Does the USB port actually do anything?

[CallMeAlan]

Been with Vodafone Broadband for two days now, with the big black router.  I put a USB stick with some sample pics and music in the hole and the web interface sees the stick, though it's not clickable and nothing else apparently sees it. My iMac, in Network, offers 'vodafone\032broadb' but double-clicking it gives a failed connection. Linux laptop nada.

But yesterday I switched on my smart TV and went to select source so I could use my PS4 and there in the list is Vodafone. Hello, DLNA, I thought.  Went into it and the TV offered Music, Pictures and two other folders, forgotten now what they were, but they're just empty, certainly not what's on the stick.

So, the big question is: does the USB hole actually DO anything at all?  I mean, would a NAS be a total waste of time and money given that the USB hole seems not to be connected to anything?  Of course, the Voda guide on the web is either old, for a previous router, or just plain wrong.

[Cynric]

Strangely enough my W10 box also boots into Fedora. 😁

[clint_flick]

 OH!

I am very sorry for you.

Maybe one day it will get better.

[CallMeAlan]

"
so on my Mac, I then switched to the Finder, then from the Go menu at the top of the screen, Connect to Server... then enter smb://192.168.1.1  and the USB drive mounted remotely and appears to be available for read/write access.

"

Tried this.  I'm confronted with a login dialog, enter name and password etc.  I have no idea what name or password to use.  My standard Mac root login doesn't work, neither does log in as Guest. Stumped.

[Cynric]

Have you tried sshfs [1] which is probably available in the usual OS distro? I'm not a Mac person but I use FreeBSD which is similar.

[1] https://github.com/libfuse/sshfs

[clint_flick]

Hi

192.168.1.1 is the VodaFone hub and it's password is what I would try.

It is weird since the latest firmware update, as my attached picture shows.

[Chessray]

I've got the exact same setup (5TB Western Digital MyPassport). First connected the drive to the Macbook in order to ensure that I can read and write. It's now plugged into the router's USB port and I can clearly see it in the Sharing tab. SAMBA is active. However, when I attempt the solution by connecting from the Finder, it shows a generic error message. Vodafone Support aren't helpful at all. Instead they tried to convince me that the USB port can only be used for a mobile dongle which makes no sense whatsoever. Any ideas?

[Cynric]

@Chessray  Try with no credentials at all.

https://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Other-broadband-queries/SMB-user-name-and-password-for-port-445/m-p/...

[Chessray]

I don't get asked any credentials. It just displays an error.

[Jayach]

I'm not an Apple user, but does the SMB protocol require enabling?

Set the protocol for file sharing on Mac – Apple Support (UK)

Also I wonder if the drive needs be formatted differently. (I use NTFS on my USB stick)

[Cynric]

@Jayach I think that is for when Mac is hosting and not client, I could be wrong 😉