RT-AC68U with really BIG USB disk

[IVB]

Hi.

Is it possible to use USB 12TB hard drive with RT-AC68U?

 

[Tech9]

See here:

ASUS Router Plug-n-Share Disks Compatibility List | Official Support | ASUS USA

My opinion - not a good idea. It will be slow and may negatively affect the router's performance.

 

[bennor]

Is it possible to use USB 12TB hard drive with RT-AC68U?

Could you? Yes. But I guess the question is why? What do you hope to gain? What is the use case? The router isn't an NAS, especially one of that use 10 year old hardware. You will likely have to repartition a 12TB external drive into multiple partitions (four or more partitions) due to the firmware limitations on USB disk size as indicated by the link posted by Tech9. To top it off one may experience less than optimal transfer speed to a external USB hard drive attached to the RT-AC68U depending on the configuration of the RT-AC68U and which USB port one uses. Do a search for USB 3.0 and WiFi interference since one may experience such issues if using the USB 3.0 port on the RT-AC68U.

 

[IVB]

The router isn't an NAS

Yes. Router is not NAS.
But both - router and NAS - it is a firmware.
If firmware supports router functions - it's a router.
If firmware supports NAS functions - it's a NAS.
If hardware allows using firmare with both functions - it's router+NAS.

Some years ago I has RT-N13U with external hard drive. It was router+NAS, and I was satisfyed with its functionality.

So I hope to use RT-AC68U with external hard drive as router+NAS.
AC68U supports Samba server. Merlin firmware supports torrent client.
I have only few devices connected to router. Without external hard drive router has a lot of free RAM and almost zero CPU usage.
So I think that adding NAS functions don't overload router.

You will likely have to repartition a 12TB external drive into multiple partitions (four or more partitions) due to the firmware limitations on USB disk size as indicated by the link posted by Tech9.

According that table AC68U has no limitation on disk size - only on partition size.
But 4TB partition is too small for me.
I hope that this limitation is not hardware limitation, but only firmware.
And I hope to find alternate firmware without that limitation.

 

[Tech9]

So I hope to use RT-AC68U with external hard drive as router+NAS.

Some experience with corrupted drive partitions and crashing core services due to low memory here. If your router and data are not critical - test your luck.

And I hope to find alternate firmware without that limitation.

You basically have FreshTomato and Asuswrt-Merlin to play with. DD-WRT may or may not work (snapshots, perpetual beta), OpenWrt has no wireless drivers.

 

[L&LD]

Of course, it is the software/firmware that determines what a device will do best.

But any consumer router today is woefully underpowered to perform router and NAS functions.

I've been waiting a decade for the hardware to catch up to the router-side performance I want.

Good luck getting NAS requirements in there too (even if you wait another decade from now).

Unless you build your own router (pfSense, etc.) with the hardware routing and data security/dependability demands, get a true NAS instead (and that means Synology or better yet, QNAP).

 

[bennor]

Yes. Router is not NAS.
But both - router and NAS - it is a firmware.
If firmware supports router functions - it's a router.
If firmware supports NAS functions - it's a NAS.
If hardware allows using firmare with both functions - it's router+NAS.

A "NAS" is generally considered to be a stand alone device who's main design and purpose is to be a data storage server for the local network. What you have is a consumer grade WiFi router that has extra marketing features that include a very basic Samba, FTP and media server. Note that Asus themselves doesn't label it as an "NAS" or "network attached storage", instead they use other terms like USB Tools and Network Places (Samba) Share / Cloud Disk.

While the 10 year old hardware of the RT-AC68U router supports attaching a USB hard drive and using Samba (and other options) to copy files to/from that USB hard drive and serve up basic media files, if one attempts to use it as a "real" NAS (heavy data writing/reading from multiple network clients at the same time); they will likely find the router will slow to a crawl, its memory will likely be maxed out and other issues may present themselves simply because the RT-AC68U hardware (limited processor and RAM) are not capable of handling the demands.

The storage feature/option on Asus routers is what it is. And it has its limitations. Which is why it is routinely suggested that if one needs a true NAS, to save themselves the time, effort and frustration of trying to get the router to do something it's not really capable of and go with a dedicated NAS (either DIY or from Synology, Qnap, etc).

According that table AC68U has no limitation on disk size - only on partition size.
But 4TB partition is too small for me.
I hope that this limitation is not hardware limitation, but only firmware.
And I hope to find alternate firmware without that limitation.

If you do not want to split the 12TB drive into three x 4TB partitions then you will have to look at alternate third party firmware which may or may not face the same partition limitation, and which may have other firmware limitations as well. The Asus-Merlin firmware is based on the Asus firmware so it's possible/likely it faces the same 4TB limitation as the stock Asus firmware.

If you need a single 12TB partition then you really should consider either building your own NAS out of spare parts or ordered parts or from SoC devices like Raspberry Pi's, or buy a diskless NAS enclosure from Synology or others and "shuck" (extract) the 12TB hard drive from it's external USB enclosure and put it into that dedicated NAS box. From there you can set it up to your hearts content unencumbered by the limits of the router and its firmware/features. Plenty of DIY guides out there on how to build a low cost NAS.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

 

[IVB]

Unless you build your own router (pfSense, etc.) with the hardware routing and data security/dependability demands, get a true NAS instead (and that means Synology or better yet, QNAP).

I don't need a powerful NAS.

It will be enough for me to share media files on my home network (one laptop and two phones that will never access the files at the same time).

Even the torrent client is not important. It would be nice to use it on a router, but if not, I won't be upset.

So my requirements are quite simple.

 

[IVB]

You basically have FreshTomato and Asuswrt-Merlin to play with.

I read a post on this forum that someone had a successful experience using an 8TB partition with Merlin.

Therefore, I will try Merlin first (the disk has not arrived yet) and share the result.

 

[L&LD]

I didn't say you need a powerful NAS.

I stated that any consumer router available today isn't powerful enough to act as one.

 

[Tech9]

Therefore, I will try Merlin first (the disk has not arrived yet) and share the result.

Few things to know - (1) USB 3.0 mode may somewhat degrade your 2.4GHz band range, devices at the edge may have issues; (2) you'll perhaps need a backup for this drive due to observed lower reliability; (3) don't expect USB 3.0 speeds, limited by the CPU around 50MB/sec and with single big size files. Let us know how it goes.

 

[sfx2000]

I stated that any consumer router available today isn't powerful enough to act as one.

The folks over at Synology might disagree with you

 

[L&LD]

Yup, forgot about that one. Still waiting for QNAP to offer something similar/superior.

 

[sfx2000]

I stated that any consumer router available today isn't powerful enough to act as one.

And it's fairly simple to set up a mini-PC with debian or ubuntu and build something fairly powerful with a few simple steps...

 

[L&LD]

And... with worse WiFi than almost any Asus router worth buying currently.

 

[IVB]

(1) USB 3.0 mode may somewhat degrade your 2.4GHz band range, devices at the edge may have issues;

I know.
But all my devices operate in the 5GHz band.

(2) you'll perhaps need a backup for this drive due to observed lower reliability

There will be no data that I would be sorry to lose.

(3) don't expect USB 3.0 speeds, limited by the CPU around 50MB/sec and with single big size files.

I understand that.

Let us know how it goes.

Necessarily.
If I started a topic, I will definitely let you know how it ended.

 

[Tech9]

Honestly, your RT-AC68U may not have the greatest hardware, but it works better with USB attached storage than some newer AX models. It is slow and with this big drive you may have to wait ages for a large transfer to finish, but it has a better chance to finish it successfully. One tip - use USB 2.0 mode. I've done quite a few USB attached storage tests on different Asus routers. Good luck!

 

[wouterv]

My Router / USB storage experiences go from RT-N66U to now the RT-AC68U.
At first I used a cheap USB stick, that worked quite well, but the Health Scanner often found things to repair.
Since two years I have a Kingston 32 GB USB stick in the USB 2.0 port of my RT-AC68U and that works very well as quick and dirty network storage device. The Health Scanner never find things to repair.
I mainly use it as temporary backup location of "work in progress" files, for that it is fast enough.
I never tried the USB 3.0 port, USB mode is set to 2.0 due to the old disturbance issue (no idea if that is still true with my RT-AC68U).

 

[Valle]

Hi.

Is it possible to use USB 12TB hard drive with RT-AC68U?

I use a Asus rt-ac5300 (with two 16tb) 32tb hdd total 4tb each in partition size. I have NO problem at all. NO problem to stream 2 HD movies at the same time or copy to the drive and meantime looking at a movie.

Hi.

Is it possible to use USB 12TB hard drive with RT-AC68U?

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @Valle.

So, to clarify, you have 8, 4TB partitions between two enclosures?