AC Series Recommended Software and Utilities

The best method of owning, managing, having, using, ...whatever, an OpenWRT based router it to have the OpenWRT OS stored on some type of USB Flash drive, mSATA, NVME, NGFF, or other type of external drive / SSD etc that utilizes the OpenWRT /overlay functionality (look it up, it's quite useful).

...but, when the router is turned on, it's still booting from code stored on the built in "Disk Drive", AKA NAND. So an interesting question comes up: If the external drive fails, what should be installed on the NAND 'Drive'. Well, to start with, anything that is necessary for the "Overlay Functionality" (look it up on the OpenWRT site). But if it's booting to an external drive that's using the /overlay functionality, then it's already installed. Beyond that?

1) Anything (configuration / software) that allows the router to still provide internet access (albeit, possibly in a reduced functionality fashion)

2) Any useful software, utilities, or other tools that would allow one to fix whatever is wrong with the external drive. That includes backup and restoration software too.

Here's the list (everything will fit on a WRT32X and WRT3200ACM, but it will be a tight squeeze on the lower end AC Series)

...and finally Samba. It is quite useful in moving files around quickly, but it takes up a LOT of space. The WRT32X and WRT3200ACM (to a lesser degree than the 32X) can spare the space, but probably not the lower end AC routers. So this will be the item to leave off as it has the biggest storage footprint.