3.0TB USB Drive for ReadyNAS Pro Backup

Just completed 3 FrontView backups on the new HITACHI XL Desk 3TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive. No need to format (NTFS) ... just plugged it in and everything worked well.

Looks like a good purchase.

I have the same ReadyNAS Pro and am using Seagate Free Agent 2TB 2.0 USB drives.

I have had to re-build my pro with the latest firmware and am in the process of repopulating the NasPro with files from the external USB drives.. boy is this painfully SLOW.

What format is recommended with these drives as external backup with the pro?

My systems are all Apple OS

FAT32?? is there a better format??

thanks

FAT32 has 4GB limit per file, but it's a filesystem that you can have read/write access to on pretty much any platform.

EXT3 is a native linux filesystem and a good choice. It doesn't have 4GB limit per file, but it can't be natively handled by Windows or Mac (need 3rd party drivers).

When you have lots of data it can be better to end up simply backing up to another NAS.

So it sounds like short of buying another NAS use external USB drives formatted with FAT32 which is what ReadyNas OS likes and in a Pinch the files can be ready on my Mac..Correct?


thanks

Carl

Turns out my Hitachi USB drive failed suddenly after many months of hitch free Frontview backups. The ReadyNAS Pro recognized this drive as USB2. I replaced the USB drive with a new Seagate Expansion 3TB USB 2.0 drive. The ReadyNAS Pro recognizes this drive as USB3. Frontview backups are now working flawlessly again.

For extra security, I'd like to backup to a 2nd external 3TB drive. I'd like to store this drive offsite and swap with my Seagate drive for Frontview backups.

Convinced that my Hitachi USB drive was salvageable, I broke open the case and stripped out the bare Hitachi drive. After testing the drive on my PC, I confirmed that it was working. Looks like the power supply on the USB drive died.

After formatting the drive (GPT and NTFS), I installed the bare drive in a new Thermaltake (ST0020U) Max5G USB 3.0 hard drive enclosure. After testing once more on my WIN7 machine, I plugged this into the ReadyNAS Pro USB port.

For some reason, the USB drive is not recognized in either the front or back USB ports. It's as if there's no USB drive plugged in at all. Remember, the same drive (when installed in the Hitachi USB enclosure) worked perfectly fine before the power supply failed.

I'm mystified as to what's gone wrong. Any suggestions on getting my Hitachi 3TB USB drive recognized by the ReadyNAS PRO?

Thanks,
Herb...

Does your Thermaltake enclosure have its own power supply? If not try putting a USB hub with its own power supply between the USB drive and the NAS.

What version of RAIDiator are you using?

The Thermaltake enclosure is self powered. See http://thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1285&ID=2034

As I mentioned, it worked perfectly well when connected to my WIN7 PC. That's where the drive was formatted.

I'm using RAIDiator 4.2.19.

Not all USB enclosures are compatible.

If you download your logs zip file (Status > Logs > Download all logs) there may be some clues in there as to why it isn't working.

I'm surprised that the NAS doesn't even see the USB enclosure. It's as if it wasn't connected at all. Could the USB 3.0 connector have something to do with it?

The logs file zip is overwhelming ... not sure where to start looking for a problem.

There are different USB 3.0 chipsets I think. If it's not even being detected then it does sound like it's incompatible.