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Travelscribe's avatar
Travelscribe
Aspirant
Dec 27, 2016

C7000 supported USB Drives

I've been having difficulty adding a USB Drive to my C7000 Nighthawk - AC1900 WiFi Cable Modem Router.

 

I started with a Seagate Backup Plus Hub 4TB External Desktop Hard Drive Storage (STEL4000100) that initially worked when I plugged it in to the modem. I then formatted the drive using HFS+ as I intend for the networked storage to be only used by Macintosh computers. After reformatting, the drive works fine when plugged in directly to my Macbook, but is not recognized by my C7000 modem.

 

I contacted Netgear support who informed me that my Modem was defective, and completed the exchange process. I set up my new C7000 modem and when I plugged in the USB drive, it still didn't work... I have since returned the USB drive and I'm looking for a Macintosh formatted USB drive that I can plug in and have it work out of the box.

 

Looking at the list on (http://kb.netgear.com/18985/ReadySHARE-USB-Drives-Compatibility-List?cid=wmt_netgear_organic), the only drive I see that is formatted for Macs is:

 

Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2 TB Portable External Hard Drive for Mac with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 / PN: STDS2000100

 

The only thing is, I'm looking for a 4 GB drive.

 

Would these work?

 

Seagate Backup Plus 4 TB Portable External Hard Drive for Mac with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (STDS4000400)

 

 or preferably

 

Seagate Backup Plus Hub for Mac 4TB External Desktop Hard Drive (STEM4000400)

 

Is there a method I can use to figure out which drives will work and which ones will not?

 

Thanks!

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7 Replies

  • DarrenM's avatar
    DarrenM
    Sr. NETGEAR Moderator
    Dec 29, 2016

    Hello Travelscribe

     

    Have you tried to format it in NTFS or FAT32 to see if it will work?

     

    DarrenM

    • Travelscribe's avatar
      Travelscribe
      Aspirant
      Dec 29, 2016

      I did try it formatted with NTFS and had a similar problem. It would be recognized by my PC, but not by the Modem.

       

      I have since returned the drive and I'd love to get an answer before I purchase a new one. 

      • Travelscribe's avatar
        Travelscribe
        Aspirant
        Dec 29, 2016

        I'm just looking for a 4 GB Mac formatted drive that is supported by the C7000. Will any work?

  • havdaddy's avatar
    havdaddy
    Aspirant
    Jan 02, 2017

    I have a similar problem, except that I am using a standard PC format (NTFS) of the hard drive.  It initially worked but now doesn't recognize any USB device attached.  I've attempted to use the same seagate drive you have plus other seagate USB drives, as well as WD.  Nothing is recognized.

    • Travelscribe's avatar
      Travelscribe
      Aspirant
      Jan 03, 2017

      havdaddy - I just got off the phone with Netgear support and here's what I was told:

       

      Any drive will work with the C7000, on the Macintosh with OSX. However, to get a USB drive to work with the C7000, you need to contact support for the manufacturer or the USB drive and find out the port number required to access the drive. 

       

      This is not documented anywhere and to be honest, doesn't make a lot of sense to me. After all, my drive initially worked without a port number before it stopped working!

       

      However, I'm off to order a new drive. Hopefully this works.

  • Travelscribe's avatar
    Travelscribe
    Aspirant
    Jan 03, 2017

    Thanks for your input. I had assumed that I was doing something wrong until Netgear support had me return my Modem/Router for a replacement. When it arrived and the hard drive still didn't work, that's when I became concerned. 

     

    Since Netgear doesn't appear to be helping on this post, guess it's time to call support again...