Router and USB3

[jack450]

I just replaced my old router and the new router has an outlet for USB3. My computer does not have a connection for USB3 and I would like to connect my external drive to the faster USB3 outlet if possible. I have used IFL for years and it works perfectly for what I want to do, but I can't get it to recognize an external drive plugged into the router. I'm using an old version of IFL (2.74) and have never upgraded because this version works perfectly and all the upgrades just added things that I don't need. However, if a later version would allow me to access my external drive from the router, I would upgrade. I don't even know if connecting to to the router would actually give me USB3 speed since I don't have it in my computer, but maybe someone here knows the answer to that. My computer does recognize an external drive plugged into the router from Windows so I assume that IFW might be an option, but I'd really like to stick with IFL. Suggestions and advice would be appreciated.

Jack Greeenberg

[TeraByte Support(PP)]

You can download the current version of IFL and try it. There have been a lot of changes since 2.74 so it may provide better support. If you have Windows 7 or later it's usually simple matter to create the TBWinRE boot media, if you want to try that.

As for the speed, that depends on a lot of things. What kinds of speed do you see accessing it from Windows? That would probably be fastest you'd see from any boot media. Overall, it may be slower, though.

[TeraByte Support(TP)]

If you haven't already, try accessing it as an SMB network drive by using the "Mount Network Shares" item on the IFL boot disk menu. Typically, the drive will show up as an SMB network share that you can mount like any other network share. The 2.74 version probably should work, although the current version of IFL has more recent network utilities, etc., so may work in some cases where 2.74 doesn't.


jack450 wrote:
> I just replaced my old router and the new router has an outlet for USB3.
> My computer does not have a connection for USB3 and I would like to connect
> my external drive to the faster USB3 outlet if possible. I have used IFL
> for years and it works perfectly for what I want to do, but I can't get it
> to recognize an external drive plugged into the router. I'm using an old
> version of IFL (2.74) and have never upgraded because this version works
> perfectly and all the upgrades just added things that I don't need.
> However, if a later version would allow me to access my external drive from
> the router, I would upgrade. I don't even know if connecting to to the
> router would actually give me USB3 speed since I don't have it in my
> computer, but maybe someone here knows the answer to that. My computer
> does recognize an external drive plugged into the router from Windows so I
> assume that IFW might be an option, but I'd really like to stick with IFL.
> Suggestions and advice would be appreciated.
>
> Jack Greeenberg

[jack450]

Thanks Paul and Tom. I did download the current version of IFL and tried to mount the external drive as an SMB drive as suggested, but the drive was not listed among the choices. I should add that I am currently using Windows Vista with my computer and the drive I'm attempting to access is a Western Digital My Book. I will keep trying, but in the meantime, if you guys at Terabyte, or anyone else for that matter, have any other suggestions, please pass them along.

Thanks,
Jack Greenberg

[TeraByte Support(TP)]

If the drive doesn't show up when you select the "Auto Detect SMB Servers" item, one thing to be aware of is that the router most likely requires NTFS or FATxx as the file system on that drive. That was the case with mine here. When formatted as ext4 (Linux) it didn't show up.

If the file system is OK, the next thing to try would be the "Specify SMB Server Manually" item. On that menu, you can detect the drive by using either the router's NetBIOS name, or the router's IP address. In most setups, either should work. Here's a summary of the steps involved:

1. Select "Mount Network Shares", then select "Specify SMB Server Manually"
2. Select either "Specify By NetBIOS Name" or "Specify By IP Address"
3. Type in either the router's NetBIOS name or the router's IP address
4. If the server is detected, you will get the USER NAME DIALOG screen
5. Follow prompts to enter user/password. If no user/password assigned, just press Enter for "guest" user
6. The network share(s) should now show up, and can be mounted by highlighting and pressing Enter.

For example, I use a NetGear router here, and it uses "READYSHARE" for the NetBIOS name by default. Once I enter that name and follow the prompts, the default share name "USB_Storage" shows up on the shares mount screen, and is mountable by highlighting it and pressing Enter. It also works when using the IP address.

If you get it working, be aware though that you will most likely not get USB3 speed doing it this way (over the network). The only question is if it will be faster than plugging the drive directly into the system at USB2 speed.


jack450 wrote:
> Thanks Paul and Tom. I did download the current version of IFL and tried
> to mount the external drive as an SMB drive as suggested, but the drive was
> not listed among the choices. I should add that I am currently using
> Windows Vista with my computer and the drive I'm attempting to access is a
> Western Digital My Book. I will keep trying, but in the meantime, if you
> guys at Terabyte, or anyone else for that matter, have any other
> suggestions, please pass them along.
>
> Thanks,
> Jack Greenberg

[jack450]

Thanks -- I'll give it a try again, however if your statement below is accurate, I'm not sure it's worth the effort. When I do my backups (images), I usually start the process when I go to bed. When I wake up in the morning, it's done. Speed is not critical for me, but if I can make some gains in speed without jumping through too many hoops, it's worth doing.

Jack Greenberg


TeraByte Support(TP) wrote:
> If you get it working, be aware though that you will most likely not get USB3 speed
> doing it this way (over the network). The only question is if it will be faster than
> plugging the drive directly into the system at USB2 speed.