Orbi USB port

[none5x]

I purchased an Oribi around Christmas time from Costco.  When the networked USB hard drive that I plugged into the unit did not work, I called into Orbi tech support and was told that the Orbi's USB port was not yet working, but it would be shortly activated and external hard drive use would be functional at that time.

Since calling Netgear tech support (even for a super expensive device like the Orbi) is a HORRIBLE experience, I stopped calling to check on the status of the firmware update needed to add support for these basic functions.

Today, however, I googled the issue and was surpised to find at least two closed topics in this set of forums saying that the port is still not working and, even after it's activated, may never support external hard drives.

Is that correct?  Was I misinformed before?  Fortunately, Costco has a generous return policy....

[peteytesting · Accepted solution]

there is a simple answer and thats to put that hard drive in a real nas unit with ethernet as its connection method and this way you will get fast speeds from your hard drive as even if the usb does get activated ( which i doubt ) it would only be usb 2 and quite slow with hdd and the like

i see the new rbk40 and 30 dont even have usb at all , so i would suggest its not ever going to be a usable feature on the rbk50 ether

[loomis1975]

The USB port is indeed still idled.

[peteytesting · Accepted solution]

there is a simple answer and thats to put that hard drive in a real nas unit with ethernet as its connection method and this way you will get fast speeds from your hard drive as even if the usb does get activated ( which i doubt ) it would only be usb 2 and quite slow with hdd and the like

i see the new rbk40 and 30 dont even have usb at all , so i would suggest its not ever going to be a usable feature on the rbk50 ether

[none5x]

still waiting for updates on this from Netgear

[rhester72]

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@none5x wrote:

still waiting for updates on this from Netgear

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I'm not sure what updates you're waiting for.  Darren indicated on the forum just this week that Netgear has no intentions of extending the functionality of the USB ports.

Rodney

[DarrenM]

I said its for future use but it does nothing right now.

DarrenM

[none5x]

Darren,

Thank you.  Do you have an ETA when I will be able to hook up an external hard drive for network back up purposes?  I'm feeling like this has been outstanding for a long while and am thinking about returning my unit to Costco to buy a different device.

[DarrenM]

Hello none5x

I do not have any info on that will let you know if I find anything out on this.

DarrenM

[none5x]

Darren,

Thank you for your speedy reply.

Just  so I understand properly, are you an employee of Netgear?

[DarrenM]

Hello none5x

Yes I am employee of  Netgear.

DarrenM

[jasdoc]

Any updates on the USB functionality? i am really in need of a timemachine backup!