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Netgear Nighthawk MR1100 M1 NAS storage problem
I want to use this wifi modem for NAS, and have plugged in a USB thumb drive, FAT32. When I look at the home page under "My Media" I get an error. I also tried a Toshiba external hard drive, 2TB. It'...
The idea that Netgear's routers gag on 2TB USB drives is an interesting suggestion. There certainly have been issues raised here about "big" drives, but 2TB drives are rarely, if ever, in those concerns.
Big usually means >4TB. We have even had 16TB drives thrown into the chatter. But they were multi-disk "USB arrays", which, funnily enough, their owners don't describe as NAS, perhaps because they understand that it is confusing to describe them as such.
If the format is right, it usually boils down to USB drives that need special drivers or that are too new for Netgear to have written them into its firmware.
It may not apply to the hardware in question, but this article may offer some clues:
ReadySHARE USB Drives Compatibility List | Answer | NETGEAR Support
Ignore the list of supported devices, read the rubric.
All Routers should work with most USB-compliant external flash and hard drives. Do NOT connect computers, USB modems, CD or DVD drives to the router's USB port. Please note, some USB drives require software to be installed into the PC or are password protected or are encrypted. Such USB devices will NOT work with the Router/Extender. Please also note, this is not a comprehensive list. The USB drives listed below are only the drives that NETGEAR has tested. If your USB device is not listed below it does not mean it will not work with ReadySHARE it just means that the USB device has not been tested by NETGEAR.
Of course that's for ReadyShare. So I think you are on to something when you talk of consulting Netgear support.
You have one of those bits of kit that is not common. Nor have there been any discussions of getting it to work with USB drives. So there is not much in the way of collective wisdom that you can draw on.
To gather more information to throw at them, if you haven't done so already, mess around with a bog-standard empty USB stick, try all the format options you can think of and see if you can get anywhere. After all, two drives is hardly a thorough test.
If you do get help from the support team, it would be great of you came back with the results. It could benefit others who hit the same brick wall.
> Product data for this model specifically mentions that you can use it
> for NAS/Media streaming, via USB, not Ethernet.
Yes, of course, but some of the folks around here can have trouble
generalizing. Clearly, the router is serving the storage to the LAN,
making it Network-Attached Storage, irregardful of how the storage is
connected to the router (NAS server).
I'd ask about the firmware verion of your device, but I didn't see
any downloads available at http://netgear.com/support , so it might not
matter much.
I have no experience with an MR1100, so I know nothing, but there
have been abundant complaints in these forums about USB-attached storage
on multiple router models. One example (maybe two):
https://community.netgear.com/t5/x/x/m-p/1350242
That's with Mac-formatted storage, but the principles (features with
more advertising than testing) seem to apply more broadly.
If you're looking for ideas for more experiments, then you might try
storage devices with less capacity. The freeware used by Netgear in
these things might have less trouble with something smaller than 2TB,
for example. (But no bets.) Complaining to Netgear might help, too.
(But, again, I wouldn't want to bet on it.)
The idea that Netgear's routers gag on 2TB USB drives is an interesting suggestion. There certainly have been issues raised here about "big" drives, but 2TB drives are rarely, if ever, in those concerns.
Big usually means >4TB. We have even had 16TB drives thrown into the chatter. But they were multi-disk "USB arrays", which, funnily enough, their owners don't describe as NAS, perhaps because they understand that it is confusing to describe them as such.
If the format is right, it usually boils down to USB drives that need special drivers or that are too new for Netgear to have written them into its firmware.
It may not apply to the hardware in question, but this article may offer some clues:
ReadySHARE USB Drives Compatibility List | Answer | NETGEAR Support
Ignore the list of supported devices, read the rubric.
All Routers should work with most USB-compliant external flash and hard drives. Do NOT connect computers, USB modems, CD or DVD drives to the router's USB port. Please note, some USB drives require software to be installed into the PC or are password protected or are encrypted. Such USB devices will NOT work with the Router/Extender. Please also note, this is not a comprehensive list. The USB drives listed below are only the drives that NETGEAR has tested. If your USB device is not listed below it does not mean it will not work with ReadySHARE it just means that the USB device has not been tested by NETGEAR.
Of course that's for ReadyShare. So I think you are on to something when you talk of consulting Netgear support.
You have one of those bits of kit that is not common. Nor have there been any discussions of getting it to work with USB drives. So there is not much in the way of collective wisdom that you can draw on.
To gather more information to throw at them, if you haven't done so already, mess around with a bog-standard empty USB stick, try all the format options you can think of and see if you can get anywhere. After all, two drives is hardly a thorough test.
If you do get help from the support team, it would be great of you came back with the results. It could benefit others who hit the same brick wall.
Posting the resolution to my problem in case it helps others.
I did format the USB thumb drive (32GB) on my WIndows 10 PC. I then tried it again - and it worked - I could see the drive in the Netgear Modem Home Page under "My Media".
I then took the 2TB Toshiba External HD, plugged it in (without formatting it) and it also worked. I don't know why that fixed it, but it did.
Cheers
Sam