Review: Create a local file server with Kanex's meDrive
Customization: meDrive settings are accessible through a browser.
Kanex's meDrive is supposed to make it easy to set up a file server on your home network. It’s a small device that you plug into your network router after you’ve attached your own USB storage device. But a few little quirks made using meDrive more trouble than it should’ve been.
Before you set up meDrive, you have to provide your own USB storage device. You can use something as small as a USB thumb drive, but you’ll probably want to use a more substantial device, like a hard drive. I used a portable hard drive for most of this review, though I did successfully use a 1GB thumb drive.
Kanex says that meDrive supports “all the popular formats such as FAT32, MSDOS& [sic] NTFS” and when I used FAT32- and NTFS-formatted drives, I had no problem accessing the connected drive. When I used an ExFat or Mac formatted drive, however, I always got a login failure after entering my user name and password.
You might have to provide a power adapter for meDrive, which requires 300 milliamps of power. If your router has a USB port, Kanex says you can use it to power meDrive using the included mini USB cable. But if your router doesn’t have a USB port (like mine), or you want to connect meDrive to an Airport Express (which doesn’t provide enough power), then you’ll have to dish out some extra cash and get a power adapter. You can use an iPad or iPhone power adapter, or any power plug that lets you connect a USB cable. You also might have to buy a USB extension cable if the bundled USB cable isn’t long enough.
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