Forum Discussion

Follower

Sep 03, 2020

Best external hard drive for AX8 router

I would like to add external hard drive to my RAX80 AX8 8-Stream Wifi Router that could store photos, movies, video games etc - and be accessible by PCs, PS4, Xbox, TVs and other devices. Looking at ...

michaelkenward

Guru - Experienced User

Sep 07, 2020

Razor512 wrote:

On the other hand, if the router attached storage will effectively be

3rd local copy of your data, then the cheapest option is to possibly use a dual slot external hard drive dock. They will have no data redundancy and the drives will show up as 2 separate network shares, where you can have a 10TB hard drive in each slot, but that can work.

This does not mention the technology involved. If the idea is to use USB, forget it.

The largest drive that anyone has got to work is 6 TB, but most people report that 4 TB is the biggest. That is certainly the limit on the compatibility page:

Will my USB drive work with ReadySHARE | Answer | NETGEAR Support

And USB docks won't work. Netgear's USB rejects partitioned drives and things that "require software to be installed into the PC".

That's why Ethernet is the preferred option for serious storage.

Razor512

Prodigy

Sep 07, 2020

A dock will not work if it requires special software, but the supermajority are plug and play. I have been using docks since the Netgear R6300, though the largest drive I have personally used, is an 8TB wd red in a dock connected to the R7800, and RAX50 (larger than 8TB does get quite expensive).

For dual drive docks, if not in a clone mode, they effectively act simply as an internal USB hub, where the device sees it as basically 2 separate external hard drives.
The main issue though is that DLNA services in most routers struggle with large media libraries.

Many compatibility issues come from scenarios when someone is using USB accessories that are entirely powered from the USB port.