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DNLA for Dummies (Me) — RAX15/AX1800
Firmware V1.0.11.112_2.0.77, attached 1TB WD MyPassport (which has been functioning perfectly as a ReadySHARE network share for years). First off, sincere apologies if this has been covered elsew...
After a fair amount of trial and error — mostly the latter — I think I have this licked. And many thanks to Razor512, whose suggestions led me at least indirectly to the resolution.
Basically, the problem was that 'way back when I configured ReadySHARE after a hard reset I glossed over the message that DLNA requires an unprotected folder. So I created an unprotected network folder (USB_Media) under USB_Storage, and lo&behold when I populated it the media appeared in their respective folders when viewed from a streaming player. Just one downside: everything in USB_Storage (much of which I want to keep protected) showed up under "Browse Folders." To quote the Wizard of Id, "Somewhere in my magic there is a basic flaw."
Eventually I removed the drive from the router, plugged it into a Linux laptop — my Windows PC wouldn't mount it — and reconfigured it to create a separate partition strictly for media. When I plugged it back in I saw two entries (unprotected T:\ and protected U:\) under "Available Network Folders" in the web-based admin tool, and from Roku I can acess the media on T:\ but nothing on U:\ … exactly what I wanted.
I still have some questions — primarily, why .ReadyDLNA is still on U:\ — and I need to figure out how to create playlists so things aren't so chaotic. But these are minor issues that don't change the fact that the question I asked has been resolved.
For DLNA, the media scan looks at the metadata of each file. For example, if it scans an audio file, what the Router is really looking at is hex offset 00000000 to 000002A0 and then using the artist, track, album, genre codec, and in the case of some formats, track gain, as well as references to any album art, and then generating an index using that data.
In the case of video, You will often have a lot more room for metadata, often spanning offset 00000000 to 00001FF0.
If a file lacks that information, then it may not end up being placed in any artist or genre specific folder, and instead it may just be categorized at the most general level of either video or audio.
Since indexing requires the router to open a portion of each file, it can take a while if you have a very large collection of audio and video.
The router will also place a readyDLNA folder on the drive that is connected to the router, that will contain the indexing info. If the router is unable to write that folder to the storage, then it will be unable to index the drive, thus it must have write permission for the drive connected.
By default after a factory reset or a fresh setup, Netgear routers using the DLNA service, will automatically scan when the drive is idle.
If it continues to have trouble, you could also try safely removing the drive from the router, and then connecting it to a PC, and then delete the readyDLNA folder (visible if you have windows explorer set to show hidden files and folders).
After a fair amount of trial and error — mostly the latter — I think I have this licked. And many thanks to Razor512, whose suggestions led me at least indirectly to the resolution.
Basically, the problem was that 'way back when I configured ReadySHARE after a hard reset I glossed over the message that DLNA requires an unprotected folder. So I created an unprotected network folder (USB_Media) under USB_Storage, and lo&behold when I populated it the media appeared in their respective folders when viewed from a streaming player. Just one downside: everything in USB_Storage (much of which I want to keep protected) showed up under "Browse Folders." To quote the Wizard of Id, "Somewhere in my magic there is a basic flaw."
Eventually I removed the drive from the router, plugged it into a Linux laptop — my Windows PC wouldn't mount it — and reconfigured it to create a separate partition strictly for media. When I plugged it back in I saw two entries (unprotected T:\ and protected U:\) under "Available Network Folders" in the web-based admin tool, and from Roku I can acess the media on T:\ but nothing on U:\ … exactly what I wanted.
I still have some questions — primarily, why .ReadyDLNA is still on U:\ — and I need to figure out how to create playlists so things aren't so chaotic. But these are minor issues that don't change the fact that the question I asked has been resolved.