Can I do this with a NAS?

I have a computerized device that can put a PDF file on a USB flash drive or USB hard drive. The device is powered by a single board computer running Ubuntu Server. However, it is essentially a kiosk. I cannot access the operating system to configure it.

Can I hook in a NAS to the USB port so that the device puts the PDF file on the NAS? I would like to have that file be accessible to the network assuming that the NAS is connected to the network. I am trying to get rid of the sneaker net.

I apologize if this is a simple question. I have never owned a NAS.

Thanks.

If the NAS is based on USB devices, then you might have a shot. If it's based on hard drives, probably not. (And even if it's USB, if the NAS is expecting to talk CIFS/NFS over Ethernet, it still won't work.)

Check with the manufacturer of your NAS and your device.

They make USB drives that also serve as a wireless wifi server, so you can hit whatever is on the drive from a computer. Would that be a solution for you? Something like this is the first hit I saw.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Wirele...

LeapingGnome wrote:

They make USB drives that also serve as a wireless wifi server, so you can hit whatever is on the drive from a computer. Would that be a solution for you? Something like this is the first hit I saw.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Wirele...

I was looking at this solution. I may have to get one to try it.

I spent some time Googling the NAS solution and could not find a success story.

LeapingGnome wrote:

They make USB drives that also serve as a wireless wifi server, so you can hit whatever is on the drive from a computer. Would that be a solution for you? Something like this is the first hit I saw.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Wirele...

I am afraid that when this stick is plugged into a USB port, it's locked and ceases to work as a file server. My understanding of the limitation of this product is that it only works as a file server when it's turned on in a standalone mode.

I'm curious what the device in question does that a regular USB stick doesn't? Couldn't you just put a filesystem on it and copy the pdf regularly?

Oh,

The device prints a test record to a printer over Ethernet to any HP printer. Or the device "prints" a PDF file to a flash drive (It creates a PDF file and copies it onto the flash drive). The device is locked down Ubuntu Server running a custom application like a kiosk.

Some customers would like the device to copy the PDF onto a shared network drive, but it will take a while to implement that feature (buried on the feature road map). I was looking for a hardware solution work around.

Ideally, a wifi-enabled drive would allow the following. When connected by USB, only the USB connected computer could write to the drive, and the wifi connected devices would have read only access.

I am surprised that this is not currently possible. The few devices that I have looked at allow only one form of access at a time.

Update:

I think that I may be able to do this with a wifi-enabled SD card. Going to research it.

Well, good luck with it...