Best way to connect 3TB Seagate drive on my LAN?

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I recently bought a 3TB Seagate Backup drive on sale. It is the desktop version, which requires AC power, and runs at 7200 RPM. It is noticeably faster on my older mid 2010 Mac Mini, even with a USB 2 connection.

I'm currently using it as a network drive connected to my Mini. The USB 2 port on the Mini is a bottleneck I'd like to eliminate.

I also have a NETGEAR WNDR3700V3 router with a USB 2 port. I tried the drive on the router and found it way too slow to function as a network drive. For example, streaming video to my iPad is intolerably slow, and created a lot of errors. Switching the drive back to my Mini did the trick.

My router supports gigabit ethernet which, is the connection to the Mini. I believe the gigabit ethernet connection is faster than USB 2. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I'd like to find a way to connect the drive to the router or another access point with a USB 3 connection. My high end MBP has a USB 3 port, and I've experienced the difference first hand. Do I need a different wireless router with a USB 3 port?

Bottom line: I want a setup where the bottleneck is gigabit ethernet and not a USB 2 port. I realize it will still be slower than a direct USB 3 connection.

Any ideas?
 
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you could try a usb to ethernet adapter. That way you can link into the ethernet port and access the address.
 
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I recently bought a 3TB Seagate Backup drive on sale. It is the desktop version, which requires AC power, and runs at 7200 RPM. It is noticeably faster on my older mid 2010 Mac Mini, even with a USB 2 connection.

I'm currently using it as a network drive connected to my Mini. The USB 2 port on the Mini is a bottleneck I'd like to eliminate.

[...]

Any ideas?

I also have a Seagate backup drive connected to my Mini Server. I have it connected to the Mini's Thunderbolt port using this Seagate : Thunderbolt Base It's very fast as a NAS.
 
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skallal
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you could try a usb to ethernet adapter. That way you can link into the ethernet port and access the address.

I'm not clear about this. All of my USB ports on the Mini are USB 2. I'm already connecting the external drive to the Mini with USB 2.

Is there an adapter that will connect the drive to a gigabit ethernet port in the router without the Mini directly involved? And it would need to be a USB 3 to ethernet adapter.

Do I understand you correctly?
 
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skallal
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I also have a Seagate backup drive connected to my Mini Server. I have it connected to the Mini's Thunderbolt port using this Seagate : Thunderbolt Base It's very fast as a NAS.

My Mini is a mid 2010 and does NOT have Thunderbolt IRC. I believe the MiniPort is only for an external display.

My drive is the STCA3000101, which is the Seagate desktop version. I've considered the FW 800 adapter, but the model for the desktop drive doesn't seem to be available any more. The adapter for the portable drive is scare. I don't know if FW 800 is enough of a change over USB 2 to justify the effort.

Perhaps I should look into a newer Mini?
 

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