What is the point of having USB ports on a router?

[Aaralli]

The title says it all. I have no idea what you could use those USB ports for.

[Godlygamer23]

Some routers allow you to connect an external drive that is accessible across the whole network.

[Fasauceome]

Anything you can normally use a port for, network related. My mom's MacBook saves time machine backups to a USB hard drive that's plugged into the router in the basement so that it doesn't take up desk space 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Some routers allow you to connect an external drive that is accessible across the whole network.

Or you can do the same with a printer too. 

[Windows7ge]

It's typically used for hosting storage on the network without the need for a dedicated server by using a HDD connected to a USB adapter.

[homeap5]

I'm using it for network printer. I have normal cable printer that is accessible from any computer on my home network and I don't need to use any computer as printer server.

[Aaralli]

13 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

Some routers allow you to connect an external drive that is accessible across the whole network.

 

13 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

Anything you can normally use a port for, network related. My mom's MacBook saves time machine backups to a USB hard drive that's plugged into the router in the basement so that it doesn't take up desk space 

 

13 hours ago, Windows7ge said:

It's typically used for hosting storage on the network without the need for a dedicated server by using a HDD connected to a USB adapter.

Interesting... so, say we have a 5 person household and I want to hook up a 10tb backup hard drive to the router we have. Could I create separate partitions of 2tb for each person, just like I can on an internal drive?

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Aaralli said:

 

 

Interesting... so, say we have a 5 person household and I want to hook up a 10tb backup hard drive to the router we have. Could I create separate partitions of 2tb for each person, just like I can on an internal drive?

Yeah you should be able to get that done like you normally would.

[Godlygamer23]

4 minutes ago, Aaralli said:

Interesting... so, say we have a 5 person household and I want to hook up a 10tb backup hard drive to the router we have. Could I create separate partitions of 2tb for each person, just like I can on an internal drive?

I believe so, yeah.

[Aaralli]

1 minute ago, Godlygamer23 said:

I believe so, yeah.

 

3 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Yeah you should be able to get that done like you normally would.

Could you download and play games from that drive?

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Aaralli said:

 

Could you download and play games from that drive?

not something I've personally experimented with, but remote storage for game images is quite common.

[Godlygamer23]

3 minutes ago, Aaralli said:

Could you download and play games from that drive?

Yeah, but I've had mixed experiences with it. Now, I played games from my FreeNAS server, and while most games did load, Dirt Showdown had major issues for me. And games that frequently access the drive might have issues.

[Windows7ge]

19 minutes ago, Aaralli said:

 

 

Interesting... so, say we have a 5 person household and I want to hook up a 10tb backup hard drive to the router we have. Could I create separate partitions of 2tb for each person, just like I can on an internal drive?

I don't know about partitioning. That may be up to the router's software but if it supports it then yes.

[homeap5]

One more thing - drive access on routers are really bad. Transfers are horrible compared to local drives or even NAS. Only few high end routers have decent transfer. I don't know why is that, but you can find some tests that shows you transfer. it's ok for watching movies, listening music etc., but for sure is not good for loading games.

 

[beersykins]

10 hours ago, Aaralli said:

Could you download and play games from that drive?

You wouldn't really want to, historically the USB NAS function out of the port has super slow transfer rates.

 

They are most typically used for printer/flashdrive type of uses.  I was hoping it'd be more mainstream to include things like USB Hotspot drivers but most vendors won't.  Some other devices have support for those or even USB NICs like Mikrotik.  I use mine for backup LTE WAN failover.

[Aaralli]

13 hours ago, homeap5 said:

One more thing - drive access on routers are really bad. Transfers are horrible compared to local drives or even NAS. Only few high end routers have decent transfer. I don't know why is that, but you can find some tests that shows you transfer. it's ok for watching movies, listening music etc., but for sure is not good for loading games.

 

I can only think of a few uses for a drive connected to a router in my home. For one, we share things like tax documents by flash drive all the time, so that could make things easier. Also, sometimes my father gets confused about how to do something in a video game. Sometimes I record the thing he wants to do, or how to complete a quest or something, upload it to my phone by USB, and show him the video. It usually takes 10 minutes. 

[homeap5]

2 minutes ago, Aaralli said:

I can only think of a few uses for a drive connected to a router in my home. For one, we share things like tax documents by flash drive all the time, so that could make things easier. Also, sometimes my father gets confused about how to do something in a video game. Sometimes I record the thing he wants to do, or how to complete a quest or something, upload it to my phone by USB, and show him the video. It usually takes 10 minutes. 

So discover great folder sharing in Windows. You don't need to copy anything on pendrive or phone, you can browse files from one computer on another, you can even made shortcut on father's desktop to selected folder on your computer. You don't need to connect anything to your router. Really, copying files between computers using USB drive is not the fastest method.