hard drives
- Proper hard drive controller, not a cheap external one (this shows in better hard drive management, and higher speeds)
- Proper network connection
- No GPU, less power usage

It's like saying the iPhone 5 does not come close to the Galaxy S4. On paper it might not, but it was built together with the software, and thus perfected.

I also had a Synology Nas and that's why I wanted something that can be almost the same.
For me this will be a network device that will always be ready to play music, stream/watch Netflix, Youtube and to have access at my data. It's not about the transfer speed it's about being available 24/7 and being low on power. These are my needs so maybe the NAS is not the perfect word to describe it it's more like a media player with storage.
It will be nice to behave as Qnap TS-469L (link)
Also to have some features from Synology ... (link)

Good luck with making this stick behave like an actual NAS. There's a reason they do not use the commercial ARM SoC's, but rather a simple ARM CPU and build around it.
For features, there's almost no software on Linux that is free and open, that can replicate all the functions of Synology or QNAP.

[turtlemask]

Good luck with making this stick behave like an actual NAS. ...

I don't mind if I cannot have all the features, but at least I can have some that I need.
On the positive side I tried some other programs and now the webdav (link) and ftp server (link) starts automatically.
My next step will be to add an usb sound card and speakers and to be able to play mp3/radio like a stand alone player.
As a remote now I use the RKRemote from my phone and for remote view the droid VNC server.
I also found that the stick doesn't get that hot if you use the lan adapter instead of the wifi, so maybe it will be a good thing for those who have problems with overheating.

[Spotopolis]

I have a Synology NAS and I love it. However, it does not come close to the power of my T428. I have been wondering the same thing about converting my T428 into a NAS. My NAS is great for accessing my multimedia files, but it is not powerful enough to run Plex or some other streaming programs aka XBMC.

Try looking into unRAID OS and then run the Plex plugin with it. Im running that at home now rather than just a standard Seagate BlackArmor 220 and its fantastic!

I have a dropbox link to my setup if you want all the plugins I use and whatnot. I think they may be on a newer release than this one so onece you have it up and running you can just drag and drop the new release over the old files and then reboot the server to update it.

[EzerchE]

I am using Sambadroid full version. Tried almost every solution but this is the best software solution that i have find

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=berserker.android.apps.sambadroid&hl=tr

[NixZero]

Hi,

I'm trying to make a small NAS from my T428 with the lan adapter and a usb hdd.

Maybe you would be better served with something from the MeLE lineup like MeLE A2000G, which have ethernet and sata built in without usb bottlenecks.
their Allwinner A31 is less powerfull than rk3188 but not by a lot (gpu's actually faster).
another option would be the Cubietruck developer board, its allwinner a20 is a lot less powerfull than rk3188 (still a magnitude or two more powerfull than Marvell Kirkwood found in most synology nas) yet it has native gigabit ethernet and sata - its still in developement so its availability is unknown.

[eschmid]

Hi, the best solution that i found to use an android device as a nas is installing Linux Deploy https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ik.linuxdeploy . With that you can install ubuntu and it runs within android. Then you can do everything your want with your android stick, you can install Samba, a torrent client, apache, libre office..... is very powerfull.

[NixZero]

Hi, the best solution that i found to use an android device as a nas is installing Linux Deploy https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ik.linuxdeploy . With that you can install ubuntu and it runs within android. Then you can do everything your want with your android stick, you can install Samba, a torrent client, apache, libre office..... is very powerfull.

being chrooted is also pretty slow and waste a lot of memory tho
if you need linux just wait for some news about native linux ports developements.

[sharivari]

Linux on a Tronsmart T428

being chrooted is also pretty slow and waste a lot of memory tho
if you need linux just wait for some news about native linux ports developements.

I setup my Tronsmart with Ubuntu (was disappointed that no 5.1 via HDMI is supported, so I converted it to a small but powerful media file server, I wouldn't call it a NAS though):

Here's how to do it:

https://plus.google.com/+IanMORRISON/posts/765xvHJGWm6

[NixZero]

I setup my Tronsmart with Ubuntu (was disappointed that no 5.1 via HDMI is supported, so I converted it to a small but powerful media file server, I wouldn't call it a NAS though):

Here's how to do it:
https://plus.google.com/+IanMORRISON/posts/765xvHJGWm6

yeah, the latest build are really nice, tho I'm still waiting for video hw accel.