DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

There is NO way to directly attach (ie without using a network) the DNS-323 to a computer - you can however connect the network directly between the DNS-323 and your computer without a hub, router or switch in between - provided that you set appropriate static addresses. 

For the initial setup with a direct ethernet connection (and if also if you do not set a static ip address - which you would be well advised to do), the DNS-323 will default to 192.168.0.32, however, you will be unable to access it if you do not also set a similar (ie within the same network range) static ip address on your computer.

For what it's worth - for anything other than the most miniscule amounts of data, you'll probably find NAS access over a wireless LAN (even the latest, greatest wireless-n) unacceptably slow and possibly quite unreliable.

Hi! I have the same problem with the DNS-343 and Windows 7 Ultimate....
I read somewhere on internet that since the NAS is like a PC, to connect directly without a router to a PC, a cross-over cable should be used.
I will try this and see what happens. I have problems using the 192.168.0.x IP adresses for this sub-network, because my WiFi network uses it on same PC... But maybe if the NAS connects again with the 192.168.0.32, I could try to temporarily delete the wireless network, so that the direct PC-NAS network could use it, then assign new IP addresses to to NAS-PC and reuse the original Wifi network setup.
I also read on the internet (wikipedia this time) that such a crossover relation should have each device pointing to each other in terms od Default Gateway address....
I do not know, I am not an expert, but I will try and let you know if it works...

First - I suggest you forget about "directly connecting" your PC and the DNS-323 to one another - there is no performance gain to be achieved - just plug them both into your router and configure as per the manual.

To deal with the specific issues.

1) A cross-over cable is not required - it will work, but is not required.
2) if you are going to connect the DNS-323 directly to your computer you will need to set suitable static ip addresses on one or both devices - assuming the DNS-323 does not have a static ip address configured, in the absence of a DHCP server it will default to 192.168.0.32 and you can use any other address in the 192.168.0.x network range on the computer.

Do not attempt to configure two network cards in one computer with ip addresses in the same network - the results will probably not be what you expect - it's not that it can't be done, but unless you know what you're doing and why you're doing it, then don't.

3 - default gateway addresses are not required unless you are attempting to access another network.

If you can see the NAS using the ESU but not map a drive, or see the NAS when browsing, you most likely have an issue with the ip addressing - take the easy way out - plug the NAS & the PC into your router.

I have two comments ...

First - if you want a drive directly attached to your computer - buy a USB or firewire external drive - what you have is a NAS - Network Attached Storage - it's meant to be used on a network.

Second - if your network is too slow, then fix the network - buy a cheap gigabit switch - how about $29 for a D-Link DGS2205 or $33 for a Netgear GS-605 - I charge more than that for the time it'll take to talk you through getting a direct connection running.

Last edited by fordem (2009-10-28 00:53:42)

Good to hear you got it working - however I'll just draw a couple of things to your attention....

First it took me less than 30 seconds on Google to find a dual bay SATA external drive enclosure with USB connectivity & RAID - not only is it cheaper than a DNS-323, but it is probably faster - and - since it supports a pair of SATA II drives, whatever capacity you can get into your 323, you can probably get into this box as well.

So - the only advantage of a NAS is shared access.

Second - I don't see how your comment on wireless & wireless-n relate to this - wired will always be faster than wireless, and it is YOU who has to make that decision.

On the solution - let's just say I have used my DNS-323 with every version of Windows since Windows 98SE and had no difficulties.