Router won't recognize hard drives

[gspam1]

I purchased a WD My Book drive to plug into the USB port of the Netgear 6250. The router doesn't see the drive. If I plug the drive into my computer, it works fine.

I picked this drive because it appeared to be compatible with Netgear based on the compatible Drive lists for my router.

I would appreciate any suggestions. I don't want to go out and spend another $200 on another incompatible drive.

Thanks!

[jmizoguchi]

If listed as compatible USB HD but does not work then contact support via portal at my.netgear.com

[gspam1]

Thanks, will do.

[gspam1]

Technical support can't help. They just give obvious advice like update the firmware in the router and reboot the router. So, I'm hosed. Still looking for a network storage solution though.

So my decision now is to gamble on another brand/model of hard drive that is also on their "compatible" list or go with a NAS/Network drive setup?

My only concern is speed. Is the USB 3 connected drive faster than a NAS setup that uses the Ethernet port? If so, I may roll the dice with another brand. Of course the reason I bought the R6250 instead of the R6300 was to get USB 3 instead of USB 2.

[NoXoZ]

What was the file format of your hard drive? Have you already tried to reformat assuming you have no files on it?

[gspam1]

The router doesn't see the hard drive. If the formatting was an issue (both my desktop and laptop can read and write to the drive) then I would get an error message when trying to access it.

[NoXoZ]

Check for the latest firmware of the router and update or reflash if it needs to. Make sure to create a backup for your configuration file before you load the firmware. Reset the device after you finish the update then upload the configuration file that you have saved.

[gspam1]

Just a follow on for anyone that looks at this thread. The USB port appears to be defective and Netgear will replace or repair if I send the router in. I can't be without the router so I'll buy an Ethernet network drive. No USB for me.

[StephenB222]

Among other problems, my 6250 will not connect to a MyBook 3TB.
Nice to buy a router with great specs and lots of broken promises. This thing couldn't hold the HD drive if it did connect, because it drops IP addresses as if they were hot rocks.
NETGEAR is doing a poor job of resolving my issue because their RMA web pages are improperly set up for me to finish my request for an advance RMA replacement!

[terrySF]

I had the same problem with a WD My Book Drive, in fact it was a 3 TB drive. I think the issue has to do with the drivers that are installed when you attach it to a PC. Those drivers are not available to the R6250.

I switched to a Seagate 2TB (USB3.0) drive and had immediate success. As soon as I plugged it in it was recognized and was made available to the network. It has been working with a hitch for 2 months.

Terry

[mtang]

I have the same problem. After a week of emailing back and forth with Netgear tech support, they identified it as a hardware problem, so I returned it under warranty and got a replacement. The replacement R6250 saw my USB hard drive just fine and worked great for a couple of weeks, and now it has also stopped working.

[Rider658]

I just went through this today. I bought this router less than a month ago based on the packaging which said it had a 3.0 USB port for use with hard drives and printers. Nowhere did the box say anything about "compatibility". I spent nearly an hour on the phone today after trying to hook up my Western Digital 3 TB USB 3.0 drive which works perfectly on multiple computers. I finally asked for a supervisor and was told by the supervisor that since my drive wasn't on the "compatibility" list, I should return this router (a round trip of 75 miles) to Best Buy and "buy a higher end model". To say I was angry is an understatement by far. Especially, since after checking the Web, I find that this is a known problem that Netgear refuses to fix for their customers.

I quit using Netgear products about 9 years ago because of poor quality and lack of customer service. I recently had several customer purchase Netgear equipment who seemed to have had good results so I thought I'd give Netgear a try again. Based on this experience, I don't plan on buying Netgear products ever again and will recommend to my customers that they stay as far away as possible. I also am filing a complaint with the FTC for false or misleading advertising. Netgear should pay attention to what just happened to Red Bull. Claiming things that aren't true gets you in big trouble.

[aj2015]

Just an update for everyone to see.. the issue still remains there. I can't connect my WD 2 TB drive (USB3.0) to R6250. I talked to customer care and they say its not in compatibility list. Their webpage says the routers work with MOST drives but here is the list of drives which are known to work with your router. It does not says others are incompatible.

I have another drive which is also not in list but it still works. thats WD 1 TB USB 1.0.

Here is the thread that I started before I found this one. http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=96366

[Rider658]

Just an update on this issue.  My case ended up escalated and after trying beta firmware and many phone calls I decided to pull all the files off the drive and reformat through Windows 7.  Keep in mind this is 4TB WD drive that is NOT on the compatability list.  After reformatting, plugged it in and the router saw the new drive just fine.  It has been a bit over a year and overall the system has worked pretty well with only a couple of drops in connection which were fixed by rebooting the drive. 

However, I got a message that there was a new firmware available for the router which fixed a few security issues and updated my router.  All my connections work as before EXCEPT the external USB drive. Router no longer sees it but Windows sees it fine when plugged directly into the computer. 

[DexterJB]

Hi @Rider658,

1. Have you tried backing up your files and formatting the drive again through your computer?

2. Have you tried resetting the router after the firmware update?

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team