Question Windows can't see network SSDs ?

[jdcrutch]

Hello. Here's my set-up:
ASUS RT-ACRH13 router
Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 plugged into the router via USB, containing

One Hitachi HDS723030ALA640 HDD​

One Western Digital WD20 EZRX-00D8PB0 HDD​

Two Samsung 870 EVO SSDs,​

connected by Ethernet to a
Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 4 Workstation Dock and a
Lenovo ThinkPad laptop running Windows 11 Pro 64.

If I plug the enclosure directly into the laptop, Windows 11 can read all four drives, and I can format the SSDs and put files on them. If I plug the enclosure into the network, Win11 can't see the SSDs unless I remove the HDDs from the enclosure. The router sees them all, regardless. Is there a way to make Win11 read the SSDs and HDDs at the same time? Do I have any options other than plugging directly into the laptop (which would mean I can't access the network drives from my tablet), or ditching the HDDs? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Ralston18]

This enclosure?

https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4

I do not see an Ethernet port on the Mediasonic ProBox.

By "plug the enclosure into the network" do you mean the router's USB port?

This router?

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-ACRH13/E11649_RT_ACRH13_Manual.pdf

Are you able to log directly into the router with admin rights or are you using the Asus Web based GUI?

Reference Section 3 of the User Guide to check the current configuration settings. Sharing etc...

Hopefully the problem is simply some mis-configuration error of omission or commission.

However, I have seen problems with using storage device's connected to the router's USB port. For example, a Linksys WRT1900AC router network performance completely came to a crawl whenever a USB device was plugged into the router's USB port. Port had to be left unused.

 

[jdcrutch]

Thanks for the reply. The ethernet port is on the dock, not the ProBox. It's how I connect the computer to the router. The ProBox is connected to the router via USB.

I'm using the ASUS web-based GUI to log into the router. I assume I could do the other if I knew how, as I am the owner of the router and the only person who uses it, but I don't know how to do that.

I also hope that the problem is just a misconfiguration. That's what I'm hoping somebody on this forum will be able to tell me. I'm told that the ASUS router's USB port is very slow, but it worked fine with my old set-up (Win10, older ThinkPad & dock, no SSDs), and the drives I have access to are fast enough to watch videos from on a Wi-Fi tablet. I just can't access the SSDs.

I suspect my problem has to do with combining SSDs and HDDs, but it goes away if I don't use the network and just plug the ProBox directly into the computer. Then my only problem is that Windows opens a separate File Explorer window for each logical drive, all but one of which I then have to close manually.

 

[USAFRet]

I have that same Probox.

While I've not put any of my SATA III SSD in it, I can't imagine those would work any differently than a SATA HDD.
The interface in the drive and Probox is the same.

I may have to swap in a space SATA SSD and see what happens.
(but not connected to the router)