AIMesh support for USB 3.0 hard drive on Mesh Node 1 - Is it possible?

[spkay31]

I have two RT AC-1900P routers setup in AIMesh with the main router in the middle of the house and the secondary mesh node 1 connected wirelessly up in my office on the far corner of the upstairs floor in my office. I really want the networked USB 3.0 hard drive on the network on the secondary router since that is where my main systems are located and they will have ethernet connections to the router and should have superior transfer speed to the physically connected USB 3.0 drive hanging off the router.
So far I can't figure out how to enable this in the ASUS admin GUI. Is it possible with AIMesh? Or does it only support USB attached hard drive on the primary router?
Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers,
-Scott

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have two RT AC-1900P routers setup in AIMesh with the main router in the middle of the house and the secondary mesh node 1 connected wirelessly up in my office on the far corner of the upstairs floor in my office. I really want the networked USB 3.0 hard drive on the network on the secondary router since that is where my main systems are located and they will have ethernet connections to the router and should have superior transfer speed to the physically connected USB 3.0 drive hanging off the router.
So far I can't figure out how to enable this in the ASUS admin GUI. Is it possible with AIMesh? Or does it only support USB attached hard drive on the primary router?
Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers,
-Scott

AiMesh 2.0 RC2-9 beta allows using remote node USB devices (I have not tried it). If you install the beta firmware, you will have to manually install the released firmware later.

More...

Beware router USB 3.0 mode EMI affecting 2.4 GHz WLANs/clients, especially at distance.

Since AC1900 does not support Smart Connect node band steering, you should set different SSIDs per band and use fixed, least congested, non-DFS channels.

OE

 

[Mr Tvardovsky]

The short answer: it is possible. I have an USB HDD on one of the nodes which I use for automated network backups of my home laptop. It works very reliably for me.

As OE mentioned above, this is fairly straightforward with AiMesh 2.0. In the GUI you go to AiMesh / click on the node of your choice / choose “management” option / choose “USB application” / then set everything up in the same way as you would do on your main router.

In case of AiMesh 1.0 it’s possible, too, but the procedure is a bit trickier as you have to override the lock of the node GUI. If you really need this, 2.0 is strongly recommended.

 

[spkay31]

Thanks to OE and Tvardo for the help! I really appreciate it.

Cheers,
-Scott

 

[spkay31]

AiMesh 2.0 RC2-9 beta allows using remote node USB devices (I have not tried it). If you install the beta firmware, you will have to manually install the released firmware later.

More...

Beware router USB 3.0 mode EMI affecting 2.4 GHz WLANs/clients, especially at distance.

Since AC1900 does not support Smart Connect node band steering, you should set different SSIDs per band and use fixed, least congested, non-DFS channels.

OE

Question about AiMesh 2.0 RC2-9 beta download. I don't see any specific download image for the RT-AC1900P so I imagine one of the other models uses identical hardware. Could tell me which binary image of the f/w I should download and install for the RT-AC1900P?

Cheers,
-Scott

 

[spkay31]

Question about AiMesh 2.0 RC2-9 beta download. I don't see any specific download image for the RT-AC1900P so I imagine one of the other models uses identical hardware. Could tell me which binary image of the f/w I should download and install for the RT-AC1900P?

Cheers,
-Scott

OK, after a little google search it looks like this is identical to the RT-AC68U router model number.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Question about AiMesh 2.0 RC2-9 beta download. I don't see any specific download image for the RT-AC1900P so I imagine one of the other models uses identical hardware. Could tell me which binary image of the f/w I should download and install for the RT-AC1900P?

Cheers,
-Scott

I believe the AC68U and AC1900P use the same firmware. The current released firmware for both models supports AiMesh 2.0 and has the same version and gross size.

I can't swear to it. You could review the beta thread and look for confirmation by another AC1900 user.

Your router, your call!

OE

 

[Mr Tvardovsky]

Check also this link: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-rt-ac68p-rt-ac1900-rt-ac1900p.35759/