Strange USB HDD noise connected to Asus RT-AC68U

[Nikolay Kiselev]

ColinTaylor,

Your HDD enclosure is powered from an electrical outlet (not a USB port), am I right?

And what SMART utilities do you use to adjust the power management settings?

Sfx2000 once again mentioned that it could be a power issue, i.e. the only thing I haven't tried to fix yet.

In that case I'll order Y-type USB 3 cable (see attached) and see what will happen.

Maybe it is worth buying something like a "media" NAS or an external enclosure (powered from an electrical outlet)?

Anyway, many thanks for all your ideas!

Best regards,
Nikolay Kiselev

 

[ColinTaylor]

Your HDD enclosure is powered from an electrical outlet (not a USB port), am I right?

No, it's powered from 2 USB sockets using a Y-cable. But I use it as temporary portable storage, I wouldn't leave it permanently plugged into a router.

And what SMART utilities do you use to adjust the power management settings?

It depends on the drive in question. Manufacturers usually have their own tools. IBM/HDS for example has ftool. If not then I use hdparm or smartctl.

http://disablehddapm.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/disabling-hard-disk-drive-advanced.html

 

[Nikolay Kiselev]

No, it's powered from 2 USB sockets using a Y-cable. But I use it as temporary portable storage, I wouldn't leave it permanently plugged into a router.

Then how do you use Transmission (or other analogous program for downloading torrents while your main PC is off)? Or you just don't use it?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Then how do you use Transmission (or other analogous program for downloading torrents while your main PC is off)? Or you just don't use it?

I don't download torrents on the router. I use my router as a router, not a server. I have a dedicated micro-server on my LAN for services that need to run 24/7.

 

[Nikolay Kiselev]

I don't download torrents on the router. I use my router as a router, not a server. I have a dedicated micro-server on my LAN for services that need to run 24/7.

Understood. Could you please briefly explain how did you organized that mini-server over your LAN? Maybe it really makes more sense to do the same thing for me.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Understood. Could you please briefly explain how did you organized that mini-server over your LAN? Maybe it really makes more sense to do the same thing for me.

My use case is different from yours because I don't use torrents. My server is mainly used for network backups and as a media server. So in my case I use something like this running Linux (centos).

You will need to determine what best suits your needs. You could buy something off the shelf like a Synology, or build something yourself like I did. If you do decide to build your own server I would suggest that you get something based on an Intel processor like a NUC. I'm sure people here will suggest things like Raspberry Pie's, but if you stick with an Intel CPU you will have more choice of operating systems. So you could run Windows on it for example if you weren't comfortable with Linux.

 

[sfx2000]

Maybe it is worth buying something like a "media" NAS or an external enclosure

Depends on your needs - many of the off the shelf NAS boxes have a lot of utility beyond just sharing files - QNAP, Asustor, Synology are all good choices, and when looking at a 2bay NAS, they can be very affordable...

 

[Nikolay Kiselev]

Sfx2000, ColinTaylor,

Many thanks for your responses! I'll try Y cable USB 3 first and we'll dig into the server / NAS stuff.

If I have something to share, will let you know

 

[Nikolay Kiselev]

Depends on your needs - many of the off the shelf NAS boxes have a lot of utility beyond just sharing files - QNAP, Asustor, Synology are all good choices, and when looking at a 2bay NAS, they can be very affordable...

Sfx2000, ColinTaylor,

While I am sill waiting for Y type USB3 cables to be shipped to my address, I've started to research about different NAS.

What do you think about Synology DS116 (https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS116#spec)?

It is not expensive and quite fast. It has only one HDD/SSD bay, but that's fine for me.

Do you think, that a fan of that NAS will make lots of noize?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[sfx2000]

What do you think about Synology DS116 (https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS116#spec)?

It is not expensive and quite fast. It has only one HDD/SSD bay, but that's fine for me.

Do you think, that a fan of that NAS will make lots of noize?

Synology is nice - we have a good community here on snbforums..

I have a QNAP myself..