Moving from USB Flash to USB SSD

[TexasDave]

Hi - after some time away, I have the "Merlin bug" and am starting to tinker around again...I am on a RT-AC86U running Merlin, AMTM, Diversion, BACKUPMON, ...

I want to replace my flash drive with an SSD drive. There are several posts on how to do this.

I am planning to use the SSD and enclosure mentioned here suggested by Tech9:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/usb-recommendations-for-diversion-skynet.84828/post-838985

And will use the instructions in a couple of posts:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/changing-from-usb-3-0-to-ssd-for-entware-diversion-etc.84190/

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/replacing-usb-contains-entware-safest-most-efficient-way.82082/

It all looks pretty painless...Questions:

1. Are the above thread still valid? No reason for me to think otherwise. Any other thread people would suggest?
2. Is the suggested hardware still solid? (Patriot Burst Elite SATA 3 120GB SSD 2.5" Solid State Drive, ORICO 2.5 inch External Hard Drive Enclosure USB 3.0 to SATA III for 7mm and 9.5mm SATA HDD SSD)
3. I see worries about using USB 3.0 and interference. Do I have to worry about this when using an SSD in an enclosure? Is it ok to plug it into USB 3.0?
4. The drive and enclosure are so cheap I am thinking about getting two to use the second as a backup to my network backup using BACKUPMON. Or would you just use a USB Flash for this? I have network backup to my Unraid server working fine. Again, I have both a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 slot and if I put another flash or SSD in, is it ok to use the other USB port?

Any other advice you would provide before I proceed?

I am probably going overboard asking this but I am happy with my setup and do not want to mess it up.

Thanks!

 

[CaptnDanLKW]

The TL;DR is you probably have better options. On my AC86U (and now my AX86U Pro) I switched from a SSD+ Enclosure to a tiny, fast USB stick. Well, more like a USB Nub - so tiny its just a small bump so you can grab it.

SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit USB 3.2 Gen 1 Flash Drive - Up to 400MB/s, Plug-and-Stay Design - SDCZ430-128G-GAM46, Black

Its fast, and you don't need rigid usb cables coming out the back. Oh, and it was $16 on Amazon. Cheaper than SSD + Enclosure

My $0.02, if everything is under the entware directory, then all you need to do is copy over entware onto new drive. If you are not changing devices, then some of those links have more steps than I think you need.

My Steps would be to
shut down
move current drive to usb 2.0 - dont connect new drive yet (this will retain the /dev/sda device assignment)
power up, ssh to router
(use the mount command to verify /dev/sda(x) and /dev/sdb(x) mount points are as expected) you don't want to execute destructive commands on the wrong device)
execute entware-services check (or /opt/etc/init.d/rc.unslung check)
to see / verify its running.
execute entware-services stop (or /opt/etc/init.d/rc.unslung stop)
swapoff -a
insert new drive
(at this point I don't use amtm 'fd' to partition and format the disk because it forces a reboot at the end, which messed with my process and known device <> mount, and will restart entware and turn swap back on)
fdisk /dev/sdb (follow other guides to get this right)
use the mke2fs command with the correct ext4 and journaling switches (Follow other guides to get the syntax correct)
use tune2fs to label the drive (Follow other guides to get the syntax correct)
mount the new file system using mount command. (or you can unplug and re-plug your NEW device in, automount should do its thing)
check /tmp/mnt - you should see the mount point for your new device as a directory that matches the label you set with tune2fs
cp -a /tmp/mnt/Old_Device_Name/entware /tmp/mnt/New_Device_Name/entware
(caveat - I don't run diversion or skynet, not sure if they have their own directories outside the /entware hierarchy - if they do or you have other directories at the same level of entware, then repeat the above step with the other directory names)
cleanly shut down the router (GUI -> Reboot -> wait for LEDs to go out then press the power button
Unplug old drive (old drive was in usb 2.0 port, new drive should still be in usb 3.0 port)
Power on router
ssh to router, execute amtm
execute 'mount' command - you should see /dev/sda1 mounted on /tmp/mnt/Your_Label
cd / and do a 'ls -l' (you should see opt -> tmp/opt)
execute entware-services check (or /opt/etc/init.d/rc.unslung check)
you should see the same output as before - (this verifies your good)
chose 'sw' - to recreate your swapfile. the sw script should detect your drive and prompt you to create.
you could reboot again but probably not necessary.

There are probably better guides, if you understand the nuances of linux device paths, some basic CLI command, the auto-check of an entware directory and execution on bootup makes moving your entware config and data to a different drive very easy. Just make sure you don't have multiple usb devices with /entware directories plugged in at boot.

Hope this is useful,
As always, YMMV.

 

[TexasDave]

Thanks for this. I was (and am) running something similar. The first one died several years ago and I replaced it.

I use this now: SanDisk 64GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive, up to 130 MB/s read, Black

I have been browsing the forums and many folks seem to discourage using a USB flash and moving to SSD? I have had one die once already....

 

[doczenith1]

It all looks pretty painless...Questions:

1. Are the above thread still valid? No reason for me to think otherwise. Any other thread people would suggest?
2. Is the suggested hardware still solid? (Patriot Burst Elite SATA 3 120GB SSD 2.5" Solid State Drive, ORICO 2.5 inch External Hard Drive Enclosure USB 3.0 to SATA III for 7mm and 9.5mm SATA HDD SSD)
3. I see worries about using USB 3.0 and interference. Do I have to worry about this when using an SSD in an enclosure? Is it ok to plug it into USB 3.0?
4. The drive and enclosure are so cheap I am thinking about getting two to use the second as a backup to my network backup using BACKUPMON. Or would you just use a USB Flash for this? I have network backup to my Unraid server working fine. Again, I have both a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 slot and if I put another flash or SSD in, is it ok to use the other USB port?

2. There are plenty of options for the enclosure. I went with a USB C enclosure because....USB C. For the drive, again plenty of options. I'd think just grab something cheap as even the slowest SSD will be plenty fast for what you are using it for.
3. I set the USB port to USB 2 mode in the router settings. I suspect USB 2 is plenty fast for this use case.
4. I suppose this depends on how often you run the backup. I would think a flash drive would be fine this as it won't see as many write cycles.

 

[TexasDave]

Thank you for this input!

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Thank you for this input!

This is one of the best parts about using BACKUPMON... it allows you to restore everything to your new SSD in a matter of minutes. Follow these default restore instructions... in your case, you don't have to "copy" the .sh and .cfg files to your /jffs/scripts folder, as they already exist. This is assuming a brand new or factory-reset router/flashdrive were just introduced.

RESTORE INSTRUCTIONS

IMPORTANT:
Asus Router Model: GT-AX6000
Firmware/Build Number: 3004.388.4
EXT USB Drive Label Name: ASUS-SSD

WARNING: Do NOT attempt to restore if your Asus Router Model or Firmware/Build Numbers differ from your backups!

Please ensure your have performed the following before restoring your backups:
1.) Enable SSH in router UI, and connect via an SSH Terminal (like PuTTY).
2.) Run "AMTM" and format a new USB drive on your router - label it exactly the same name as before (see above)! Reboot.
3.) After reboot, SSH back in to AMTM, create your swap file (if required). This action should automatically enable JFFS.
4.) From the UI, verify JFFS scripting enabled in the router OS, if not, enable and perform another reboot.
5.) Restore the backupmon.sh & backupmon.cfg files (located under your backup folder) into your /jffs/scripts folder.
6.) Run "sh backupmon.sh -setup" and ensure that all of the settings are correct before running a restore.
7.) Run "sh backupmon.sh -restore", pick which backup you want to restore, and confirm before proceeding!
8.) After the restore finishes, perform another reboot.  Everything should be restored as normal!

 

[ducky124]

My motto is, if it ain't broke don't fix it. I still can not understand the purpose of using an SSD over a flash drive.

 

[Ripshod]

My motto is, if it ain't broke don't fix it. I still can not understand the purpose of using an SSD over a flash drive.

Flash drives were never designed for multiple write operations, so they tend to fail frequently and without warning. If you have a flash drive operating and older than a couple of years you're doing extremely well.
Given the price of small ssds and enclosures it makes sense to use the safer option.

 

[ducky124]

Flash drives were never designed for multiple write operations, so they tend to fail frequently and without warning. If you have a flash drive operating and older than a couple of years you're doing extremely well.
Given the price of small ssds and enclosures it makes sense to use the safer option.

mine is at least 5 years old and has been migrated from an ac86u to a new ax88pro without issue

 

[Tech9]

mine is at least 5 years old

You've got lucky. The single reason multiple threads about USB storage options were created is failing USB flash drives.

 

[Makaveli]

You've got lucky. The single reason multiple threads about USB storage options were created is failing USB flash drives.

This I had two usb drive fail on me an then switched to SSD+enclosure and been on that since with zero issues over the years.

 

[Tech9]

Unfortunately, new USB flash drives even from major brands we used to trust are made cheaper these days and many have thermal design issues up to melting the plastic case. At least an external enclosure keeps the drive heat away from the router. As a drawback it may generate more RF noise negatively affecting 2.4GHz band usable range. Finding what works best is a trial and error process.

 

[BlackIce]

Yeah I would never use a USB Flash (thumb drive) for anything semi-important...
My 2 cents...I use a 3.5 inch hard drive enclosure (with a rocker type On/Off switch) along with a WesternDigital Red NAS drive...It's been working for me without issue for years.
I thought about maybe going to a NVME enclosure with NVME drive but my experience with those is they overheat quickly when doing big/long file transfers and throttle down
the speed badly...I use my Drive attached to my router as a quick backup and media drive...Everything on that drive is also backed up to a OpenmediaVault NAS that I only turn
on for archiving purposes from the router's drive. This arrangment has worked for me for a long time and ensures redundancy (The OpenMediaVault NAS data drives also get
backed up to an external drive (for triple redundancy))... The new NVME drives are fast but for long/big backups and file transfers they overheat and throttle.

 

[Tech9]

when doing big/long file transfers

Big/long file transfers through a limited hardware resources home router as NAS are not the best idea anyway.

 

[ducky124]

You've got lucky. The single reason multiple threads about USB storage options were created is failing USB flash drives.

I use the drive strictly for scripts. How much reading and writing it actually doing. I am not stupid enough to use the drive as a "NAS".

 

[TexasDave]

This is one of the best parts about using BACKUPMON... it allows you to restore everything to your new SSD in a matter of minutes. Follow these default restore instructions... in your case, you don't have to "copy" the .sh and .cfg files to your /jffs/scripts folder, as they already exist. This is assuming a brand new or factory-reset router/flashdrive were just introduced.

RESTORE INSTRUCTIONS

IMPORTANT:
Asus Router Model: GT-AX6000
Firmware/Build Number: 3004.388.4
EXT USB Drive Label Name: ASUS-SSD

WARNING: Do NOT attempt to restore if your Asus Router Model or Firmware/Build Numbers differ from your backups!

Please ensure your have performed the following before restoring your backups:
1.) Enable SSH in router UI, and connect via an SSH Terminal (like PuTTY).
2.) Run "AMTM" and format a new USB drive on your router - label it exactly the same name as before (see above)! Reboot.
3.) After reboot, SSH back in to AMTM, create your swap file (if required). This action should automatically enable JFFS.
4.) From the UI, verify JFFS scripting enabled in the router OS, if not, enable and perform another reboot.
5.) Restore the backupmon.sh & backupmon.cfg files (located under your backup folder) into your /jffs/scripts folder.
6.) Run "sh backupmon.sh -setup" and ensure that all of the settings are correct before running a restore.
7.) Run "sh backupmon.sh -restore", pick which backup you want to restore, and confirm before proceeding!
8.) After the restore finishes, perform another reboot.  Everything should be restored as normal!

Very cool. I love it even more now...

 

[Tech9]

I am not stupid enough to use the drive as a "NAS".

All the scripts in your signature write data on the USB flash drive. No one calls you stupid, you just got lucky your drive is still holding. What kills USB flash drives is constant r/w and heat. They are not designed for this type of use. Temporary storage devices for moving files around.