Impossible Restrictions on Connected USB Drives
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The Archer AX11000 router does an excellent job performing its primary function of hosting an Ethernet and wireless LAN. It provides a strong Wi-Fi signal to every corner of my 2200 sq. ft. two story home.
However, this router has serious shortcomings when using the included Media Sharing feature (DLNA). Previous TP-Link routers let one designate which folders can be accessed via Samba and also independently specify folders of media to be shared by Media Server. (Samba is the software protocol for accessing files on a server.) This router (that is, the firmware running on the router) does not allow for this. Any given folder on an attached USB drive is either shared for both purposes or for neither. The firmware also places a limit of 9,999 files which can be shared by the media server. Since I have over 50,000 files that I wish to keep in my backup folders, I could not have the router serve my few hundred media files and have my backup files (accessible via Samba) resident on the USB drive concurrently. It also seems to be the case that this router has problems with USB disks over 4TB. (My WD USD HDD is 6TB.) None of the techs I worked with seemed to be aware of these restrictions until they consulted with their engineers, which was a tedious and time-consuming process. I have abandoned my attempt to use the included Media Sharing capability of this router. Instead, I have resurrected my replaced ASUS RT-AC66U B1 router and am using that, along with a 5TB USB HDD, as the media server on my LAN. All this wasted about a week of my time. I did request that TP-Link fix this issue, which I suspect would require only new firmware.
