cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

External hard drive

PennG0VQY
Tuning in

I've bitten the bullet and will be changing from BT broadband over to virgin media on June 15.They laid down fibreoptic right outside my house a couple of years ago so I'm hoping I will have a decent speed compared to BT broadband.  My view, according to a speed check.  I'm guessing about 40 MB download and 7 MB upload with BT.  But I've opted for M200 fibreoptic with version media, so I am hoping for really good performance.  If I don't get an acceptable download speed or I start experiencing problems with my connection thaan it is going to really annoy me because I've been with BT Internet since the early 2000's and I can honestly say I can't remember any noticeable downtime in the collection.  So the reliability has been 99.9 & in 20 years.  If version media can't offer the same reliable service then that is going to irritate me.

Anyway, to get to the point of why I am here.  I'm looking for a suitable external hard drive that I can plug into my virgin media smart hub.  I have a couple of rooms which are used to computer from.  Both the PC and laptop are connected to the smart hub via cable.  I want to be able to store all my files in one place on my network so I can access them at any time.  I don't like one drive because you are limited to such a small amount of space.

3 ACCEPTED SOLUTIONS

Accepted Solutions

Graham_A
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Welcome to the VM Community Forum.

There are others here who will no doubt reply with a detailed answer.

My initial response is that VM Hub does not have an active USB port so if it is possible to connect an external hard drive it would have to be via an ethernet port.

________________________________
Graham

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media, I'm a VM customer. There are no guarantees that my advice will work. Please read the FAQs
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

See where this Helpful Answer was posted

couple of things..

1. i'd strongly recommend that you overlap your BT connection with your VM connection until it's installed and you're happy with it. it has been known for VMs installation dates to slip, and if you're not happy with it when it is installed it'll be as simple as issuing your notice within the 14 day cooling-off period and retain the BT connection.  That's not to say it's all bad - I've been a VM customer for many years and have enjoyed a broadly reliable connection (200mb like the one you've signed up for) and get the advertised speeds 99.9% of the time.. 

2. the VM-supplied hub is an inferior piece of equipment.  it's a required part of the solution, but it's (imho) best to use it exclusively as a modem and put your own, decent, 3rd party router/mesh system in place.. if you're going to do this then you can research devices that support a USB attached disk and connect it to that.. 

See where this Helpful Answer was posted


@PennG0VQY wrote:
Yes, I never considered the fact that things may get delayed and I will end up with no Internet, because BT will stop working and I won't have VM installed. God!! Have I done the right thing? BT has worked flawlessly for nearly 20 years. Should I have just stayed with what I know? 🙂 🙂

No, I'll give the VM a chance. After all, I've got the fibre-optic cable 12 inches from the top of my drive on the pavement and the little triangular connector is next to my gatepost. So, how do I put this "overlap" into practice? I assume I should contact BT?

I'm very pleased that the VM community is so willing to help new customers. At least I know I've got somewhere to come and ask questions if I've got any issues. And believe me I will be asking questions because I've got various things running on my network that will need setting up again. Bird box cameras, software defined radio receivers etc.


I'm very happy with the service i get from VM - this place is littered with complaints, but forums like this generally are because people don't come here when everything is working as it should 🙂

yeah - you may want to contact BT and just defer the termination by a month - there are quite a few posts around here where people have signed up for VM and cancelled their previous provider only for VM to run into installation problems on the day and have to postpone.. leaving the user without internet - it'll obviously cost you an additional month's rental on the BT circuit, but that's a small price to pay if you come to rely on it. 

See where this Helpful Answer was posted

9 REPLIES 9

Graham_A
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Welcome to the VM Community Forum.

There are others here who will no doubt reply with a detailed answer.

My initial response is that VM Hub does not have an active USB port so if it is possible to connect an external hard drive it would have to be via an ethernet port.

________________________________
Graham

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media, I'm a VM customer. There are no guarantees that my advice will work. Please read the FAQs
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks

Okay. I'll probably wait until the router is installed, so I know exactly what I need.

A storage solution via your Hub is done with a NAS drive or cloud storage or a combination of both, not an external hard drive

Can be pricey, or you could start with a Lower price solution 

couple of things..

1. i'd strongly recommend that you overlap your BT connection with your VM connection until it's installed and you're happy with it. it has been known for VMs installation dates to slip, and if you're not happy with it when it is installed it'll be as simple as issuing your notice within the 14 day cooling-off period and retain the BT connection.  That's not to say it's all bad - I've been a VM customer for many years and have enjoyed a broadly reliable connection (200mb like the one you've signed up for) and get the advertised speeds 99.9% of the time.. 

2. the VM-supplied hub is an inferior piece of equipment.  it's a required part of the solution, but it's (imho) best to use it exclusively as a modem and put your own, decent, 3rd party router/mesh system in place.. if you're going to do this then you can research devices that support a USB attached disk and connect it to that.. 

Graham_A
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

Not wishing to split hairs, however a NAS drive is actually a type of external hard drive, albeit a specific network storage device.

I have used a VM broadband connection for nearly 20 years and have only ever used their supplied routers without issue.

 

 

 

________________________________
Graham

I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media, I'm a VM customer. There are no guarantees that my advice will work. Please read the FAQs
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer or use Kudos to say thanks


@Graham_A wrote:

Not wishing to split hairs, however a NAS drive is actually a type of external hard drive, albeit a specific network storage device.

 


 Fair point - and OP wasn't specific in looking for a USB solution. was an assumption on my part, quite possibly an incorrect one too 😛


@Graham_A wrote:

I have used a VM broadband connection for nearly 20 years and have only ever used their supplied routers without issue.


I'm sure that the hub works for more people than it doesn't, but I can't say I share that experience - I gave up on using VM supplied kit for anything more than a modem a long time ago. every wifi environment is different and I've found the hub to be wanting in both of the properties I've been in over the last 10 years.


@Graham_A wrote:

Not wishing to split hairs, however a NAS drive is actually a type of external hard drive, albeit a specific network storage device.

I have used a VM broadband connection for nearly 20 years and have only ever used their supplied routers without issue.


Yes, well it's more correct to call it a device that uses an HDD/s or an SSD/s and/or the Cloud as storage.   

An NAS device is a storage device connected to a network via IP Home Hub   More expensive solution 

Yes, I never considered the fact that things may get delayed and I will end up with no Internet, because BT will stop working and I won't have VM installed. God!! Have I done the right thing? BT has worked flawlessly for nearly 20 years. Should I have just stayed with what I know? 🙂 🙂

No, I'll give the VM a chance. After all, I've got the fibre-optic cable 12 inches from the top of my drive on the pavement and the little triangular connector is next to my gatepost. So, how do I put this "overlap" into practice? I assume I should contact BT?

I'm very pleased that the VM community is so willing to help new customers. At least I know I've got somewhere to come and ask questions if I've got any issues. And believe me I will be asking questions because I've got various things running on my network that will need setting up again. Bird box cameras, software defined radio receivers etc.


@PennG0VQY wrote:
Yes, I never considered the fact that things may get delayed and I will end up with no Internet, because BT will stop working and I won't have VM installed. God!! Have I done the right thing? BT has worked flawlessly for nearly 20 years. Should I have just stayed with what I know? 🙂 🙂

No, I'll give the VM a chance. After all, I've got the fibre-optic cable 12 inches from the top of my drive on the pavement and the little triangular connector is next to my gatepost. So, how do I put this "overlap" into practice? I assume I should contact BT?

I'm very pleased that the VM community is so willing to help new customers. At least I know I've got somewhere to come and ask questions if I've got any issues. And believe me I will be asking questions because I've got various things running on my network that will need setting up again. Bird box cameras, software defined radio receivers etc.


I'm very happy with the service i get from VM - this place is littered with complaints, but forums like this generally are because people don't come here when everything is working as it should 🙂

yeah - you may want to contact BT and just defer the termination by a month - there are quite a few posts around here where people have signed up for VM and cancelled their previous provider only for VM to run into installation problems on the day and have to postpone.. leaving the user without internet - it'll obviously cost you an additional month's rental on the BT circuit, but that's a small price to pay if you come to rely on it.