USB3 hdd on ac86u with Merlin FW

[Zentachi]

I have an ac86u and I have a usb3 dock hard disk connected (disabled the interference option).
It works correctly on Asus official firmware and I can indeed see speeds up to around 90 MB/s.

I am accessing the shared hdd from Windows 10 x64 Pro machines either wired or wireless.

I have updated the router with Merlin's firmware 382.1.2 stable (as well as the latest alpha 384).
With Merlins FW when I access the shared folders and try to copy or just create I receive the following error:
Error 0x8007010B: The directory name is invalid.

However, despite the error when you press ok the file is copied or the directory is created. It is annoying though as when copying multiple files you need to keep pressing ok.

I have factory reset and have tried all the combinations of settings under Media Server tab with no luck.

Anyone else have experienced this error? Can someone test it on their ac86u and let me know if it works and what settings are you using?

Many thanks!

 

[Odkrys]

I have a same problem on my RT-AC86U.
Stock firmware doesn't have the problem.
I don't know how to fix this

 

[brambil]

It looks like a permission problem.

Maybe you have entware installed? Or some "USB Tools"?

First try:

Why did you put SMB2 force on?

Set ON as Master.

If isn't enough...

If you haven't Entware installed ssh to the router (p.e. with Putty).

chmod -R 755 /mnt/*

and reset all user-permissions from the GUI.

If you have some USB-Tools, force reinstall from the GUI.

 

[Odkrys]

For more information, my external hard was empty and its format was ntfs.
And on same hard drive, ext4 format didn't have this problem.

So now I don't use ntfs drive on my router.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Why did you put SMB2 force on?

That option doesn't force SMB2 on, it just enables SMB2 support in addition to SMB1.

 

[Zentachi]

It looks like a permission problem.

Maybe you have entware installed? Or some "USB Tools"?

First try:

Why did you put SMB2 force on?

Set ON as Master.

As "ColinTaylor" posted that option just enables SMB2 support in addition to SMB1.
No difference in my case between ON/OFF.

I have the same user accounts between asus official and Merlin.
I am mapping the shared folder using the correct credentials.
3 different windows 10 machines, with different users logged on to each.
It works for Asus official but not in Merlin's firmware (which is an amazing firmware!).

brambil I have tried all possible combinations of options but didn't seem to solve the problem.

Hard disk has a primary NTFS partition. Reading Odkrys comment about ext4 format, I will try to do some testing with a spare drive formatted as ext4 when I get back home.

 

[ColinTaylor]

brambil I have tried all possible combinations of options but didn't seem to solve the problem.

I know you said you've tried all the options but just in case you didn't, try enabling "Simpler share naming".

 

[Zentachi]

I know you said you've tried all the options but just in case you didn't, try enabling "Simpler share naming".

I have tested that also, but it was the same.
Might be something with the version of the samba server used?

 

[ColinTaylor]

As Odkrys suggested, try something other than NTFS. Could just be a difference in the propriety NTFS driver (or NTFS permissions) rather than a Samba issue.

 

[Zentachi]

I created a NTFS partition and an EXT4 partition in a spare hard drive.
No error messages or any issues with the EXT4 partition. Same error as in my original message with the NTFS partition.

Another thing I noticed is that with the 384 oficial firmware write speed would be around 90 MB/s, but with Merlin's fw the write speed was around 60 MB/s.

 

[Odkrys]

Another thing I noticed is that with the 384 oficial firmware write speed would be around 90 MB/s, but with Merlin's fw the write speed was around 60 MB/s.

Stock firmware has better samba performance.
Here is my test result.
I couldn't see the noticeable difference between smb v1 and v2 on Merlin.

Stock firmware 384.10007

without Ai-protection

R/W 110+ / 110+

with Ai-protection

R/W 110+ / 90

Merlin firmware 384.3_alpha2

without Ai-protection

R/W 100+ / 90

with Ai-protection

R/W 100+ / 60

 

[Zentachi]

Stock firmware 384.10007

without Ai-protection

R/W 110+ / 110+

with Ai-protection

R/W 110+ / 90

Merlin firmware 384.3_alpha2

without Ai-protection

R/W 100+ / 90

with Ai-protection

R/W 100+ / 60

How can you reach those speeds? I have disabled the interference option (AiProtection is also disabled) but still cannot reach more than 90MB/s on stock and more than 60MB/s on Merlin, even when I used an SSD.

Which hdd do you have connected?

 

[Odkrys]

Which hdd do you have connected?

wd red 2tb + hdd docking station.

 

[RMerlin]

Stock firmware uses a much older Samba version, and also is limited to SMB1. There will be a performance penalty with both of these.

 

[Odkrys]

@RMerlin

I don't have any knowledge of samba.
Removing the buffer value from default settings made dramatic speed increasing on wireless samba performance.
This is a bad idea ?

socket options = IPTOS_LOWDELAY TCP_NODELAY SO_KEEPALIVE

Wired connection test

without Ai-protection

R/W 110+ / 110+

with Ai-protection

R/W 110+ / 60 (come on! ai protection...)

Wireless test

without Ai-protection

R/W 80 / 60

with Ai-protection

R/W 80 / 50

I can't believe the speed at 866mbps link...
with default settings, that speed was 35/20..

 

[RMerlin]

Removing the buffer value from default settings made dramatic speed increasing on wireless samba performance.
This is a bad idea ?

Since everyone's environment is different, it's possible that in your case, performance is better without those buffers. I did my own tests over Wireless and for me they gave better performance.

It's safe to remove them.

 

[Zentachi]

@RMerlin

Is your hdd formatted as EXT4 like Odkrys, or it is working fine as NTFS?

 

[john9527]

Since everyone's environment is different, it's possible that in your case, performance is better without those buffers. I did my own tests over Wireless and for me they gave better performance.

It's safe to remove them.

FYI....After some measurements on my fork a while back, I doubled the buffer sizes to 131072

 

[Odkrys]

Since everyone's environment is different, it's possible that in your case, performance is better without those buffers. I did my own tests over Wireless and for me they gave better performance.

It's safe to remove them.

Thanks for your answer. I will keep this optimization.

 

[RMerlin]

@RMerlin

Is your hdd formatted as EXT4 like Odkrys, or it is working fine as NTFS?

NTFS.