External USB Storage

intruder

Is there a way to add an external hard drive to pfSense? I have a few external USB hard drives I have 2 USB ports in my QOTOM, and I would like to add a hard drive or two so any computer on the network can access the saved files. Can this be done? sorry if this is a dumb question, also sorry if my grammar is not up to par.

JKnott

@intruder

I haven't tried it, but here is some info:
17.4. USB Storage Devices

It appears to be a bit more involved than with Linux.

intruder

i will take a look at that. i did not see it in the docs when i was looking through them. looks like i have to do all of that at my router or ssh into it. i was hoping to do it with the web interface lol.

JKnott

@intruder

PfSense is built on a stripped down version of FreeBSD. This means many things are more difficult or even not possible, when compared to normal BSD systems. I use OpenSUSE Linux and when I plug in a USB drive, the device notifier opens and asks what I want to do with it.

akuma1x

Since pfsense is a firewall product and not a file server, I don't think you're going to find any kind of solution for this. You really don't want the device that's protecting your internal network(s) to be a file server anyway. If your firewall were to get compromised somehow, your attached storage devices would most likely be targeted as well.

How about getting a dedicated NAS box, personal cloud storage device, or network storage adapter? These devices would sit inside your network, protected from outside access, behind the firewall. Do you have a PC on your network that's always on? That could act as a network disk server.

https://www.amazon.com/TerraMaster-Transcoding-Personal-Storage-Diskless/dp/B07PWDTBJ6

https://www.amazon.com/KwiltGo-Personal-Cloud-Storage-Device/dp/B07SJHSSMP

https://www.amazon.com/Synology-DS120j-DiskStation-Diskless-512MB/dp/B07ZKSLVT5

https://www.amazon.com/Usr-Ushare-Mini-NAS-Adapter/dp/B0050JRXVU/

You could even get one of the less expensive wifi routers that has USB ports on them, set it to serve no network functions, but to instead host your hard drives on the network.

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-AC1750-Smart-WiFi-Router/dp/B079JD7F7G/

Hope that helps.

Jeff