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[Just Checking]

I have a DIR-825 Rev. B1 wireless router running FW ver.NA2.0.7.   I want to connect a Seagate 4Tb external HDD with USB 3.0 into the USB 2.0 port on the router to use the hdd as a NAS and run backups of the data files on the computers of my home network.   The computers are running Windows 7 - 64bit.  Plugging the hdd into the USB port on the computer lets it be recognized and ensured that Windows 7 had the most current drivers.   

When I plug the external hdd into the USB 2.0 port on the router and  then plugging in the hdd and resetting the router, I still cannot get the computer to find the hdd on the network.   

I read in other forums that some routers do not allow external hdd to be used with their USB ports for network storage.   Does anyone know if the DIR-825 routers can use their USB ports for external hdd storage? If so, can any point me to a link/FAQ/procedure/helpline that I can access to find out what I am doing wrong.  I have not tried to change the software settings on the router.   I'm looking for a little help here to do, what I thought is, this seemingly simple task.

[FurryNutz]

1. You need to use SharePort utility on each PC that you want to use to connect to the drive.

2. 4Tb might not be supported as officially, 500Gb is the max size that is supported on these routers. I have tested a 2Tb on several routers and it seems to work for the most part. My 2Tb drive fails on a DIR-826L. If your 4Tb drive is not correctly identified or detected by the router, then you'll need to try something smaller.

3. You could bypass the SharePort connection by trying the How to Map to a USB drive with out using SharePort sticky found here:
http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?board=304.0

[Just Checking]

Thank you for this information. Following your advice, I disconnected the 4Tb HDD from the router and connected up a 2Tb Seagate HDD with USB 3.0, that I had done a fresh format on, to the router and rebooted the router and powered up the HDD.

 I went to the Forum posting on "How to map a USB Drive to your PC without using Shareport Software.".  After going into the Network & Sharing Center => Tools => Map Network Drive  then entering

\\192.168.0.1\Storage(A0)
Did not work so I tried:
\\192.168.0.1\Storage(B0)
Did not work so I tried:
\\192.168.0.1\VID_PID_0

Interestingly, The first time I tried \\192.168.0.1\Storage(A0) it seems to have frozen the router so there was no communication.  I was getting error messages that stated I was getting no communication to the device (understandable since the router was locked up).  After discovering this, I rebooted the router and the HDD and tried again after ensuring that the router was operating properly.  Now the computer (Windows 7-64 bit, HP Elitebook 8460p with I5 processor) attempts to connect to the drive but gives no messages until it times out after 15 minutes.  I tried all three of the suggested folders but had the same results.

You also suggested to another member the acquisition of a USB to Ethernet adapter then plugging into the LAN port.   Just curious as to why this would make the HDD visible to the network from the LAN port when the drive isn't visible on the USB port?

From the posts on the other topic, this seems to be a problem for other people besides myself and there doesn't seem to be a good solution other than possibly a hardware adapter.   

I guess I will try to investigate the Share Port software as well as the hardware solution.  Other forum members don't seem to think highly of it so I am somewhat leery about that.

[FurryNutz]

The reason of the LAN to USB adapter is to let the adapter resolve the USB port issue and then convert USB communications to a LAN IP address which could be used and shared out.

I personally don't use HDD via USB as USB in general is slow and not as fast as LAN.

If those options mentioned do not help resolve this issue then you'll need to find other alternate means to share out your USB drives. I have 3 external drives connected to a dedicated PC which is on all the time and is shared out that way.

Good Luck.

[Just Checking]

While I have quite a few HDD for storage, they are all in enclosures that have either esata, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, or combinations of these.  I don't have any enclosures that have ethernet ports.  I have contemplated making a raid array and getting something like a 4-5 HDD enclosure with ethernet ports as a NAS, I have not done so.   Your computer with HDD's is acting as a server and doing the same thing.  I don't have a spare computer lying around that I can do that with at this time.

I agree with you that USB 2.0 is a slow information transfer method.  If these DIR-825 routers had USB 3.0 ports, that would be a different story.   That is why all my external HDD enclosures have esata or USB 3.0 ports.  Since I had these HDD's lying around, and the routers had the USB 2.0 port that wasn't being used, I just thought I'd try to get an easy NAS with existing equipment.  I knew it would not be high performance through the USB 2.0 port.

I'll look into the USB to ethernet adapter.

[FurryNutz]

Most of the newer generation routers have USB 3.0.

Let us know how it goes.

Good Luck.

[Just Checking]

Most of the newer generation routers have USB 3.0.

Let us know how it goes.

Good Luck.

I ended up getting a HP Proliant N54L Microserver to allow me to do NAS, print serving, backups, media serving, and remote access.  I put a SYBA USB 3.0 PCIe Low Profile card in with 3 external and 1 internal port and connected the printers through the USB 2.0 ports.   I connected my modem to the WAN port on the primary DIR-825 router and ran a CAT6E cable to a DLink 5-port unmanaged smart switch plugged into one of the LAN ports on the primary Router.  I connected my Server, RAC, and secondary DIR-825 router through the switch.   

Everything works fine and solved my problem of getting access to external HDD's that have USB 3.0 ports.  My current problem is that the maximum file transfer speed by wireless from my workstations to the server is only 7.2MB/sec.   Most of the time I only get a sustained transfer rate of around 4.0 - 4.5MB/sec.   This is a problem for doing HDD backups or bare metal backups where the workstations have around 100GB of data.   

Is there a way to increase the file transfer speed?   I will start a separate thread on this subject also.

[FurryNutz]

Your best and preferred way would be using wired LAN connections for doing backups and xfer of large amounts of data. Wireless speeds can't be obtained using wireless due to the many factors that can contribute to wireless performances. At most I ever saw on my 825 was about 6Mb on 2.4Ghz and about 9-12Mb on 5Ghz. If your seeing 100Gb of data that needs to be moved on a frequent basis, Wired LAN is the only way to go.

[Just Checking]

Your best and preferred way would be using wired LAN connections for doing backups and xfer of large amounts of data. Wireless speeds can't be obtained using wireless due to the many factors that can contribute to wireless performances. At most I ever saw on my 825 was about 6Mb on 2.4Ghz and about 9-12Mb on 5Ghz. If your seeing 100Gb of data that needs to be moved on a frequent basis, Wired LAN is the only way to go.

I realize that ethernet speeds are not possible with wireless transfers.  I am just trying to get the most out of the wireless network that I can.  I'm trying to find the bottleneck in my network to allow me to do the Work Station Backups automatically with the wireless network.   

Is the limitation in the WiFi router?   If so, what is holding it back and, would a different router allow higher sustained transfer speeds for this amount of information?  Theoretically, these DIR-825 routers should have plenty of capacity for higher transfer rates.   

This is a curiosity question and a practical question.   Someone must have addressed it - like those people who host gamer nights (home stuff) and businesses with LAN's and hundreds/thousands of discrete workstations - some on hardwired systems, some on wireless.   Where I work, there are literally 10's of thousands of workstations.   My Home/Small Business network is a miniscule dot compared with the LAN where I work.

[FurryNutz]

Ways to maximize wireless speeds would be to ensure that any drivers on the one wireless PC are up to date.
Any background running programs besides the backup program are disabled, including Firewalls and Anti-virus.
Use wireless adapters that support N mode and speeds 300Mb or faster.
Use 5Ghz, single mode N, WPA2 and AES only as the wireless operating mode.
Distance between the device and router should be no more than 10 feet.
Allow only this one devices on the wireless while connected and doing the back up.

The wireless file xfer speeds are the nature of the beast. This is a good router and rates are good for what it was designed to do. Yes there are other newer model DIR series routers that have better actual file xfer speeds, however you'll need devices that can support the faster rates though.

Most LAN parties and such mainly use wired connections for gaming. Nobody wants any bad wireleess performance with having that many or several devices using wireless which can effect gaming performance and experiences. LAN is king for gaming.

However in some cases, if adapters and routers are set up well for minimal gaming use, wireless can work well. My roommate is on 5Ghz using a 450Mb bridged wireless adapter. Gaming is good for him since I can't get a wired LAN cable downstairs. Also building materials can effect wireless as well, specially on 5Ghz.

If your set on using Wireless as your main operation for Backups then maybe an AC router with and AC adapter is what you should look into. D-Link has several new L series routers and a few AC adapters out now.

[Just Checking]

Since my primary router lost programming, I reset the following features as suggested.
- 2.4 & 5GHz set to "n" only (no "a", "g", or combo).
- WPA-2 with AES only (ok for a test but not acceptable in real life since cell phones and tablets will not work with this encryption scheme).
- Within 10ft of the router (again, ok for a test but impractical in real life).
- Use 5GHZ band only.
- Only one device on the 5GHz wireless band (again, ok for the test but impractical in real life).

With this setup, I did note an improvement in the transfer rate of my test iso file.  Where previously I saw a maximum transfer speed of 7.2MB/sec, I now measured a maximum speed of 9.8MB/sec.  Where I previously measured an average sustained transfer speed of 4.5MB/sec, it increased to about 7.0MB/sec.   This IS as significant increase but at the cost of loss of network functionality and practicality. 

I have read other articles and posts about different "n" routers with much higher transfer wireless speeds.  While taking them with a grain of salt, the sheer number of posts claiming speeds 30% -50% higher than my measured speeds has to be acknowledged.   

I am also curious as to whether anyone has done a calculation of the realistic expected transfer speeds possible based on bandwidth characteristics of the router, signal strength, distance, and antenna configuration.  It would seem that DLink engineers would have done these calculations and real life measurements.   DLink makes all kinds of routers, AP's, signal boosters, switches, and accoutrements for wireless networks.  They needed to do testing when changing their designs.   Is that information available somewhere in a white paper to help me benchmark my stuff?  All the literature on the DLink website is marketing hype with no real data to support their claims.   Not that DLink is different from any other WiFi router mfg.   This is an industry wide problem.   

[FurryNutz]

It's all about marketing.
 
i"ve done real life measurements under beta testing conditions using a DIR-857 and was impressed by the abilities at the time of this router. Again this is a ideal use and using default settings of the router and not using any specialized settings in which most settings I use.

Overall, the conditions of wireless are inherent to ALL wifi routers and are subject to the same radio analog and digital broadcast problems that are inherent to Wifi.

Like I mentioned before, for doing large file or high bandwidth transfers between devices, Wired LAN cable is the best and recommended solution for this. Wireless can handle some things however seems to be still impacted by various conditions and circumstanced that effect WiFi performance. There are many configurations to consider and weather your devices support or do not support the most idea custom settings, is not a limitation or a problem of the router, rather is a limitation of our devices that you use and how you use them in conjunction with the router model. This router works well for what it is designed and intended to do for it's class. Wireless works well for certain platforms and configurations.

Realistically, you need to consider your actual uses of this router vs what you need to do. Seems that your large file xfers and back ups are a major importance to you and getting the data to the desired destinations is important. Why take the chance of using Wireless when unknown conditions could effect safe and good file xfers to happen over WiFi vs more stable uses of wired LAN? I wouldn't put data at risk using WiFi.

Good luck.

[jstobbe]

This works like a charm

http://support.dlink.com/FAQView.aspx?f=Sssy5ZaMp4Dah9k7UajFYA%3d%3d

[FurryNutz]

Thank you for sharing, i'll add it to the forum FAQ:
How to map a USB Drive to your PC without using Shareport software

This works like a charm

http://support.dlink.com/FAQView.aspx?f=Sssy5ZaMp4Dah9k7UajFYA%3d%3d