Does Orbi RBK50 support USB3 Connected hard drives?

[Srikanthl]

Hi,

Does Orbi RBK50 support USB3 Connected hard disks? My router just can't recognise USB3 hard disks. However it is able to recognise my 8gb uab2 pen drive. Is this a limitation in current firmware. It is very disappointing. Except this I like everything else in this router.

[Blanca_O · Accepted solution]

Hi All, 

I have checked this with the team. Orbi has not been updated to use Readyshare features as of right now it only officially supports Readyshare print for printers via the USB.

Regards, 
Blanca 
Community Team

[hilld83]

Based on what can currently be found on Netgear's support site for this product, the USB port is for connecting a USB Printer to enable ReadyShare network printing. There does not appear to be any mention in this device's features to indicate support of USB hard drives at this time. While some users have reported very selective compatibility with USB hard drives or USB thumb drives, there does not appear to be a device compatibility list, nor have I found instructions for attaching USB hard drives, USB thumb drives, or other USB storage media to the RBK50 (RBR50 or RBS50). To my knowledge, there has also not been any official information given to indicate supported formats. For the time being, I would say that if this is a feature you need, you could try adding a device to your network that is designed to support this capability. For example, some NAS units have USB ports for adding external hard drives or thumb drives. As an alternative, most computers will allow network sharing of external hard drives or thumb drives. Suggestions for adding USB drives to your home network can be found by searching online. Hope this helps!

[mdgm-ntgr]

All our current ReadyNAS units have USB3 ports. We even have one/more eSATA ports on a number of models if you prefer that interface.

A NAS does need at least one disk installed internally. Performance for internal disks in network storage is likely to be be a lot better than USB disks. If you were thinking of permanently connecting a USB disk, a NAS connected to an ethernet port on your Orbi would be a much better way to go.

With a NAS you can use redundant RAID levels with multiple disks to make needing to do a full restore from backup less likely. Whereas with a USB disk if the disk fails you’ll need to restore a copy of the data elsewhere.

A NAS is a headless PC with its own CPU and can be used to do lots of different things.

[Srikanthl]

Thanks but NAS is generally expensive. My USB3 device is backward compatible with usb2 port. Orbi has an usb2 port and so I thought it would support my USB drive.

Is it something that will be supported in future firmware updates ?

[ThangDo]

Until now, with the latest firmware installed, Orbi RBK50 supports sharing Printer on USB port only. USB storage still not be recognized.

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[whatiwant]

This is sad, hope netgear will get this up and running soon.

[cheshbr]

I got my Orbi RBK50 system in mid March 2018, and soon overwrote whatever firmware was installed with firmware V2.1.2.18.  From the outset, that FW worked. Wired backhaul, Apple HomeKit with Ethernet, Lifx, and the router’s USB port accepted an attached hard disk.  Since then I have uploaded a beta variation of V2.1.4.10.

All aspects of my Orbis are working satisfactorily, and I don’t get auto updates either, thanks to the Telnet tweak.  

The only grumble is have is that a couple of fixed 2.4Ghz devices randomly roam from the satellite to the much further away router, so I power cycle the rogue devices, which returns them to the satellite but within a couple of days, they roam again. But there are other devices, both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz,  which are rock solid.

[ThangDo]

Thanks.

I don't have external hard drive, but when plug with USB thumb, Orbi RBR50 can accept only 32GB USB thumb, not bigger.

[cheshbr]

I have a 500 Gb WD Scorpio Blue HDD in a 2.5in enclosure plugged in to my Orbi RBR50 router.  The USB port on an Orbi router is USB 2.0

[Jeremyinsf]

What's the File System Type?

[cheshbr]

FAT 32

[paddyr]

I can confIthat wiht the latest firmware, the USB port does indeed support a haerd drive. Ijust plugged it in and it worked.

[FURRYe38]

"haerd drive" ?

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@paddyr wrote:

I can confIthat wiht the latest firmware, the USB port does indeed support a haerd drive. Ijust plugged it in and it worked.

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[paddyr]

yeah i type too fast sometimes!

[Buzzard]

Thanks for the information.  No worries on the keystroke errors, so people just like to flex their virtual muscle...

[FURRYe38]

Not muscle, just checking for accuracy is all to be sure and clear on context and wordings. 

[Embers]

What is the firmware version you're running? I just installed the latest available non-beta firmware and the router would still only detect the puny fat32 setup partition on the hard drive. I've now deleted that partition in hopes of accessing the partition I created for ReadyShare. Shouldn't there be a ReadyShareCloud in the Genie app if this is working?

[paddyr]

i have a usb2 drive plugged in and it works, fat32, 2 TB. Latest firmware...not beta. Thats all i know and/or care about.

[Embers]

Okay. I tried deleting the original puny partition and reformatted to exfat (the only other option available for 2TB besides NTFS and no dice :(. Glad yours is working for you.

[FURRYe38]

Did you try FAT32?

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@Embers wrote:
Okay. I tried deleting the original puny partition and reformatted to exfat (the only other option available for 2TB besides NTFS and no dice :(. Glad yours is working for you.

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[cheshbr]

The router of the Orbi RBK50 model has a USB 2.0 port.  Mine works with a 500 Gb HDD plugged in, and as it’s a small form factor drive, it gets sufficient power to run through the USB 2.9 port.  This is a basic NAS that can be seen by WiFi all over my house. It works well

[Majorninth]

Care to share the make/model of your connected 2TB drive that works on the rbr50?

[paddyr]

Toshiba hdtc729xx3c1

I googled it and it doesnt show up.... Its many (like  maybe 6?) years old. Any external USB hard drive should work

[randomousity]

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@cheshbr wrote:
The only grumble is have is that a couple of fixed 2.4Ghz devices randomly roam from the satellite to the much further away router, so I power cycle the rogue devices, which returns them to the satellite but within a couple of days, they roam again. But there are other devices, both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz,  which are rock solid.

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Do you have the 2.4 GHz channel set to "auto" in the wireless settings (as opposed to a fixed channel assignment in 1-11)? If so, that's my best guess as to why they sometimes change. The Orbi will detect interference on, say, ch.1, and switch to another, less crowded, channel. But your device might still be looking for your SSID on ch. 1, and will find the farther-away router which is still on ch. 1, and connect to that, before checking other channels, where it would find the closer satellite that has switched to, say ch. 11 (or vice versa with the router and satellite, and channel numbers). I don't know whether the Orbi coordinates channel changes, so that the router and any/all satellites are always on the same channel, but I'd guess not. I suspect if you disable auto channel tuning and just figure out which channel is the least crowded and just manually select that one, you won't have this issue anymore.

[paddyr]

Well....my usb 2 drive worked perfectly for many months and I used it as a backup drive for Carbon Copy (on a MAc).

I updated the firmware to 2.2.1.210 and never saw the drive again! 

I reverted the firmware back to 2.1.4.16 and although sometimes I can see the drive, I have trouble connecting to it and have not been able to write to it. I'm not 100% sure what the firmware version was before I updated.... so I'm not sure if 2.1.4.16 was the version that actually worked previously. 

In any case, for the sake of sanity and not wasting time on crap like this, I'm just going to go buy a network drive and plug it in to an ethernet port and get on with my life.