Harddisk connected to router

1st Official Post

    Hello all,

    My previous Pi (2b) had some problems with streaming movies from my hdd which is connected to my router. I thought it was to old and therefor I bought a new one (3B+). Fortunately the new one has also his problems. I'm still figuring out if it's the router, the HDD, the connection or whatever what causes the problem. But first of all I need to know if I made the right settings for using the HDD...

    Hopefully you can help me.

    On a fresh install (without changing anything) I just go to "vdeo's" ->files->add videos->browse->add netwerk location ->protocol "smb" -> servername "192.168.0.1" and the choose my shared folder, insert username and passwords.

    Is this the right way to setup the connection to the hdd?

    • Official Post
    Quote from bas191

    My previous Pi (2b) had some problems

    The term 'problems' is used very generic here. What sort of problems? Connections or lan speed?

    Connecting a harddisk to a router usually involves the SMBv1 protocol, because not many routers will be updated to the much more secure SMBv2 (or 3) protocol. SMBv1 is like a swiss cheese, too many holes to keep your data save.

    If it's just one harddisk. why not connect it directly to your RPi3B+ and forget about about network connections?

    Hello Klojum,

    thank you for your answer. I did not specify the problems of my previous Pi because I now want to focus on my new Pi. The problem was that not all the movies where played very well. Some did not even start at all, or stopped after a few minutes or the playspeed was going up and down (all the problems didn't occur at my laptop when viewing the same movies via the hdd connected to the router.

    The new Pi has simulair problems, so the rootcause was not the old Pi ;)

    I connect it to my router because I also use this for other files which need to be accessible from my i.e. my laptop.

    The SMBv1-protocol, do I need to install something or change some settings? Or is the way I set it up (as described in my first post) the right way?

    • Official Post

    Routers usually have simple SoC's ('cpu / chips'), so don't look for high server performance using a router.

    As said, SMBv1 is an unsecure file protocol, but it's possible that your router has no other option.

    You can try select SMBv1 in the LibreELEC Add-on as the minimum version. SMBv2 is default.

    How is the Pi connected to the router?

    If using wireless then that is the most likely cause.

    If wired then check the wiring is making good connection.

    Check data speed between router and Pi whether wired or wireless.

    The Pi is connected wired to the Pi. The connection is good, streaming content is without any problem. I think the media on my HDD is corrupt and causes the problem because it's not occurring at all my movies.

    What kind of HDD do you have connected?is it taking power from the router or it's plugged separately?Probably the hdd is not getting enough power to spin properly from your router...I would start troubleshooting by copying the problematic movies to a usb stick and connect that to your router and try to play again..

    The movies can be played by my laptop without any problems via the router. So I think the moviefiles are a little bit corrupte which can't be handled correctly by the Pi. I'll try the test with the USB-stick when I have the simulair problem again (I deleted the movies which gave me the problems)