RT-AC87U with Digital Elements 8TB

[melendi1]

Hello I have RT-AC87U and I would like to know when I buy (if I buy) Western Digital Elements 8TB this one if it is supported plugged in USB 3.0 in NTFS or exFAT format as 1 whole partition

I know my router is no longer supported so I mean latest supported Merlin firmware version 384.13_10.

If it is supported in John's fork or any other variations, could you point me in the right direction?

Thanks

 

[ColinTaylor]

There are reports of people using that 8TB drive successfully with various Asus routers, although I couldn't immediately find a post from someone using the 87U. exFAT is not supported but NTFS is. But a problem with having a single NTFS partition that size is that the router's disk check function stops working because of a lack of RAM once the drive starts filling up.

Expect read/write performance to be mediocre and try not to run any add-ons or scripts on the router as anything that takes away from the available RAM will make performance worse.

John's firmware doesn't support the RT-AC87U.

 

[Tech9]

Western Digital Elements 8TB

I don't know if it works with your router or not, but I know you have to keep this drive well ventilated and in upright position. WD markets the drive as 5400rpm class, but the actual drive inside is renamed Ultrastar HC300 series 7200prm and it runs very hot inside Elements enclosure. I have two of those purchased in 2020 and they run at 55C idle reaching 67C reading/writing large data. The drive inside is an excellent performer, but designed for data centers with proper cooling. Elements used to come with WD Red drives; now it comes with WD White drives. The label color is visible through the vents. If you see WD White check what's going on inside with this tool:

CrystalDiskInfo

About CrystalDiskInfo A HDD/SSD utility software which supports a part of USB, Intel RAID and NVMe. Aoi Edition Standard Edition Shizuku Edition Kurei Kei Edition Download System Requirements OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10/11Windows Server 2003/2008/2012/2016/2019/2022 Architecture x86/x64/ARM64...

crystalmark.info

I use mine for NAS with active cooling. Both came with WD80EDAZ, aka Ultrastar 7.2K drives.

 

[melendi1]

I am using WD Elements 4TB for years now and It is perfectly fine. Now I need to expand my storage.

What if I split it in 2 NTFS partitions (2x4TB)?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I am using WD Elements 4TB for years now and It is perfectly fine. Now I need to expand my storage.

What if I split it in 2 NTFS partitions (2x4TB)?

That would be preferable.

 

[melendi1]

That would be preferable.

Okay, so it will certainly work?

 

[melendi1]

And will I see it as 2 separate HDDs plugged in?

Specifically in SMB (preferably version 1) and in my personal FTP server (***.asuscomm.com)?

 

[Zetto]

aka Ultrastar 7.2K drives.

It is unlikely that the drives inside WD Elements are running at 7.2k rpm, most likely they are at the normal 5.4k rmp. However, it is likely you got air-filled drives instead of the helium filled ones which causes higher temps. In the past, WD was putting helium filled drives into externals from 8tb and up but these days, it appears that only 12tb and up have helium, anything less is likely to be air-filled and run hot. In any case, active cooling is easy with a USB-powered fan I always stick one to an external while it's in use (in horizontal position - air is blown in at one end and comes out at the other).