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JanSolo's avatar
JanSolo
Aspirant
Mar 26, 2016
Solved

Backup to USB fails due to lack of space; but it's an empty drive and there are no files on it!

I've upgraded my NV+ v1 (4.1.14) with 4x 2TB drives and I ran into the 4k block size problem. So I'm trying to backup my device so I can factory reset it. The current size of the volume is 1.3TB, so...
Adding Disks
Backup
NV+
ReadyNAS
USB
  • JanSolo's avatar
    JanSolo
    Mar 26, 2016

    OK, I figured out the multiple partition problem.

     

    When partitioning a drive with Disk Utility on Mac, it creates a HIDDEN FAT32 partition called EFI which is used for some boot info. This EFI partition is confusing RAIDiator and causing it to try and use the small EFI partition instead of the large main one.

     

    Since I'm not booting this drive (it's only for backup), it's safe to remove it. You need to enable a debug option in order to see the partition in Disk Utility. Search google for 'Remove EFI partition on mac' to see how to do it.

     

    Also, I used EXTfs for mac by Paragon Software which allows you to create and mount ext3 partitions on your mac. http://www.paragon-drivers.com/extfs-mac/

     

    Backup job is running now... hopefully it will complete successfully!

     

     

JanSolo's avatar
JanSolo
Aspirant
Mar 26, 2016
I used the usb volume page in raidiator to format it as ext3.
Im gonna try to format it manually on my Mac, but macs don't support ext3. What should I use?
  • JennC's avatar
    JennC
    NETGEAR Employee Retired
    Mar 26, 2016

    Hello JanSolo,

     

    Can you try FAT32?

     

    Regards,

    • JanSolo's avatar
      JanSolo
      Aspirant
      Mar 26, 2016

      Some of my files are > 4gb... won't the backup fail because of that?

      • JanSolo's avatar
        JanSolo
        Aspirant
        Mar 26, 2016
        I tried to format the drive on my mac... I end up with two partitions like this:
         
        USB Storage Devices
        The following USB storage devices are connected.
        DevicePart.DescriptionUsedSizeFSSpeed
        USB_HDD_61Voyager S3 [Partition 1]0 MB196 MBFAT32480OptionsGo
                  
                  
         2Voyager S3 [Partition 2]0 MB1862 GBFAT32480OptionsGo
                  
                 

         

        The small partition is not big enough to backup to and the large partition is not accessible as a device!

        Also, trying to reformat the small partition using raidiator works, but reformatting the big partition causes the http service on the nas to restart.

         

        What is going on? Is there any way to get a USB drive to work? This should be simple, no?

         

         

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