USB 2.5g Adapter on True Nas

Software & Operating Systems BSD
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I’d like preface this briefly by saying, I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m working with what I got.

I’m trying to use a 2.5 gb USB adapter on my NAS. I’m running my NAS using True NAS on an old Dell laptop with a 3rd with USB Drives attached (again, I know it’s a “NO NO,” but I’m working with what I got). The laptop has a built-in ethernet port which runs just fine.

My question is, how can I get True NAS Core to recognize the USB adapter? The adapter is this one from Cable Creation and can be found on amazon: 2.5G Ethernet to USB Adapter, CableCreation USB 3.0

Please no lecture on how I “shouldn’t be doing this because blah blah blah.” I know that already :stuck_out_tongue: . I want to know how I CAN do it, if it’s even possible. Thanks

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Also how old is the Dell? Does it have USB 2.0 (the blue USB port)?

USB 1 has about 1Mbps transfer rate
USB 2 has about 480 Mbps transfer rate
USB 3 has about 1.2 Gbps transfer rate

It could work, but not as fast and in the case of the black/white USB port (USB 1), very slow. Also Core isn’t really driver friendly because it is FreeBSD and people have told me installing drivers for it is a very involved process. You may have more luck with Scale with that USB device.

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It is at labeled as USB SS which is the same as USB 3.0. which is 4.8 Gbs in theory.
If True NAS core isn’t friendly enough to do it, I may be forced to change to True NAS Scale…but I want to brute force it if I can. It would make for a good tutorial because I know I’m not the only one asking this question…I’ve seen other forums where people asked and their met with an immediate barrage of “don’t do this” blah blah blah. I sympathize with them because I can see they’re working with what they have, but are trying to push the limits of their setup just like me.

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The obvious thing to try would be switching to truenas scale, which being Linux based has better driver support.

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What Network Chip is inside that adapter?
That’ll determine whether it’s easily possible to get it working.

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From what I could gather, it’s Realtek. The Amazon page says to go to the Realtek site to download the drivers.

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Dpending on your experience and willingness to have Updates break things, the following might point you in the right direction:

But I’d very much recommend switching to Scale, it’ll be easier and even has more functions.
I’ve got a Series of Guides on the Forum you can check out if that might help you.

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