Build your own DIY Frankenstein NAS with a wireless mesh router.
Build your own DIY Frankenstein NAS with a wireless mesh router.
I'm curious if any experienced members on the forum could advise on this. It would be helpful to know if it's feasible to build something similar—like a NAS or a router (preferably a mesh model such as Netgear Orbi)—to avoid needing Ethernet cables for access points. This setup should be suitable for a large home network.
Many routers allow you to attach an HDD and use it as a NAS. I don’t think there’s a need to combine a large NAS with a router, especially for a mesh network. Few homes have a NAS, and using Wi-Fi would likely slow things down.
There are countless methods to achieve this. You might simply deploy OpenWRT as-is and add Samba or other services, or use FreeNAS or a similar setup with a router in a VM, or install Ubuntu with custom iptables rules for routing and DNS. Since there are so many options, providing specific advice without more details about your requirements is challenging.
It's feasible to operate that router using OpenWrt or DD-WRT. As long as it has USB ports, you can connect a USB HDD for immediate NAS access (I believe most routers with USB support this feature out of the box). Another approach is to set up a PC as both a NAS and a router, installing OpenWrt Linux and enabling DLNA or Samba for file sharing.