amtm amtm step-by-step install guide - L&LD

[GK59]

No, the Elite drives I've used for myself and for many customers have been working flawlessly and noticeably faster and more robust than the older RAGE series.

I don't think that an HDD is a promising idea for amtm + Entware + swap file + scripts. Let us know how it works (I'm guessing not particularly good).

hey good am, hmm ok but why wouldn't it? too slow? it's just that it was available, what about drives like Samsung T7, T5 etc?

 

[L&LD]

Yeeeeess, Iiiii thhhhhhiiiiiiiiinkkkkkkkk iiiitt woooooooouldddd beeeeeee tooo sssssssssllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwwww.

 

[GK59]

Yeeeeess, Iiiii thhhhhhiiiiiiiiinkkkkkkkk iiiitt woooooooouldddd beeeeeee tooo sssssssssllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwwww.

lmao

seriously I have no issue with budget just want something that won't s**t on me a month later...

would an external SSD be overkill?

 

[GK59]

doing some research, wouldn't the read/write rate when swapping shorten the life of the drive?

If possible, could you run CrystalDiskMark on any of your Patriot drives, lmk. you were right, my sloass Sandisk Ultra is faster than the WD

 

[JaimeZX]

I have a 120GB Kingston I've been using for over a year. Decided to stop messing around after my second thumbdrive crapped-out.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6JQS8C/?tag=snbforums-20 $20

You'll also need a little tray to stick it in. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/?tag=snbforums-20

Underallocate it by a bit so it can redistribute bad blocks as they accumulate.

16GB for scripts & swap
100GB for misc SMB sharing
4GB under-provisioned

Been working great!

 

[GK59]

I have a 120GB Kingston I've been using for over a year. Decided to stop messing around after my second thumbdrive crapped-out.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6JQS8C/?tag=snbforums-20 $20

You'll also need a little tray to stick it in. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/?tag=snbforums-20

Underallocate it by a bit so it can redistribute bad blocks as they accumulate.

16GB for scripts & swap
100GB for misc SMB sharing
4GB under-provisioned

Been working great!

Thank you @JaimeZX, I'm a fan of Kingston gear and the tray is a good option, oh and btw regarding that thread in your sig, awesome job!

 

[JaimeZX]

Thanks! I've updated it twice to keep up with the changes in the major scripts, but I think it has fallen behind again.
Edit: Made another update.

 

[GK59]

Thanks! I've updated it twice to keep up with the changes in the major scripts, but I think it has fallen behind again.
Edit: Made another update.

nice, I'll take a look. Also, It just occurred to me that since I'm in the process of changing out my NVMe SSD drives in my Scar 17 laptop, where I'll then have 2x Intel 660P drives available, not speedy ala 970 EVO Plus's in my PC but nevertheless decent drives and faster than any flash drive. I could use one of them in an enclosure like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNFH1PX/?tag=snbforums-20

or this one, though pricier:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K51HDYZ/?tag=snbforums-20

these are the 2 drives I have:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBGHH39/?tag=snbforums-20

Edit: ended up getting the Sabrent:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K4TZQ7D/?tag=snbforums-20

 

[gattaca]

^^ We've talked about using external USB->SATA SSD in the most excellent ugreen cases in prior threads.

This does several things: it delivers a good SATA interface on a reliable chipset. Don't just buy any old USB->SATA unit. It takes the heat of the thumb away from the router and more importantly, the flash NAND in "thumb drives" is some of the lowest quality NAND being fabricated. It will fail far sooner than anything in any SSD from the last few years. (I'm not a fan of the quad packing units) USB stick NAND is not designed for repeatedly high write activity. It will also get very hot due to the limited surface areas and heat is the #1 way to kill electronics.

Search around - there are a couple threads where we've talked about this one. I ended up taking my 80GB Intel SSD from 4-5 years ago, putting it a ugreen case and have not had any trouble in 4+ years now. Several other posters echoed the same. But if you don't have an old unused good SATA SSD sitting in your toy box, then maybe the most current and higher end USB keys will suffice. Plenty of posters are using them too. I defer to their guidance on this point! YMMV. Stay safe, stay alive!

Edited 01 Jan 2021 - I do not have experience, nor have I done any "indepth" research into the newer "NVMe USB cases". I don't have any NVMe in my junk pile yet.... Let's open a thread when we have some good info on reliability of the cases. NVMe's can get cooking hot if you push'm so cooling is a key factor. I see UGREEN has a couple of NVMe cases now with ++ reviews. UGREEN talks about the cooling element (all AL+ the ASM2362 chipset) so I'd sure start there if I needed to buy one.

 

[Swinson]

@L&LD It may be help to include a basic introduction into bash/sh. I have had experience programming in C, python, etc but I’m very new to programs in sh so I’m constantly looking up syntax and trying to figure out best practices. I know there are lots of resources on the internet for this but there is a lot of info and a “getting started w/ sh on Merlin cheat sheet” would definitely help those of us just getting our feet wet.

 

[L&LD]

@Swinson, I'll keep that in mind.

2021 deserves to have new/updated guides! I hope with everyone's help, I'll be able to produce something that will be useful for many as they discover the depth and the breadth of the Asus/RMerlin combination in the new year.

 

[Clark Griswald]

@L&LD
An update would be great. An addition to amtm and a new button in the RMerlin gui. Perhaps no reading & just a simple reconfigure/reboot "The Right Way" button, that knows exactly what each user wants
Thank You for your easy to point to user guide!

@gattaca
I followed your recommendation for the Ugreen Case, and it has been great. I plugged a 120GB ssd into the case, and all has worked well (since mid-2019).

 

[GK59]

Ok, finally received my Sabrent NVMe enclosure, Amazon deliveries have been borked lately but anyhow running great with my EVO 960 500G, prepped, formatted (ext4 w/Journaling etc.), SWAP created so I've gotten to this point (below) successfully but not sure how to proceed with the disk check, Installing Entware etc. :

Enter option  dc
_____________________________________________

Disk check options

1. Remove Disk check script
2. Add disk check exclusion

Enter selection [1-2 e=Exit]

input is not an option

Enter selection [1-2 e=Exit]

 

[L&LD]

You've already added the 'dc' option.

 

[Swinson]

Ok, finally received my Sabrent NVMe enclosure, Amazon deliveries have been borked lately but anyhow running great with my EVO 960 500G, prepped, formatted (ext4 w/Journaling etc.), SWAP created so I've gotten to this point (below) successfully but not sure how to proceed with the disk check, Installing Entware etc. :

Enter option  dc
_____________________________________________

Disk check options

1. Remove Disk check script
2. Add disk check exclusion

Enter selection [1-2 e=Exit]

input is not an option

Enter selection [1-2 e=Exit]

It is added to your drive. It will scan at boot. You can press e to exit. Or press 2 if you want to bypass scanning of a drive if scanning takes too long.
At this point you can type “amtm” in your terminal and once it opens you can press “i” to see the scripts it can install. If you want to use diversion (option 1 in amtm) that will install entware and configure it when diversion installs.

 

[GK59]

@L&LD, @Swinson, ahh ok kinda thought so, yeah loving this Sabrent, may grab another and a huge SSD drive for just archiving. So which are the most useful utilities to install for most needs?

 

[L&LD]

See my signature for what I consider the most useful.

 

[GK59]

See my signature for what I consider the most useful.

alrighty then, I've got work to do thank you @L&LD

 

[L&LD]

Order of installing popular scripts | SmallNetBuilder Forums

 

[Swinson]

@L&LD, @Swinson, ahh ok kinda thought so, yeah loving this Sabrent, may grab another and a huge SSD drive for just archiving. So which are the most useful utilities to install for most needs?

Edited my post above. I misread your original post.
As far as what to install it really depends on your needs. Division is a great ad blocker but unbound and Pihole can do the same thing. Skynet for ip blocking rules. Those are the two main ones. I attached my installs below