Does the Arlo Pro3 Smarthub 4540 support USB 3.0 for local storage?

[cobiaj2525]

I just purchased an Arlo Pro 3 camera kit with a 4540 smarthub. I am now looking for a new external storage device and want to know if the 4540 smarthub supports USB3.

[cobiaj2525]

typo: make that a pro3 not a pro2

[StephenB]

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@cobiaj2525 wrote:

I just purchased an Arlo Pro 2 camera kit with a 4540 smarthub. I am now looking for a new external storage device and want to know if the 4540 smarthub supports USB3.

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That's a tough question actually.  The documentation doesn't say, and there's no way tell from the app or the web client.  So only Arlo can answer it.

I'm not sure it matters in practice, since USB 2 is more than fast enough. 

@JamesC: can you answer this question?

[jguerdat]

As above, USB3 adds nothing but cost to the equation. USB2 can't be swamped by having even all 5 cameras streaming at the same time that the base supports. The base connection to your router is 100Mbps for the same reason.

[michaelkenward]

USB3 comes in many flavours.

I have used a USB3 thumb drive. It works.

I have not tried USB3 hard drives.

[StephenB]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

I have used a USB3 thumb drive. It works.

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USB 3 drives will work, since USB 3 is compatible with older versions of USB.

So if you are buying a storage device for the base, you should get a USB-3 model (anything else would be obsolete technology).  I'd suggest a thumb drive over a hard drive.

But that doesn't quite answer the original question (which was whether the base USB ports were USB 3 or not).  That is academic in my opinion, but still might be good to know.

[michaelkenward]

It may not be a reliable guide, but the USB ports do not have the blue "colour coding" of all the other USB3 ports on my hardware,

There are two angles to USB3, the data rate and the power it can deliver.

USB3 hard drives can gobble up power that is not needed for thumb drives.

The original question does not say which USB3 drives they have in mind. Hence my first partial answer.

The USB3 drive I tried was a 32GB Corsair Slider X2.

[StephenB]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

It may not be a reliable guide, but the USB ports do not have the blue "colour coding" of all the other USB3 ports on my hardware,

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Neither does my laptop, and it only has USB 3 ports.  So I agree that's not a reliable guide.  I think the blue color was more important back when USB 3 first came out.

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@michaelkenward wrote:

There are two angles to USB3, the data rate and the power it can deliver.

USB3 hard drives can gobble up power that is not needed for thumb drives.

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Actually the power issue applies to all USB devices.  But USB 3 specifies more current than USB 2 (up to 900 ma for a USB 3 port; up to 500 ma for a USB 2 port), and some USB 3 devices might require that additional current. 

So if you do get a USB hard drive, it would be good to get one that can be powered independently from the USB port.  Then you have a fallback if it doesn't work.

Or (my preference) just use a thumb drive - a larger one will give you plenty of retention.

[michaelkenward]

It certainly makes sense to have powered USB drives if you are using anything mechanical. But, as you say, why bother when you can get some sort of solid-state storage?

As to the Arlo hubs, Netgear certainly colour coded its USB ports on routers.

I realise that Arlo and Netgear went their separate ways last year, but I doubt if there has been an revolution in their approaches to those things.

I have yet to receive a USB 3 device without colour coding. I even have a  newish motherboard with "green" USB 3.1 ports.

That Arlo does not say "USB 3" on datasheets kind of suggests that this isn't the case.

[StephenB]

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@michaelkenward wrote:

I have yet to receive a USB 3 device without colour coding.

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Well, I have.  But the net here is that only Arlo can answer this question, since the USB version isn't on the datasheet..

[JamesC]

The vmb4540 SmartHub features a USB 2.0 slot for local storage.

JamesC

[Linkoz]

I just had the support on the phone, they confirmed that the Smart Hub is NOT compatible with External Drive USB 3.0. I just received my hard drive, tried to plug it in, and it's not showing up on the app.

This is crazy to pay a camera system that expensive, and not be able to plug a USB 3 HD. Please note that my HD has a power supply on its own, the power is not pulled from the USB port. 

You can even see it from the answer of the community manager here, instead of replying to the question, he avoided it by just saying "it's compatible with USB 2.0"

That proves how serious this company is... I regret so much about buying this product! 

[K80Shooter]

I have one of these on mine and it works great.

Toshiba (HDTC920XL3AA) Canvio Advance 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0

[michaelkenward]

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@Linkoz wrote:

I just had the support on the phone, they confirmed that the Smart Hub is NOT compatible with External Drive USB 3.0. I just received my hard drive, tried to plug it in, and it's not showing up on the app.

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I don't think anyone has ever claimed that the Arlo hub can accept every USB3 external drive made. In fact, the Pro 3 manual warns against it:

"The minimum USB drive size is 16 GB and the maximum size drive that those file
systems support is 2 TB. The SmartHub supports USB 2.0-compatible devices. Not all
HDDs are compatible with the SmartHub. If you’re not sure, consult the manufacturer
of the HDD."

I assume that you read that before splashing the cash. It also answers questions that were posed earlier. The data sheet may not say USB 2.0, but it is in the manual.

Since this came out, there have been reports that newer hub firmware has increased the mini,mum size and that 16 GB no longer works.

The USB3 thing is a red herring, despite Arlo's warnings about using USB2. The hub will see USB 3 thumb drives. I just tried one.

The "consult the manufacturer" bit is a joke. It is highly unlikely that HDD makers will know if their kit is Arlo compatible. A better way to pick a USB device that is slightly exotic is to ask people here before parting with any money.

From what I read here, I don't think many people have tried HD drives in a hub. As @StephenB  demonstrates, a more usual approach is to use a thumb drive. After all, you can get a heck of a lot of recordings on to a relatively small drive.

Perhaps you could tell people the drive that didn't work. That would allow others to steer clear.

[michaelkenward]

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@K80Shooter wrote:

I have one of these on mine and it works great.

Toshiba (HDTC920XL3AA) Canvio Advance 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0

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Good grief. That is a USB powered USB3 drive! No power brick.

Bang goes another myth.

PS If USB powered works, I wonder if the "self-powered" thing makes a difference and won't work.

Nice one.

[StephenB]

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@Linkoz wrote:

I just had the support on the phone, they confirmed that the Smart Hub is NOT compatible with External Drive USB 3.0. I just received my hard drive, tried to plug it in, and it's not showing up on the app.

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The Hub uses USB 2.0 - which is fast enough for the purpose.  And USB 3.0 is backwards compatible to USB 2.0.  You won't get USB 3 speeds, but the drive will work. Power is one caveat - USB 2.0 is limited to 500 MA, USB 3.0 will deliver at least 900 MA.  But you aren't using USB power.

How is the drive formatted?  Note many USB drives have multiple partitions - these generally won't work until you re-partition the drive to only have one partition.  You also need FAT32 formatting.

Have you tried putting the drive in a PC, and looking at the details of the partitioning?  I can provide some guidance on doing this with Windows, but I'm not a Mac user - so I can't help much with them.

As @michaelkenward says, there's not much reason to use a USB hard drive or SSD for this.  A thumb drive has more than enough capacity.

[Linkoz]

Thanks everyone and more particularly ShephenB!

After reading all your messages, I decided to give another shot. It was actually because of my hard drive, I had a hidden EFI partition (200Mo) on the disk and the Hub recognized only this one, I deleted this partition using Diskpart (command line) and now it's working properly, here a link I used in case someone encounters this issue: https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/delete-efi-system-partition.html

However, I'm still very confused about the response I had from the support (confirmed by email after the call), why do they mislead like this? 

Anyway, all good now! 

[michaelkenward]

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@Linkoz wrote:

After reading all your messages, I decided to give another shot. It was actually because of my hard drive, I had a hidden EFI partition (200Mo) on the disk and the Hub recognized only this one, I deleted this partition using Diskpart (command line) and now it's working properly.....

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This is a common issue with USB drives, especially large ones. It has nothing to do with the flavour of USB. It comes up a  lot when people complain that their USB drives will not work with Netgear's ReadyShare.

It can be fixable in Windows, without special tools beyond disk management.

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@Linkoz wrote:

However, I'm still very confused about the response I had from the support (confirmed by email after the call), why do they mislead like this? 

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Perhaps they have less experience with these devices than regular users who have seen this issue come up with monotonous regularity. It really deserves an Arlo FAQ in its own right.

This doesn't really hack it:

How do I format a USB device for local storage using my Arlo Pro base station?

[StephenB]

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@Linkoz wrote:

However, I'm still very confused about the response I had from the support (confirmed by email after the call), why do they mislead like this? 

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Some USB 3.0 drives won't work - because they require > 500 MA of power through the USB port, and can't be separately powered.  There are too many USB drive models out there for them to track which ones will work and which ones don't.

So they probably are instructed to just say that USB 3 drives aren't supported if someone reports a problem with a USB 3 drive.

I agree it should be more nuanced, and they should point out the issue with the partitions (which as @michaelkenward says, comes up fairly often here).

[Retired_Member]

Cracked the code. As suspected, my devices came formatted, including an EFI partition

to make them bootable. This is always the first partition. very small - just boot stuff.

Arlo does not look for full partition!

using diskutil on the Mac (windows has equivalent) deleted the EFI partition, and made a single FAT32 partition.

now works fine

DANGER! diskutil et.al will erase the disk and possibly brick your machine! You MUST know what you're doing!

Arlo needs to fix this. I will file a bug report.

[bsatow]

It doesn't matter if you use a USB2 or USB3 hard drive.