Sharing usb 3 external hard drive with Roku 3

[psilver486]

Hello! I need some ideas with this as I am unable to fnd exactly what I need.

I have a Seagate backup plus slim attached to the usb 3 port on the back of my RT-AC68P. My Samsung tv sees it most of the time, but the Roku inconsistently sees it unless I attach the drive directly to the roku 3 Usb port.

I would like to keep it attached to my router so I can transfer media files to and from it. Can I just use a cable to split the hard drive between the router and the hard drive? The hard drive needs to draw power from the router.

Any direction would be helpful.

 

[sfx2000]

Roku 3 - download Roku Media Player from the channel store, and make sure the firmware is up to date on it... it should then find and use the DLNA server on the router...

 

[droslovinia]

I already posted elsewhere, but it seems that a lot of us are having problems with external USB3 on the AC-68U. Maybe you're not having Roku problems at all!

 

[sfx2000]

Might check RMerlin's SW...

 

[john9527]

Assuming you are using the Media Server feature (and the drive isn't completely disappearing from the router attach - a different problem), try disabling IGMP Snooping for the interface you are connecting on. It's on the Wireless/Professional tabs or LAN/IPTV for wired connections. minidlna advertisement doesn't play nice with IGMP Snooping.

 

[sfx2000]

minidlna advertisement doesn't play nice with IGMP Snooping

That's good to note...

Also, check my post on the USB Drive power save functions - could be that the drive is powering down - had a similar issue with a Maxtor USB external drive on my NSLU2, where it would spindown/poweroff... and disappear...

 

[psilver486]

Roku 3 - download Roku Media Player from the channel store, and make sure the firmware is up to date on it... it should then find and use the DLNA server on the router...

Thank you. Should I uninstall the media player app and reinstall the same app again? I have been using this app for over a year and it worked fine with my NAS drive, but does not seem to play consistently well with the usb 3 drive through the router.

I downloaded Chaneru and tried that. It seems to have no problem with the usb 3 drive through the router.

 

[psilver486]

Assuming you are using the Media Server feature (and the drive isn't completely disappearing from the router attach - a different problem), try disabling IGMP Snooping for the interface you are connecting on. It's on the Wireless/Professional tabs or LAN/IPTV for wired connections. minidlna advertisement doesn't play nice with IGMP Snooping.

Thank you. It was disabled by default.

 

[john9527]

Thank you. It was disabled by default.

At least you can cross that off the list.
How big is the drive and how do you have it partitioned/formatted?

 

[psilver486]

At least you can cross that off the list.
How big is the drive and how do you have it partitioned/formatted?

2 TB and formatted NTFS. Roku media player app sometimes sees it when it is plugged into the router usb 3 port. Most times it does not. If I plug it directly to the roku box, it sees it 100% of the time and sees all my media with no issues.

The fact that Chaneru sees it 100% of the time when hard drive is plugged into the router leafs me to believe there an incompatibility issue with roku media app and the router.

 

[john9527]

If you are not using Merlin's fw, I'd definitely give it a try. It has later versions of the minidlna app as well as newer usb3 drivers.

I run a drive off the usb2 port (through a hub) that I access through the Roku that I access without problems (ever since I disabled IGMP Snooping).

 

[psilver486]

If you are not using Merlin's fw, I'd definitely give it a try. It has later versions of the minidlna app as well as newer usb3 drivers.

I run a drive off the usb2 port (through a hub) that I access through the Roku that I access without problems (ever since I disabled IGMP Snooping).

I will give it a try. Thank you.