USB Flash drive for a router.

[soumensam]

Hi there,

I’m looking to setup a USB Flash Drive with a router. I want to use its as a Network Drive with larger storage/memory for a small office. But before doing I’ve several questions.

# The Router is TP-Link Archer C20i and it has one USB 2.0 port so If I get a USB 3.0 Flash Drive would it be any beneficial? I mean speed like 3.0 or better speed than 2.0 or I will get same speed of 2.0.

# Can I mount a External hard drive like 500GB or these routers has any limited memory support range? I’ve one but didn’t not test it yet as it’s NTFS File format and not sure if the router only works with FAT32.

# With a Sandisk USB 2.0 over wifi writing speed is pathetic maybe like 2-3mbps but over LAN the speed is around 8mbps. Going for a 3.0 would increase the writing speed over wifi?

# I was looking for smaller size Flash drive to save space but all the 3.0 tiny size are reporting they are not for permanent installation as these becomes hot shortly. Could the heat make any damage to the router? Currently I’m testing with a Sandisk Cruzer Blade and so far after few days of constant attachment it didn’t get heat at all maybe due to the plastic body. So is it better to going for the same one with larger capacity as much as possible?

 

[boosted1g]

1) There is no performance improvement using a 3.0 stick in a 2.0 slot. Putting 170mph racing tires on a mini-van doesn't help it go 170mph just means the tires themselves can handle it.

2) Yes you can use an external hard drive

3) No, the limitation is wifi, not the card itself. Wifi is the weak link in the chain, doesn't matter if you have a usb 2.0 drive, a 3.0 drive, an ssd drive or a quantum drive from the future, the data transfer over wifi will still be that 2-3mbps unless you upgrade your wifi network.

4) Its possible the heat could cause issues, depending on how hot it really got. Now most tiny drives were designed for permanent install, I would look at usb 2.0 ones.



Now with all of that said, using the USB drive port has not proven to be very reliable so for business use I would highly recommend not doing it.

Best option is to take a desktop and put an additional hard drive into it and share the drive and put your files on that.
Sharing an external drive or flash drive is the next best option.

 

[soumensam]

1) There is no performance improvement using a 3.0 stick in a 2.0 slot. Putting 170mph racing tires on a mini-van doesn't help it go 170mph just means the tires themselves can handle it.

2) Yes you can use an external hard drive

3) No, the limitation is wifi, not the card itself. Wifi is the weak link in the chain, doesn't matter if you have a usb 2.0 drive, a 3.0 drive, an ssd drive or a quantum drive from the future, the data transfer over wifi will still be that 2-3mbps unless you upgrade your wifi network.

4) Its possible the heat could cause issues, depending on how hot it really got. Now most tiny drives were designed for permanent install, I would look at usb 2.0 ones.



Now with all of that said, using the USB drive port has not proven to be very reliable so for business use I would highly recommend not doing it.

Best option is to take a desktop and put an additional hard drive into it and share the drive and put your files on that.
Sharing an external drive or flash drive is the next best option.

# Thanks for your feedback and I really appreciate it. Yea I knew there is no performance improvement using a 3.0 stick in a 2.0 slot and the bad luck is, so far I couldn’t tested 3.0 flash drive. But I saw a lots of user saying that USB 3.0 flash drive gives much better writing speed than a usb 2.0 flash in usb 2.0 port.
For example if you see here: http://awesomescreenshot.com/0c348idf57 and I read lots of feedback like this. A USB 2.0 flash never gives 15 to 25 MB/s write speed.

# Yes the file transfer is slower over wifi 2.4ghz which all device mostly use here. But its way to better over 5ghz but it has shorter coverage.

# Yes after your feedback I will go for the USB 2.0. But maybe not a tiny one.

# Since last long I’m using a 500GB external hard drive attached to a pc and shared one folders to others and the hard drive has many other folders which I don’t want to share with others. Its working great so far but the sharing security is not very user friendly. Also I’ve to keep the PC on all the time. But with the router I could easily provide access to separate users and all the access management is far better than windows. That is why thinking about it.

 

[boosted1g]

Yeah folder network folder permissions could be made better, the best you can do on a normal PC version of windows is to create user accounts for the users (or at least the different access levels you want) and then set the folder permissions for that user.
Now DO NOT check box deny under the folder privileges, just don't check box Allow. If you click deny on a folder for a user/group that your admin account is part of, you will have no access to the file/folder and will have to go through quite the process of using a Linux boot disk or windows pe disk to take ownership under a different account and fix the mess.

Microsoft does not put too much of an effort into the PC market because if you have specific needs then they want you to buy the server OS.

 

[soumensam]

Yeah folder network folder permissions could be made better, the best you can do on a normal PC version of windows is to create user accounts for the users (or at least the different access levels you want) and then set the folder permissions for that user.
Now DO NOT check box deny under the folder privileges, just don't check box Allow. If you click deny on a folder for a user/group that your admin account is part of, you will have no access to the file/folder and will have to go through quite the process of using a Linux boot disk or windows pe disk to take ownership under a different account and fix the mess.

Microsoft does not put too much of an effort into the PC market because if you have specific needs then they want you to buy the server OS.

Thanks again. Yes currently I’m managing like this way. I’ve created many users and given separate access to users as required. But the 2 big issue is I’ve to keep the master PC on 24x7 so that others can access it. But sometime I’ve to left the PC off if Power down etc. Another is I’ve to note down all access given to users, there have no particular interface for that. So sometime I forgets who have what access and if I do mistake my workers could get wrong files.

But at the router there have a good interface where I can always track who has what folder access. And my router runs 365 days and it has power backup too, so no issues. Even with the router has DLNA Media Server feature with that I can stream media over any wifi device. Yesterday I tested it and my Note 3 stream 1080p video easily without any lag.

So I’ve decided to get another Portable Hard drive like 500GB which wont require external power source like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Touro-7200RPM-High-Performance-Portable-0S03782/dp/B00IVFDMWE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421991558&sr=8-1&keywords=HITACHI+TOURO+S+500GB and this cost pretty less here.

My only concern is by permanent attachment if this heats up or consume much power from the router, heats up the router and damage the router over time.