About AX7501-BO USB drive format support

Why would a company such as Zyxel release a fairly new product that only supports using FAT or FAT32 formatted drives whether that be a USB Stick or HDD it just boggles the mind. As neither FAT nor FAT32 support file sizes over 4GB how on earth did they think this was OK in 2021 heck even my lowly old Fritzbox 7490 supported NTFS and drives over 2TB in size. Come on Zyxel surely you can do better than that because as it stands the USB port on my AX7501-B0 is a complete waste of time. I'd also like to know if there'll be an updated firmware which includes NTFS support along with support for drives larger than 2TB or am I Pis!ing into the wind even asking 

All Replies

  • SEJ
    SEJ Posts: 111  Ally Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    edited June 2021
    Hi there,
    NTFS might not be the problem.
    I also use a AX7501, a 256GB USB stick with NTFS format, everything works fine with file sharing.

    It might related to the power supply from the USB port.
    Normally, the USB port on a home gateway can only provide 500mA ~ 900mA.
    If you use a USB HDD without extra power, the home gateway can't drive the HDD correctly.
    BTW, I can only find 1TB USB stick on the market, are you using a 2TB USB stick?
    FYI
  • Athlonite
    Athlonite Posts: 5
    edited June 2021
    I'm trying to use an 4TB WD Passport USB3.0 2.5" HDD as using USB sticks are a waste of time. 
    As for your screen shot I've been there but the HDD doesn't show up and as most all newer 2.5" USB3.0 HDD's are backwards compatible with USB2.0 which has a limit of 500mA max power output at 5V then I see no reason for this port to not be able to power it. I have a second 2.5" USB3.0 HDD made by Seagate so I'll try that one and see. I will post back here with results of the attempt.  

    I think I may have it figured out these WD My Passport 2.5" USB HDD's use a built in drive encryption chip which requires a windows driver to be installed regardless of whether or not you use the encryption if you remove the SES driver from windows the drive becomes invisible to the system and unusable. But nowhere in any of WD's documentation on the drive does it mention that little fact.

    OK so plugging the Seagate Expansion 4TB 2.5" USB3.0 HDD in didn't make a difference it's still a no show even after rebooting the 7501-B0 I am beginning to think that the USB port on this Modem/Router is a complete waste of time for file sharing across the network and before anyone says to just use a USB Stick you must first provide evidence that 

    1: A 4TB usb stick exists
    2: that this modem has no problems with it showing up and being useable 
  • SEJ
    SEJ Posts: 111  Ally Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    Yes, in this case, the power might not be the reason.
    I have a 1TB USB HDD and also borrowed another 1TB USB HDD (different brand), both of them were formatted to NTFS before connect to the router.
    One can be read by the router and the other one can't.

  • tonygibbs16
    tonygibbs16 Posts: 825  Guru Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    edited June 2021
    Hello,

    FAT32 can accomodate large disks upto 16TB according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table#FAT32 with max filesizes of 4GB - 1 byte.

    If you want to experiment, I wonder what happens if you format one of your large drives using Command Prompt or PowerShell as FAT32?

    Obviously no long filenames as not NTFS, and I don't know if VFAT works.

    Kind regards,
         Tony
  • Athlonite
    Athlonite Posts: 5
    Yeah I'm not going to format a 4TB HDD in FAT32 just for SnG's as almost all of the files on the drive contain both long file names and sizes larger than 4GB 

    I may have just figured out why they can't be read b the CPE for some reason when I created the partitions it seems to have defaulted to GPT partition table instead of MFT and I didn't notice it until now I'll try to convert one and see if that makes a difference 


  • tonygibbs16
    tonygibbs16 Posts: 825  Guru Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    Hello @Athlonite

    I understand what you are saying.

    I hope that changing the partition type from GPT to MFT/MBR format works for you.

    Kind regards,
        Tony
  • Athlonite
    Athlonite Posts: 5
    Well removing the previous 4TB GPT/NTFS partition and replacing it with a 2TB MBR/NTFS partition was a complete waste of time the 7501-B0 just refuses to see the drive plugged into it even though it has powered it up properly oh and both the WD Passport and the Seagate Expansion both power on properly it's just that neither are recognised by the CPE 
  • tonygibbs16
    tonygibbs16 Posts: 825  Guru Member
    First Anniversary 10 Comments Friend Collector First Answer
    Hello @Athlonite

    I wonder if your device has a hardware fault on the USB port.

    Does your AX7501-B0 recognise any USB stick and give a green LED under USB, and be seen by the CPE?
          - if it is FAT or FAT32 or NTFS?

    If that works then you could rule out a physical hardware issue, and then work from there.

    If that works but bigger drives don't then I can't help more personally.

    Kind regards,
         Tony
  • Athlonite
    Athlonite Posts: 5
    it gives a green led when the HDD's are plugged in they're just not showing up with the user interface of the USB Sharing page 

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