EXTERNAL PORTS

USB Printer

Your LaCie NAS features a printer server. Follow the directions below to connect your printer to the network via the LaCie NAS:

How to Connect

1. In Dashboard > External ports, confirm that the box next to Activate the printer server is checked.
2. Power on the printer and connect it to a USB expansion port on the rear of your LaCie NAS.
3. Once connected, the printer will be listed and available throughout your network.

Please note that computer(s) on your network may require specific drivers to use the printer. See the user manual for your printer for details.

Compatibility and Notes

• For multi-function printers, only the print feature is supported. If your printer has a scan feature, for example, it will not work when connected to the LaCie NAS.
• Only PostScript printers are supported. If your printer does not display on Dashboard > External Ports, it is likely that the printer does not support PostScript printing. This is frequently the case with multi-function and photo printers. LaCie cannot guarantee that your printer supports the proper protocols to make it a networked printer.

The printer interface typically displays an "Activate the printer server" checkbox, a "Printer name" field, and status indicators. When a printer is not found, it may show "Printer cannot be found". When configured, it might list a specific printer model, such as "Deskjet-6980-series".

External Drives

Connecting External Drives

Connect an external hard drive to the LaCie NAS via either USB or eSATA. Once connected, an external hard drive acts as a share on your LaCie NAS. It will be listed at Dashboard > Shares and can be accessed using your operating system's file system (Explorer for Windows users, and Finder for Mac users). Please note that connected external hard drives are public shares on the network and their names cannot be changed.

Drive Formatting Requirements

Technical Note: External USB or eSATA hard disks must be formatted in one of the supported systems to be compatible with your LaCie NAS: MS-DOS (FAT32), NTFS, HFS+ (non-journaled only), EXT3, or XFS.

Connected Drives Overview

The "External drives" section displays connected drives. For each drive, it lists:

• External drives: Name of the drive (e.g., LaCie_4big, LaCie_Hard_Drive).
• Size: Total capacity (e.g., 4 TB, 2 TB).
• Used storage: Percentage of space used (e.g., 0%).
• Mounted on: The name under which the drive is mounted on the NAS.
• Bus: Connection type (e.g., eSATA, USB).
• An Eject button is provided for safe removal.

Disconnecting External Drives

To avoid damaging your external hard drive's file system, click the Eject button before disconnecting it from your LaCie NAS.

Port Comparison

The following table compares the available ports on different LaCie NAS models:

Multimedia Indexing

You can take an inventory of available multimedia files on your LaCie NAS and all connected external hard drives. See Reindex the Media Server for details.