Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive  

RE: Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive

"How about taking a Toshiba FlashAir out of an MK3S and using an SD Card to USB adapter to plug it into the MK4?"

That should not be an issue if the MK4 can handle a normal USB thumbdrive. I have used a cheap USB to SD adapter with Windows  and my FlashAir card in the past.

I have not tried it on a MK4 yet (drool...). The adapters are really cheap and you already have a FlashAir fully configured to your WiFi I assume.

I have been using a FlashAir W-04 with the latest drivers on my Win 10 and Win 11 machines as a mapped drive for several years. The MK3S looks like any other drive or NAS for all practical purpose.

RE: Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive

I bought one of the cheap SD Card to USB adapters and tried it. The MK4 immediate recognized the storage, no problem there. However it took a very long time for the IP address to become "active" and once it did, network access to it was very slow. Super slow. Clicking on the drive letter in Windows would take a very long time for it to display the contents, if it ever did. I'm not sure why that is. I assume it has to be the adapter, no?

RE: Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive

Since I do not have a MK4 and the MK3 does not have network communications built-in I use a Toshiba FlashAir to do the network communications via WiFi.

It is not the MK3 that does it.

So, in your case who does the link to the network (MK4 or FlashAir)? I have read some postings about very slow, almost unusable network links with the Prusa network implementation. I would take your SD adapter setup an attach it to another laptop or computer (instead of the MK4) and map it to your present computer.

If the speed is OK you will know that the slowdown is the MK4. If the speed is slow it is your adapter or your network controller that is suspect. If you are using a FlashAir SD card make sure the WiFi on the MK4 is shut down and the your are communicating with the FlashAir directly. It took me a while to configure the FlashAir to be stable and have the proper initialisation file on it. There are several post on the forum about this, or pm me and I'll sed you the config files.

Good luck with it.

RE:

I guess I expected it to behave like a PC with 2 separate network cards. The FlashAir is configured with 1 static IP address and yes the MK4 is configured to connect to my wifi (and it has a different IP address). Side note, if anyone knows how to disable/turn off wifi once it is enabled on the MK4 let me know because I did not see an option to do so.

I have 5 other MK3S+ with FlashAir cards each configured exactly the same way, each with their own static IP address. All 5 work great. I'll try your suggested test though and plug this into a laptop, good suggestion.

Side note #2 - I assume when I replaced the USB stick with my USB adapter that the MK4 could not connect to my wifi as the network config would have been on the USB stick that was not installed. Maybe a poor assumption. This would also be good to know!

RE: Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive

I popped the adapter into my Chromebook and it immediate recognized the storage and the network. Transferring files to it was very speedy.

RE: Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive

So you have the FlashAir connected via adapter into a chromebook or into a MK4?

RE: Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive

I tried it both ways to see if the issue is with the adapter. When plugged into my Chromebook USB port it works fine. When plugged into the MK4 USB port the storage works fine but the network connectivity is very slow and sometimes time out doing various things.

RE: Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive

"When plugged into the MK4 USB port the storage works fine but the network connectivity is very slow and sometimes time out doing various things."

Now that is interesting after your Chromebook test. If using the FlashAir in the MK4 the FlashAir should take care of directly linking to your WiFi like what it did with the Chromebook independently from whatever the MK4 is doing.... MK4 firmware might be holding the FlashAir by not releasing access to the SD storage, even if not using it? That could prevent the FlashAir from communicating, potentially changing the SD memory. If I remember correctly my MK3 had a menu item that specified when using a FlashAir, but I do not know the details of what it entailed.

RE: Accessing MK4 USB storage via Windows mapped network drive

Exactly my thought process.