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RT-AX3000 has 1 USB. A major limitation?

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Ronald Schwerer

Very Senior Member
I ordered an AX3000 to replace my main router (68U) in my mesh LAN. It hasn't arrived yet but I just noticed it only has one USB port. Since I'm currently running (on the 68U) Diversion, Skynet, and a few other add-ons, I use a USB drive with a 2 GB EXT4 swap partition. On the 68U I reserved the 2nd USB port for Dual Wan connection of my cell phone. Since the AX3000 only has one USB, looks like I'll need to give-up either swap or dual WAN. Note: I only used the cell phone to tether when my ISP craps-out for an extended period. Happened every couple months (thanks Spectrum!). My new ISP is Frontier FIOS and they aren't known for great reliability either.

Since the AX3000 has 512MB RAM, is swap still necessary? It doesn't appear my swap gets used often. I'm not sure when it is necessary - maybe for sorting of URL lists? BTW, I have another partition I use for nsru and skynet files. So maybe that forces the USB use for storage instead of WAN. With this configuration, what happens if I pull the USB dive and plug-in a cell? Will it work in this mode without disabling skynet?
 
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Skynet requires a 2GB swap file now, and recommends a swap file, no partition needed. I run all those and a few more on a single 16 GB USB with a 2GB swap file.
 
It's irrelevant how much swap space you need if you're having to use the single USB port for storing user scripts on a flash drive anyway.
 
Yeah, looks like the USB must be used for storage. I wonder if I could use the old 68U upstream of the AX3000 (just when the ISP drops-dead) to bridge the cell phone. Configured for minimal overhead. Just pass through to the AX3000 WAN port.
 
Using a usb3 hub also with a flash stick and hard drive hooked up, no difference in samba speed with or without it so doesn't seem to slow anything down.
 
If it helps, I've had no problem using an inexpensive USB Hub to use several external hard drives off of my RT-AX58U (AX-3000).
Thanks. I was assuming a USB hub wouldn't work. That might be a solution. Maybe an externally powered one that supports USB3 would do the trick. On this setup I don't need to share a hard-drive. Previously I used another drive partition for nightly PC backups. I replaced that functionality with a real NAS. But somehow I doubt the router would also handle USB cell tethering over the hub.
 
The specific USB hub used is important. Not all will work so seamlessly. (Depends on the chipset used internally).
 

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