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jfausmith's avatar
jfausmith
Aspirant
Dec 09, 2020

External harddrive

I have an external harddrive that I had used on my previous router that will not work on my R7900P router.  When I looked at the list of external harddrives that worked with my router I googled most ...
jfausmith's avatar
jfausmith
Aspirant
Dec 10, 2020

The router I used before was a Linksys WRT1200AC and all I had to do was plug it into the router and then is showed up on my network.  Everyone in the family could use the harddrive to backup their data.

 

When I purchased the Netgear R7900P router I plugged the harddrive (WD My Passport Ultra WDBGPU0010BBY-0B) but I could not find the harddrive.  I did go to the link you gave me and did not see the harddrive listed there.  I also contacted the Netgear tech support and I was told that my harddrive would not work with the router I have. 

 

I really want a harddrive connected to my network so I went back to the link and did a search for every harddrive that was listed that would work with my router and I could not find any of them available.  Most of them are not available anymore and the rest of them didn't have the same numbers that were listed so I am guessing that they will not work either.

 

What can I do?  Could it be the way the harddrive was formated?

 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

  • michaelkenward's avatar
    michaelkenward
    Guru - Experienced User
    Dec 10, 2020
    jfausmith wrote:

    I did go to the link you gave me and did not see the harddrive listed there.  I also contacted the Netgear tech support and I was told that my harddrive would not work with the router I have. 

     

    I woudn't trust either of those. That database is pathetically thin on details and support people probably read that for their "advice".

     

    WD My Passport drives are hardly exotic. I have used them with ReadySHARE. And 1TB is well within the limits.

     

     

    jfausmith wrote:

    Could it be the way the harddrive was formated?

     

    Thanks for any help you can offer.

    Could be. But first you should read up on how to set up ReadySHARE on your router. It isn't a simple plug and play operation.

     

    Visit the support pages:

    Support | NETGEAR

    Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware.

    That page will also have any software, firmware and drivers for your device, if they exist.

    Look for the model number on the label on the device.

    Begin with the Quick Start/Installation Guide.

    Check the section in the manual Share a Storage Device Attached to the Router.

    You may have done this already. I can't tell from your messages.