[RT-AC68U] - WD My Passport 2tb USB 3.0 Problem

[mgttr]

My apologies for not mentioning, that my successful use of the Patriot Magnum flash drive on the AC68U USB 3.0 port was with the flash drive Linux-formatted with ext2. My way of doing the ext2 formatting was with a freeware Windows utility.

Turns out mine is formatted exFAT. That must be my problem, as Merlin above mentioned that exFat is not supported. I've got a 32 GB Patriot Supersonic (also USB 3.0) that's formatted FAT32 - I might give that a try instead.

 

[System Error Message]

even ASUS isnt really plug and play you still have to configure. Their new routerboards with integrated wireless uses a newer more capable MIPS that would be faster than the broadcom ARM for NAT without acceleration.

What i was trying to point out was if you want an all in one device dont expect it to be excellent at everything and even went further to suggest something that uses SFP so you wont even need a seperate modem. People complain so much about file sharing features on these routers that they dont see that it is mainly a router first, file sharer third. There are many home users who want NAS cheap and think it is a professional solution when it is not.

 

[RussellInCincinnati]

System, off topic but what advantage does an SFP port give you? Specifically the need for what modem is eliminated, by having such a high speed Ethernet port?

 

[pianoquintet]

Has there been any progress on this issue since Jan 2015? I recently bought an RT-AC56U and tried mounting three different widely-sold USB 3.0 hard drives (2 by Toshiba, 1 by Verbatim) on the USB 3.0 port, running the latest merlin firmware. They all mount as USB 2.0 devices after the router giving various errors relating to USB (e.g. "No SuperSpeed endpoint companion for config 1 interface 0 altsetting 0 ep 129: using minimum values") when registering its USB hubs and then mounting the drive.

I understand from posts on other forums that this may be an issue with the 2.6.36 kernel, which was solved in more recent linux kenrnel releases.

If this is the case, it would be a problem common to all the latest Asus routers (as they all seem to be based on that old kernel) which Asus could easily solve by upgrading the kernel. I sent an email to Asus support but got no response.

How can Asus really get away with advertising USB 3.0 functionality (which is a big selling point on the package) when it is simply not there? I suppose most consumers buy the product based on the specs but then don't have the technical resources to realize their drives are mounted as USB 2.0 and blame other bottlnecks (e.g. wifi, Samba) for the slow speeds. It still looks like plain fraud to me.

 

[RMerlin]

which Asus could easily solve by upgrading the kernel.

No, it's far from being that simple.

Has there been any progress on this issue since Jan 2015? I recently bought an RT-AC56U and tried mounting three different widely-sold USB 3.0 hard drives (2 by Toshiba, 1 by Verbatim) on the USB 3.0 port, running the latest merlin firmware.

Then it means you probably didn't disable the "Reduce USB 3.0 interference" option. USB 3.0 does work properly, however enabling that feature will force disks to be mounted as USB 2.0 device, to reduce radio interference between wifi and USB 3.0 signaling.

 

[pianoquintet]

No, it's far from being that simple.



Then it means you probably didn't disable the "Reduce USB 3.0 interference" option. USB 3.0 does work properly, however enabling that feature will force disks to be mounted as USB 2.0 device, to reduce radio interference between wifi and USB 3.0 signaling.

Thanks! I disabled it and it now correctly mounts as USB 3.0.

It is shocking how sneaky Asus is on this issue. Nowhere does it say on the packaging or elsewhere that the router has a 3.0 port but it is disabled by default. The interactive - help buried deep in the professional sub-tab of the advanced settings/wireless menu - elliptically states about the radio interference option as follows: "Enabling this feature ensures the best wireless performance on the 2.4 GHz band. Disabling this feature increases USB 3.0 port's transmission speed and may affect the 2.4 GHz wireless range." It should rather say "Enabling this features dowgrades the USB 3.0 port to a USB 2.0 port but preserves normal wireless performance on the 2.4 GHz band. Disabling this feature enables the USB 3.0 functionality but may affect the 2.4 GHz wireless range".

 

[Erdinc]

I have a DSL-AC68U which is a modem+router combo. I have used the USB 3.0 port with various flash drives and also with an USB 3.0 enclosure recently without any issues. Inside the enclosure was a 500 GB Seagate 2.5" HDD. I was able to stream HD movies wirelessly from these drives attached to the USB 3.0 port on the AC68U. I could even reach my files using Asus icloud when I am not home. That was fantastic!

A few days ago, I purchased a 2 TB WD Red NAS HDD and placed it in the same enclosure. My AC68U sees the HDD but cannot mount it. The HDD is NTFS formatted. It works perfectly fine when directly attached to the computer.

Frankly, I am so much disappointed I have relied on this feature of Asus Ac 68U. It was one of the features advertised on their website and on the box of the product ("one can set up his own cloud and access files through iCloud"). My decision was based on this feature mostly. I checked their website to find out what sizes of HDDs and what file systems my DSL- AC68U supports. There is a table/chart that says DSL AC68u supports HDDs up to 4 TB and NTFS file systems. Now here some people say that NTFS is not Linux friendly. Well, I don't know anything about Linux and I don't want to know anything about it. That was not the deal when I purchased this modem-router. I believe Asus has misled some consumers like me.

Do I have to know about Linux and its file formats to use the iCloud feature of the product I purchased based on Asus advertisement? Do I have to change the file format to one of Linux's so that the router can mount the HDD and I can stream media at home? All my flash drives, HDDs and SSDs whether they are inside my computers or external enclosures are NTFS formatted. And I am happy with that.

That's totally unfair for end-users like me. I was told that this is a plug-play product. I am a university teacher and I am busy enough. I should not waste my time trying to figure out things that are not my specialty.