An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers

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An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers

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An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
2013-06-13 09:46:25
Many of TP-LINK wireless routers have the USB ports which can perform the functions of storage sharing, ftp server, media server and printer server.However, because of the limitation of hardware and software, the USB ports may not satisfy your expectation perfectly. We would like to seek for your comments and suggestions on USB function of TP-LINK routers now.

We will take all your suggestions into careful consideration. If good and applicable, we will put it into effect humbly.

Please put forward your comments and suggestions thereafter this post according to the following three contents:
1、The experiences with TP-LINK routers’ USB ports including satisfactions and dissatisfactions.
2、The comparisonon experiences with other brand routers’ for USB functions.
3、Suggestions to TP-LINK USB products for future development.
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#1
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12 Reply
Re:An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
2013-06-30 23:29:02
1. Fine-tune DLNA (media server) in TP-link routers and more compatibility with TV devices.
2. Fine-tune samba and FTP server like in openwrt because this is more stable solution.
3. More updates for typical 3G/4G routers for new modems supported and introduction supported 3G/4G modems for any USB routers.
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#2
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Re:An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
2013-07-13 12:38:12
I just found wonderfull if i can access the media server from internet for streaming, this will be amazing feature.
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#3
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Re:An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
2013-07-19 01:28:29
I will tackle the topics in reverse order, since I consider nr. 1 to be the most important in the list.

3. I have no input for this one, sorry.

2. Two of my friends and colleagues, which are using ASUS routers, have reported higher upload/download rates (5-6 MB/s upload, 10-15 MB/s download) when using the ftp/samba transfer capability in conjunction with an external hard drive attached to the routers' USB ports - I admit I am a bit envious, since I am not getting anywhere near that with what I have. The pricing of the routers was comparable to what I've spent on my TL-WR1043ND router, so it's not a question of different performance or cost classes.

1. As you might have guessed from topic nr. 2, the main disappointment here is the low transfer rate achievable via USB when using attached stored via ftp/samba. I can see quite a few people on this forum alone being taken aback by the low transfer rates they are getting out of their wireless routers:

http://forum.tp-link.com/showthread.php?1597-FTP-server-speed-problem
http://forum.tp-link.com/showthread.php?2313-TL-WDR3600-USB-Storage-low-speed
http://forum.tp-link.com/showthread.php?27958-W8970-Samba-USB-Speed

I am getting a maximum of 2.5 MB/s on upload to a 1TB WD Green hard drive attached via USB to my TL-WR1043ND router. The hard drives gets up to a max of 45 MB/s on write when connected to a PC. I also have a separate ftp server on one of my linux boxes connected to the network to which I am uploading with about 30-50 MB/s, so network bandwidth is not a limiting factor.

I do understand that routers are specialized pieces of hardware that come with certain hardware/software restrictions by design, however, as ydzhus correctly points out in the below thread, you CAN get better transfer rates on the same hardware by using third party firmware, which is a shame - that is if you can stand the idea of voiding your warranty (which, again, is a shame):

http://forum.tp-link.com/showthread.php?3281-TL-WR1043ND-speed-USB-for-future-firmware

This seems to suggest that even if the optimizations present in third party firmwares are perhaps considered a bit too stretched to be safe/reliable, there is definitely room for improvement which can be leveraged in the official firmware as well for most TP-LINK wireless routers.

Increasing the write/read speeds for USB mounted drives will definitely give off some good vibes throughout the TP-LINK wireless router user community, as I believe a lot of people have already put this on their Christmas wishlist.
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#4
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Re:An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
2013-08-11 22:20:45
I´ve use it with a printer. It´s slow, but, that´s not the worst part. The really problem is that before you can use it you NEED to direct connect the printer and the computer to install drivers. So, you need to transport the printer or the desktop computer to do that.
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#5
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Re:An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
2013-09-01 02:05:26
Your UPNP is broken on your TL-WR842ND.
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#6
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HFS-Volumes
2014-01-30 20:37:45
I found it useful if I could use HFS-Volumes for sharing.

And: energy saving options for the connected drives should be available/supported.
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#7
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TD-W8968 usb
2014-08-02 23:11:04
I recently purchased an iosafe 3Tb usb drive and connected it to my TD-W8968. I was disappointed that the router didn't support more than 2 Tb - so I had to reformat the drive to get it to work.
Can you add greater than 3 Tb support to the usb drive?
I love usb drives on the router and I wish they were better. USB 3.0, etc. I just want one all-in-one box to do all my network stuff - router, modem, usb, etc.

When I first connected the USB drive, I was getting 4-5 Mpbs downloads. Now I get 150 Kbps. It started after about 5 days of use.

Why is that?

I need to get 5 Mbps download minimum from this kind of setup in order to use TD-W8968 as a media hub enabler. This is in order to stream HD. Which means that TP-link needs to be rated to 25 Mbps theoretical maximum.

Please help! By the way, the new router firmware for this rocks and is much better than the previous version. If you could just fix this one thing....
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#8
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Re:An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
2014-08-16 21:36:14
I did use it to connect a hard drive to in order to have some networked storage, however it is too slow. Same thing applies to using the media server to play back from the USB drive - too slow. If it could be a USB 3.0 port and work a lot faster it could be useful.
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#9
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Bandwith Control does not work
2014-09-29 04:46:45
Looks like TP-Link does not go here or do not want to know about the problem.

"As a boy sitting and looking out the window of the bus and the old man standing
-When asked do you not see that barely standing, boy correspond'm sick to look at him,
so I turn my head "

As well as technical support do not know how to help and pretend to not see the problem,
if not see the problem, then the conclusion is that the problem does not exist.

It is sad, but more than almost a year there is a problem (last firmware) and not throw an update for it?
Incomprehensible.
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#10
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Re:An Investigation on multi-functional USB port of TP-LINK routers
2014-09-30 11:36:46
FTP transfer speeds are damn too slow ! #TD-W8968
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#11
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