Is It Possible to Connect a USB Hub to a Router's USB Port?

Will a USB hub work if connected to the USB port of the router? What are the limitations and should it be powered? All scenarios are covered in my video
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00:00 Intro & topics
00:29 Test setup
01:22 Connect devices to the USB Hub
03:38 File transfer test
06:24 Media server test
06:59 Important note on mechanical HDD & summary

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Use the instructions in this video at your own risk. We are not responsible for any data loss or other damages that may occur

can i connect a usb hub to my router

[MrFukmor]

Omg! Thank you! You just saved me hundreds of dollars. I didn't think this would work, and friends were trying to convince me to get a NAS system for basic junk storage.

[Dr_humpbackwhale]

Thank you for your information. It was very helpful. After I watched you video, I guessed your hard drive without its own power supply does not work because the power supply of the adaptor of your usb hub is too low. So, I bought usb hub, which the power supply of the adaptor is 12V, 2A, and connected 2 mobile hdds, which doesn't have it own power supply. And it works very well.

[projectartichoke]

Thanks, this is very useful information. There's a freeware program called 'Everything' that can be installed on a computer to index folders on drives connected to routers this way, for instant searches. It makes the whole concept even more useful.

[therecycledpirate]

Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!

[bxopnlc]

This is very helpful Sir. Im planning to buy expensive NAS Synology but then I found your video. Very informative and helpful, thank you.

[robertungemach]

Thanks for the video. It answered my questions including using a mechanical HD that I removed from a laptop and installed in a USB enclosure along with a WD passport that gets its power from the USB.

[DivineMisterAdVentures]

WONDERFUL. Looks like something I can handle without going through much pain.

[SaidElnaffar]

Liked and Shared -- you deserve it, man!

[htg]

i'm using my laptop pc for sharing content over network from Toshiba mobile usb drives with no externatl power supply and was thinking about this method too. Now it's a problem for me, because i want to get rid from laptop use. NAS solution is not cheap, so i have to find another solution now. Your video was very helpful! Thank you very much!

[swapneiltamhankar]

Great video !!

Was doing the same at home 🤣

[tvsmed]

My WD passport mechanical drive, its 3 or 4 TB works fine with an unpowered simple USB hub connected to a new Asus Ax4200 router. All connections are USB 3. File transfer is very slow at 10-15 Mbps. So half the speed of already slow file transfers at about 28 Mbps. My NAS operates at normal speed at about 115 Mbps.

Perhaps there is an issue with the Sabrent hub, maybe I am just lucky with my specific drive, maybe you are unlucky with your drives or router.

Anyway, to be on the safe side I'll buy a new 4tb ssd drive.

Thanks for bringing this network solution to file sharing to my attention. With the slow transfer speeds it's not an alternative to my NAS but a great supplement and backup.😊

[epiqpwnage]

Not sure if you mentioned it. Have you tried file transfers with your PC connected via Gigabit LAN port? Or Did you test the speed of the file transfer if you only connected 1 external storage drive with no usb hub? 20MB/s is slow.

[endryudzhenn]

Danke much for this. I'm just planning to do it but I guess it will not work on my 2 mechanical hard drives for network backup hehe.

[icanwatchthat]

thanks for your video man😄😄 simple, quick and compact.

[EncarnitaRoush-gxli]

I have done this same experiment using different brands of equipment with exactly the same results. In the end, the only drive that would not work properly was a 2TB Seagate that did not have its own PS and needed power from the USB. Even powering the hub would not make it work properly. I found no solution to making a USB powered mechanical drive work from a router USB port.

Also my data transfer rates looked the same as the author of this YouTube. I agree with him that the transfer rate is slow. Fast enough for transferring a few files, but I wouldn't want to do a few hundred GB backup image through the router USB port.

CrystalDiskMark shows sequential read/write speeds of around 25 MB/s through the router. The same powered 10 TB WD My Book USB drive connected directly to the PC shows 200 MB/s. The slow USB router speed must be caused by the routers USB controller. After all, this is a 1000Mb/s router so I would expect to see at least 100 MB/s throughput at its USB port.

If anyone discovers a way to speed up the routers' USB port, please share. I have a 10--port hub with 6, 10 TB powered drives that I would love to have on my network, but don't want to sacrifice the speed.

[butterbagboy]

Love this. Ok, hear me out, what if the usb hub was powered and you used one of those dual type a usb cords that give extra power to those 2.5” drives, would they work then?

[atlasprimo]

I think if you connect a usb-c splitter with one for PD and one for data before connecting to the usb hub, it might work for those drive requiring inline power.

[PenrodB]

Thank you! This was extremely helpful!

[AADJYT]

I remember searching for this last year and couldn’t find anything helpful, and now I see your video. Thank you! Question, you said mechanical HDD did not work even when you powered the hub, do you know if external solid state drive would work like the Samsung T7?

[jeremyhenderson]

:) Thanks for sharing. I subed some time back because of the great content you produce, :) keep on keeping on. I did have 2 questions after watching this video. Since the drives would be accessible from my computers (Windows), could I then use Window's Storage Spaces to configure multiple drives into a single drive? Or would my router need to have the software in order to achieve that feature?