RT-AC68U External HD and DLNA

[theleran]

I am very new to this networking stuff, and I have no idea where to even look in these forums, so please forgive if this is a duplicate posting. I have the RT-AC68U and have connected an USB 3.0 ext HD via the USB 3.0 port on router. Now with this same HD, on an older asus router, I could view and read/write through windows file explorer under the Network section. It would show up in several places, the 1st allowed read/write, the rest all opened a webpage to the routers config. Now with this RT-AC68U router, the HD shows up only as a media device which opens the router config UI and a network location, which allows a folder view of the HD, but accessing the files will prompt a download as opposed to before where I could read/write directly. Please help.

I am not using the AI Cloud or any other sharing apps built into router. Just plugged in HD and thats it. I can view media files thru DLNA to my TV and phone.

 

[kishork]

what you are facing is some of the network share difficulties of this router.. while others will have much more proper technical explanation of how to do this in your case but try in windows explorer

\\your-media-server-name

for example if your media server name is MediaServer

\\MediaServer

this sometime works for me when i cant access the router shared drives as you have mentioned above..

you will find your mediaserver name at Usb Applications / Servers center / Misc Settings in router config page

 

[theleran]

Unfortunately that didn't work. When I typed into File Explorer the green bar slowly filled the text box from left to right then nothing changed on the display.

 

[mtrains]

Which version of firmware do you have on the router? Versions .454 and .501 have issues with network discovery of the RT-AC68U server. Possibly earlier versions also have the same problem. It is hit and miss. Sometimes it will show up as a network computer and behave normally and then suddenly disappear on you. When you type in \\<server name> in file explorer it won't find it either.

There is no known solution for it other than waiting for the next firmware release from asus. The other option you have is to go to Merlin's firmware. I switched to Merlin's 36 beta1 release because of the exact same problem.

 

[ikoul]

It sounds like your drive is getting mounted and shared by the media server, but the smb server is disabled or something. If you look at the USB applications part of the router's web interface, maybe you'll find some answers. I'll try to post a screenshot of what that page looks like for me later today.

Edit: Here's the screenshot: http://imgur.com/hpL79hj

That's what I got from restoring factory settings on the router, nothing custom. The files are easily accessible from Windows Explorer if you map the network location as a drive. I think you can do that easily from the 'My Computer' screen. But even if you don't map it, you should be able to use the location "\\192.168.1.1\<The hard drive's volume name>" to access the files if your smb is working right.

 

[kishork]

you should be able to use the location "\\192.168.1.1\<The hard drive's volume name>" to access the files if your smb is working right.

thanks ikoul this seems to be working.. i used \\192.168.1.1 and all the shared drives provided the attendance loudly with "present saaar !!!" .. hope this will work all the time..

 

[theleran]

Thanks! I used the \\192.168.1.1 and then mapped the network drive. All good!

 

[Cipri]

Hi. Can anyone tell me how to map to windows 8 the entire hdd contected to RT-AC68U via usb 3? It only let me to map each folder. Onother question is how can i add or remove folder from the external drive conected to AC68U? Thank you!

 

[jayboyyyy]

Hi. Can anyone tell me how to map to windows 8 the entire hdd contected to RT-AC68U via usb 3? It only let me to map each folder. Onother question is how can i add or remove folder from the external drive conected to AC68U? Thank you!

under usb application go to SMB or samba share and make sure it is enabled. Then it should automatically pull up in your network list. Some folders might not have write ability because of a flaw in the FW. You can fix this by downloading putty (might be called something else but there are many programs you can use) or some program like that and running a command through telnet or SSH to fix the permissions for all of the folders. Merlin gave the command one time in the thread for his newest FW but i don't remember the command. it is relatively simple even though it sounds complicated.

 

[Cipri]

under usb application go to SMB or samba share and make sure it is enabled. Then it should automatically pull up in your network list. Some folders might not have write ability because of a flaw in the FW. You can fix this by downloading putty (might be called something else but there are many programs you can use) or some program like that and running a command through telnet or SSH to fix the permissions for all of the folders. Merlin gave the command one time in the thread for his newest FW but i don't remember the command. it is relatively simple even though it sounds complicated.

Thank You. Can you tell me please if is better to leave the external hdd formated as NTFS or should i format it to EST3/EXT4. Actually the hdd is NTFS but i have noticed that some files (jpg. pictures especially) are converted to folders and i don't now why.

 

[jayboyyyy]

Thank You. Can you tell me please if is better to leave the external hdd formated as NTFS or should i format it to EST3/EXT4. Actually the hdd is NTFS but i have noticed that some files (jpg. pictures especially) are converted to folders and i don't now why.

I cannot really tell you what is best to do. I know that there were many reports and i experienced them as well where files would randomly become corrupted. The workaround that I read about was setting up ext3 or 4 and making a (i forget what it is called but basically a partition on the drive that handles the reading and writing of the files) that would fix the problem. I formatted mine as ext4 and have not come across any corrupt files but all i have is movies on mine and they don't appear corrupt until you click on them (maybe the file size goes down to 0 as well can't remember) and I have yet to see a corrupt file. I haven't looked though.

All that was to say that I don't really know.

 

[Cipri]

Hi. Maybe is a dumb question but how did you made the partition that handles the reading and writing of the file? How did you formatted the hdd as ext4?
Another question is when i run the command through telnet or SSH the hdd must be connected to router or pc?
Thank you!

 

[jayboyyyy]

Hi. Maybe is a dumb question but how did you made the partition that handles the reading and writing of the file? How did you formatted the hdd as ext4?
Another question is when i run the command through telnet or SSH the hdd must be connected to router or pc?
Thank you!

you can search the forums for how to make the partition. I did not do it because it would take too much learning on my part that just wasn't important enough to me.

You can search online for programs to format the hdd drive. I forget which program i used but there are many.

telnet and SSH stuff is to fix the permissions. The drive should be attached when doing this i believe, but Im not 100% on that one. I know having it plugged in to router will work because that is how i did it.

the HDD needs to be plugged into the pc while formatting it obviously.

 

[htismaqe]

Hi. Maybe is a dumb question but how did you made the partition that handles the reading and writing of the file? How did you formatted the hdd as ext4?
Another question is when i run the command through telnet or SSH the hdd must be connected to router or pc?
Thank you!

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Make a GParted live CD or USB.