The USB Support menu includes sections for USB Support and Attached Devices. These sections include settings to enable or disable USB port support, configure USB-related printers and configure settings for USB-attached storage. There are also settings to support 3G/4G/5G USB modems.

Core USB Support *: enables the USB driver/services for USB-equipped hardware.

When enabled, specific options appear for configuration, depending on your hardware.

• USB 3.0 Support * - enables USB 3.x (xHCI) operation
  on USB 3.0 (or higher) ports.
• USB 2.0 Support * - enables USB 2.0 (EHCI) operation.
• USB 1.1 Support - an option enables support for that mode of USB 1.1.
  • (OHCI) - enables OHCI support on USB 1.x / higher USB ports.
  • (UHCI) - enables UHCI support on USB 2.x / higher USB ports.

USB Printer Support *: loads the driver for USB printing support.

• Bidirectional copying: enables bidirectional communications on the
  printer connection.
  
  Modern USB printers can communicate in two directions:
  The printer receives data from the client and the printer transmits
  status messages back to the driver. Disabling this may help some
  router-connected printers work better.

USB Storage Support *: enables driver/service support for USB storage. (Default: ).

• File Systems Support: a checked option loads support for that filesystem:
  
  
  • Ext2 / Ext3 - loads support for accessing Ext2- and Ext3-formatted
    media. Usually, such partitions are created in Linux/Unix.
    
    
  • NTFS - loads support for NTFS-formatted media.
    Mostly, this provides support for media formatted in Windows.
    
    
  • FAT - enables support for the FAT filesystem.
    Mostly, this is for compatibility with USB flash, SD cards,
    and other flash media. FAT doesn't support symbolic links,
    so your ability to use programs like Entware or TTB
    is limited. Other options are preferred.
    
    
  • Automount - FreshTomato will automatically mount partitions
    detected when a USB drive is inserted or during boot to
    mount points in subdirectories of “/mnt”. (Default: Enabled).
    
    
  • Run after mounting - here, enter a script/series of commands
    to run when USB storage is mounted.
    
    
  • Run before unmounting - enter a script/series of commands
    to run before USB storage is unmounted.
    
    

Hotplug script: these shell commands will execute when a USB device is attached/removed.

HDD Spindown: makes FreshTomato spin down idle mechanical drives.

This is not needed on solid state drives, like SSDs or flash drives, as they have no motors.

(Default: Enabled).

3G/4G/(5G) Modem Support: enables support for USB modem dongles.

This lets you use a cellular carrier as an Internet provider. For details on 3G/4G modem settings, see the WAN Settings section on the Network page. Supported USB modems are listed on the 3G/4G/5G compatibility page.

The Attached Devices section contains a table of devices FreshTomato detects are attached to its USB ports.

The table has columns describing the device Type and the Host controller on which the device was detected. There is also a column containing a plain English Description of the media found and its status of mounted/unmounted.

If a drive isn't mounted, clicking [Mount] beside it mounts the drive to a mount point.

If a drive is mounted, [Unmount] unmounts the drive, so it's ready to remove/disconnect.

Some USB storage settings require the USB storage drivers to be unloaded/reloaded. Changing these can affect the contents of your system log (syslog) file. For example, enabling or disabling filesystems, or unmounting the drive where the system log is stored may cause storage errors or loss of log content.

Before changing USB filesystem settings, first reconfigure syslog to be stored (temporarily) in RAM. Only then should you adjust filesystem settings or unmount the drive. Then you can configure syslog to again store log files on USB storage, where it shouldn't be interrupted.

USB filesystem corruption is a very common cause of system instability. You could experience a VPN connectivity issue, WiFi instability or any other seemingly “random” problems caused by USB filesystem issues. When troubleshooting, you should include USB filesystem checks in your troubleshooting checklist.