Nighthawk R8500, USB 3.0 Flash Drive Not Recognized in USB 3.0 Port, only 2.0 Port

[CarlosKC]

My Nighthawk R8500 Router with latest firmware, V1.0.2.54_1.0.56, will not recognize my SanDisk Ultra Fit 128 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive when plugged into the router's USB 3.0 Port. The Ultra Fit is formatted to FAT 32 and works fine when plugged into the router's or my laptop's USB 2.0 Port. 

At first I thought maybe my router's USB 3.0 Port was not working at all, but it recognizes my SanDisk 16 GB Cruzer USB 2.0 Flash Drive which is also formatted to FAT 32. Unfortunately both my laptops only have USB 2.0 Ports, so I am not sure if the problem is with the router or the Ultra Fit Flash Drive. Has anyone else experienced this problem of their 3.0 Flash Drive not being recognized in their Router's USB 3.0 Port, particularly with a SanDisk Ultra Fit? Can this issue be solved via firmware? Would really like to take full advantage of USB 3.0 speed as I like to share files through my router via ReadyShare and ReadyCloud.

Thanks in advance for any help, Carlos

[CarlosKC · Accepted solution]

Tech support followed up with me. Installing a firmware update, V1.0.2.64_1.0.62, which became available shortly after my post, solved the issue. - Carlos

[krazekiote]

Having the same problems myself. Have not figured it out either. I'm having problems on other devices identifing my 3.0USB 128GB drives. I think there are firmware limitations on identifing these drives.

[ElaineM]

Let me inquire this to our engineering team.

[CarlosKC · Accepted solution]

Tech support followed up with me. Installing a firmware update, V1.0.2.64_1.0.62, which became available shortly after my post, solved the issue. - Carlos

[pj1000]

Recent firmware upgrade didn't solve my problem of recognizing Samsung 128GB EVO Select Micro SDXC Memory Card, 80MB/s (MB-ME128DA/AM).   The 15 GB Sandisk I had installed was working fine. I used the same USB carrier.  The larger MicroSD is just not being read.  Any ideas here?

[eroxx]

On my end, the router recognized a 3TB drive, and then I updated firmware, and now it won't!!! 

[Texxen]

This is a Netgear issue with ALL their routers with USB 3.0.  I wonder how many people who use 3.0 port actually work for more than one firmware update. 

[ElaineM]

Did you guys try to re-flash the firmware?

Load the same firmware and then factory reset the router then reconfigure.

[Swerve83]

Wondering why they even bother putting a USB 2.0 on these highend routers.  You pay $360+ for one of these and they still only give you 4 ethernet and 2 of each USB lol

[Swerve83]

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@ElaineM wrote:

Did you guys try to re-flash the firmware?

Load the same firmware and then factory reset the router then reconfigure.

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Did anyone have any success with this???

John C.
Wasilla, AK

[Swerve83]

There latest update for the R8500 had a fix for 8TB drive detection. Would doubt a 128GB drive would have trouble being detected.... trhis is just sloppy firmware.

Im still waiting on a fix....USB's 15MBps is killing....I miss my 45MBps.

Common netgear....snap too it.

[Swerve83]

Reflash to older firmware....there wont be a y difference in the performance

[Swerve83]

Funny thing happened. I upgraded my M.2 2280 SSD with a larger capacity SSD. So after I cloned the old drive to the new, I used a small M.2 SSD to USB externam case to plug it into my nighthawk x8 and it detected it.  It still does not detect my 4TB my book WD drive.

Thoughts???

[ElaineM]

What's the file format? Did you try to use a different USB cable? How about a different USB port?

The external WD drive is not password protected and it doesn't require you to install a software on your PC?

[Swerve83]

J

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@ElaineM wrote:

What's the file format? Did you try to use a different USB cable? How about a different USB port?

The external WD drive is not password protected and it doesn't require you to install a software on your PC?

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NTFS, The USB 3.0 (It has the WIDE USB b connection for the external connection...you'll see in the picture) cable that came with the external device. I'll post links of what I have so you can see. Inside I have a Sandisk 128GB M.2 SSD.  It is the only device that it detected.  I even tried a flash drive 4GB to 64GB both FAT32 and NTFS still nothing.  I tried this one out of curiousity and it detected it within seconds.

Now the other thing I do notice, is that the USB 3.o light on the top of the box does light up with anything I put into the USB 3.0 port.  Doest matter if its a HDD or some other device that uses a USB port, it will light up within 10-15seconds.  It just wont detect.

But this SSD in the external enclosure shows not just the primary partition, but ALL partitions on the SSD, which is about 5 partitions since it still has the OS on there.  So thats about right.

My larger hard drives are not password protected and or locked, and they do not require a software install to run. I even ran a diagnostic test that WD has for these drives and they passed with flying colors, both on transfer rates and USB connectivity.

If you need any other info lemme know and I'll grab it.

    ELUTENG M2 SSD to USB Adapter 2230-2280 NGFF to USB 3.0 Adapter SuperSpeed M2 SSD
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y5N428V/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

[Swerve83]

The only thing I did not try was to use the USB cable that came with this SSD encloure on my WD HDD.  Pretty sure it wont do much. But I'll try later today once I'm off work.

[Swerve83]

I forgot to post the pictures of what I'm using, here they are.

I have it broken down and then put back together so you can see.  Also got a close up of the M.2 SSD with its Model and info...

Pretty basic stuff

[Swerve83]

I know it's not really neccassary unless you have an extremely old hard drive and need to do a full blown low level format (which takes hours sometimes).  But I'm going to do that to my 5TB WD External HDD and then try to load it directly to my router.  No restrictions and no special permissions.....just plug it in as if it were right out of the box. I'll see where that gets me.