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Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500

howie954
Aspirant

Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500

The RAXE500 has two USB Ports so my question is can I connect two separate Hard Drives to this Router.  In addition, What is the largest recommended and Supported Hard Drives to connect to the RAXE500?

Message 1 of 10
Kitsap
Master

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500


@howie954 wrote:

The RAXE500 has two USB Ports so my question is can I connect two separate Hard Drives to this Router.  In addition, What is the largest recommended and Supported Hard Drives to connect to the RAXE500?


That is what they make manuals for. 

 

Download yours here:  https://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/RAXE500/RAXE450_RAXE500_UM_EN.pdf

 

Start on page 120.  There is a link to a list of supported hard drives on page 121.

Message 2 of 10
howie954
Aspirant

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500

Yes, I saw that but the RAXE500 is not listed in the list of models.  I also know its a newer unit.

Message 3 of 10
Kitsap
Master

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500

I did not drill down to the link and check the model numbers.  The RAXE500 is so new the list has not been updated to include it.

 

It appears the list was last updated on 3/29/2022.  You may have to check back occasionally until the list is updated.

Message 4 of 10
howie954
Aspirant

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500

I see a pattern that most of the routers have the same hard drives listed.  What I am really trying to find out is what is the biggest I can use right out of the box.  I read somewhere they must have their own Power Supply but I also read its not recommended to use Hard Drives over 2 TB.

Message 5 of 10
Razor512
Prodigy

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500

Not sure of the maximum size, but I have successfully used an 8TB WD red hard drive connected to a USB 3.0 SATA dock.

Has anyone tried anything larger with their RAXE500?

Message 6 of 10

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500


@howie954 wrote:

What I am really trying to find out is what is the biggest I can use right out of the box. 


I use an 8TB Seagate Backup Plus Hub (STEL8000200). It has two extra USB ports, both of which ReadySHARE can see and access.

 

I also have a 4TB WD Elements.

 

That's 12TB in all. I have never tried maxing out the two USB drives attached to the Seagate.

 

This is on an R7800, but, as you suggested, most routers accept the same stuff.

 

Message 7 of 10

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500


@Kitsap wrote:

@howie954 wrote:

The RAXE500 has two USB Ports so my question is can I connect two separate Hard Drives to this Router.  In addition, What is the largest recommended and Supported Hard Drives to connect to the RAXE500?


That is what they make manuals for. 

 


Sadly, while that is usually the best suggestion for finding advice, the manual is probably the least reliable place to look for useful details on compatible USB drives.

 

ReadySHARE USB Drives Compatibility List | Answer | NETGEAR Support

What are the USB drive requirements for ReadySHARE on my NETGEAR router? | Answer | NETGEAR Support

 

The official list is always out of date. It cannot hope to keep up with all the USB drives going. It can't even keep up with Netgear's own product roster.

 

The general view seems to be that a USB device that works on one Netgear product will work on many others, especially those in the same family of products. So something on one RAXE should work on other RAXE models.

 

 

Message 8 of 10
howie954
Aspirant

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500

Is there any reason why the Seagate FireCuda Gaming Hub External Hard Drive HDD 8TB - USB 3.2?  Seems to have good reviews, is a newer unit and works with PS4 and PS5.  Any reason why it would not work?  Is USB 3.2 a problem?

Message 9 of 10
Razor512
Prodigy

Re: Connecting USB Hard Drives tot he RAXE500

The USB 3 naming schemes are poorly done since they keep incrementing numbers without making any actual changes. beyond that, it for many external hard drives, it is used as a marketing gimmick.
an 8TB 5400RPM hard drive will typically top out at about 180-190MB/s , and a 7200RPM model will often top out at around 220MB/s. The baseline speed of the USB 3 standard is 5Gbps, though with overhead, speeds will typically top out at around 500MB/s which no current mechanical hard drive is hitting.

 

USB if backwards compatible, thus different standards will not really impact compatibility.

To see the annoyances of the USB versioning, USB 3.0 is 5Gbps, USB 3.1 is 5Gbps, USB 3.2 is 5Gbps, They made no changes to the hardware, and purely did a name change.

Actual hardware improvements came in the form of the "Gen 2" labeled items,

USB 3.1 Gen 2 = 10Gbps

USB 3.2 Gen 2 = 10Gbps
Difference being the name change.
Then for an actual speed boost within that sub version, they made USB 3.2 Gen 2X2 = 20Gbps

It has been a common complaint with many people joking on it.

For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gShRBsahzXg

https://youtu.be/X9rakr_5a1s?t=126

------------
Beyond that, the RAXE500's USB storage tops out at around 145-150MB/s (need to use 802.11ax or the 2.5GbE port to get those speeds) for reads and writes. And while I can't find the exact reasoning, it does seem like that is an artificial limit since even when writing at those speeds, it doesn't even use 30% of 1 of the cores.

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