The ReadySHARE USB feature on your NETGEAR router works with most plug-and-play USB-compliant external flash and hard disk drives (HDDs). However, some USB drives might not work correctly if they don’t meet specific requirements.
NETGEAR occasionally tests and verifies USB drives with ReadySHARE. For more information, see Which USB drives are verified to work with NETGEAR ReadySHARE?
To use a USB drive with ReadySHARE on your NETGEAR router, it must meet the following requirements:
- The drive must be plug-and-play with no additional protections or software. If your drive is encrypted, password protected, or requires special drivers or software, your router might not be able to detect the drive.
- The drive must use less than 750mA of power or use an external power supply. If your USB HDD is self-powered and uses more than 750mA of power, your router might not be able to supply the power that your drive needs.
- The drive must use a supported file system. Most NETGEAR routers support the following file systems for full read and write access:
- FAT16, FAT32
- NTFS
- NTFS with compression format enabled
- Ext2, Ext3, Ext4
- XFS
- HFS
- HFS+
- If you want to use a USB drive larger than 2 TB, you might need to format the drive into partitions smaller than 2 TB (for example, you might need to format a 4 TB drive into two 2 TB partitions).
If your drive meets the specified requirements but isn’t detected by your router, you might need to enable USB device detection in the router web interface. For more information, see How do I enable USB devices on my older NETGEAR router or gateway?
Last Updated:07/07/2025
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Article ID: 24059