It's set to MacOS Journaled, and the partition is set to GUID Partition Table. I have it connected to my Nighthawk.
I can connect to it via SMB, copy files to it, etc., but I don't ever see an "admin" folder after I connect, but it says I'm connected as admin. It says the location is "readyshare", connected as admin, and then one folder called USB_Storage. I've even tried creating subfolders as shares through the router UI, which works fine, but it still does not show up for Time Machine.
When I go to Time Machine, I don't see any option to use this device, though I am connected it to it.
What is not set up right? Is there something in the router that needs to be set up for this device?
I purchased a Costco version of the 7900 series which is not listed in any Netgear documentation. Tech Support doesn't even recognize the model number. It's a Nighthawk X6S AC3600, R7960P-100NAS. Firmware automatically updated to V1.0.1.34_1.0.20 when I installed the router with the iPhone app. My external Segate 8TB Time Machine drive was working perfectly with a Time Capsule, but the wifi on the TC was poor, so I wanted to join the modern world and upgrade it. So far, I've spent close to five hours with Tech Support, who take over my computer with Team Viewer, they have no idea how to operate a Mac, and they faff around coming to the same conclusion that I could have told them in 30 seconds, there is a fundamental problem with how they mount the USB drive that is incompatible with Time Machine. This could be SMB, I can't get AFP to work. I tried SMB on Mojave 10.14.4 as well as an older workstation running Mountain Lion 10.8.5. The result is exactly the same, the drive mounts on the desktop but is not visible in the Time Machine menu of selectable drives. It is notable that ReadyShare renames the drive, that is a red flag AFAIC. I'm ready to give up and try another router.
Model: R7900P|Nighthawk X6S AC3000 Tri Band WiFi Router
Running High Sierra with this router running Firmware V1.3.1.64_10.1.36.
I have a USB drive attached to the USB 3 port and can mount the volume via smb://readyshare/USB_Storage
Initially via Command-K (Connect to Server) I enter the admin credentials to log in to the R7000P. So far, so good. However, when I open Time Machine's preferences and click "Select Backup Disk..." first I am presented with the option to choose a disk and I click "USB_Storage. I click "Use Disk" and first get a dialog box saying, "You are attempting to connect to the server "R7000P." I click "connect" and get another login window. I choose "Registered User," enter my credentials to login to the server and it gets rejected as if either the Name or Password is wrong. I can't think of any other credentials that would work here other than the sames ones I used to log in in the first place.
I have changed the password a couple of times after reading on the NETGEAR forum about possible issues with characters, particularly the $ sign. I also shortened the password to see if that was an issue. Nothing has made any difference. I get to that same spot in the seteup and my credentials get rejected.
One other oddity to me is that if I click the shared volume in the Finder's sidebar it opens up with R7000P and readyshare which appear as folders. If i double-click "readyshare" it shows I am connected as admin. If I double-click R7000P it shows: "Connected as: Guest." If I click the "Connect as.." button it then shows as "Not Connected." If I back out of that window and then return it shows me as connected again. I cannot disconnect and cannot connect as admin. This strikes me very odd but perhaps it is expected behaviour. The same behaviour occurs when double-clicking readyshare. I click "Disconnect" it changes to "Not Connected" but if I back out and then return by double-clicking readyshare it shows me again connected as admin.
I have searched everywhere I can think of and tried random suggestions, obviously none of which worked.
I sure hope someone is following this thread and has suggestions because I am baffled by this and frustrated I cannot get Time Machine to work as advertised for this router.
Model: R7000P|Nighthawk AC2300 Smart WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router
I too am using a Seagate hard drive. I have tried everything I can find on the internet, including the instructions shown here. This is very frustrating! I can see the drives/partitions and add and delete data from them, but can't see them in Time Machine. Even if I could sign in as a "Registered User", I'm not convinced that would solve the problem. I don't understand why the techs at Netgear can't write clear instructions that work. Arrrrrgh!
Model: A7000|Nighthawk AC1900 WiFi USB Adapter - USB 3.0
Yes, there are probably many others that work, but are not on the list.
That said, I have never seen any drives larger that 5TB's reported as working. USB drives also have other requirements due to NG's FileSystem used in the router. One is it must be a single partition. Another is the load it places on the port, so generally some portable drives that derive power from the port might need more than available.
I suggest testing with a 2TB or smaller drive to see if that will work.
Well, the final answer is that Nighthawk routers no longer support Time Machine. That's a pity, as TimeMachine support was why I purchased this router in the first place.
Well, the final answer is that Nighthawk routers no longer support Time Machine. That's a pity, as TimeMachine support was why I purchased this router in the first place.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Netgear. In their infinite wisdom they decided that folks wanted Armor over the services that were listed on the box/documents. In order to do that they had to remove features like yours. Bet you were really wanting/hoping you could get Armor! 😉
Now is not that nice? You bought this router for, in your case Time Machine. Now kiss that good by unless you want to stay on a back level of firmware and never get updates. Aren't you glad you bought Netgear? Firmware support IMHO is crap and has been.
Folks, we're mixing many routers in this thread. The Original one was for an R7800 it and the R7900 at least as of now, has not had that feature removed.
R7000, R8000, R7900P, and the R8000P all (I don't think there are more) have with the lastest f/w releases lost that feature and others as well. DLNA is gone too, but not documented in some f/w README's.
The newest firmware update as of 1/8/19 for my Nighthawk X6 R8000 is 1.0.4.46_10.1.63 and the release notes say that time machine is not supported. I use time machine daily so I called Netgear support and they said my time machine would not work if I updated the firmware. I decided not to upgrade it. I complained to tech support that time macine is so valuable for many mac users and it seemed rediculous that this option would be removed. They did not offer any work arounds so I'll keep this firm until the next router. See example below.
New firmware is found. Do you want to update the firmware?
Current GUI Language Version:
1.0.4.28_2.1.49.1
New GUI Language Version:
1.0.4.46_2.1.49.1
Current Firmware Version
1.0.4.28
New Firmware Version
1.0.4.46_10.1.63
Release Notes:
1. [Warning] Note that starting with this firmware release (V1.0.4.46), the following features are no longer supported: iTunes Server, Kwilt Photosharing, DLNA, Time Machine Backup, TiVo support for media sharing, and the Downloader feature (which was in beta). If you want to continue using these features, do not update the firmware.
2. [New Features and Enhancements] Supports NETGEAR Armor
3. [New Features and Enhancements] Removes the following features: iTunes Server, Downloader, Time Machine, Kwilt, DLNA and TiVo
4. [New Features and Enhancements] Modifies the router web interface to support DDNS GDPR v3
5. [Security Fixes] This firmware fixes security issues.
6. [Bug Fixes] This firmware fixes stability issues that occurred under heavy loading.
Yes, and the R8000 isn't the only router they've done it on. The assumption is they needed the RAM space to install Armour, which is a new money stream for them. They'd rather have that then care about what prior owners used the router for and with what features.
I really liked how they called this "[New Features and Enhancements] Removes the following features: iTunes Server, Downloader, Time Machine, Kwilt, DLNA and TiVo"! Removing something is a "new feature", I don't think so!
Also, not upgrading you will not get true New Features or Bug Fixes, not to mention Security Updates... some day you'll be forced to upgrade ot get a new router. I didn't wait and jumped ship.
NG's new motto should be "It is all about the money!".
An example of how much Netgear likes their customers. Remove the features that folks bought the router for. Don't even announce it. Just let them find it out the hard way by either reading the notes with the firmware or installing the firmware and finding out things are no longer available. What a way to NOT run a company.
I was never a fan of USB storage on a router from way back so I have had a NAS for years. Latest QNAP backs my MACbook up without issue and I have proven I can restore from it.
What I don't understand about this whole deal is 'why' prior customers had to be the ones to suffer? There surely were ways around doing this? Such as:
2 individual Build lines:
For prior users before the inclusion of Armour. I also assume the features are also 'mature' and rarely needs fixing.
One that includes Armour but not features removed to make room for Armour.
I don't know the actual process (both management thought and coding support) that made this happen. However, once they stripped out the features, I assume:
They have the base router functions in a block of code.
They then added in Armour, and since they probably didn't own the product, they did get a BINARY from the owner (Bitdefender). Probably need some added calles to Armour in the base router function code that could be handled easily depending on what was built or a two-pass method to build both versions at once.
Features removed are independent from the base router functions, that is they have nothing to do with router base functions (DHCP, Wireless operation, etc.)
Assuming the above is correct, having 2 build lines would be reasonable. Also assuming that the core features they removed are stable and rarely require fixes. In that case, the build could actually have 3 parts, the base router code (with maybe of IF/THEN's to go around some calls for each part not in the base or block calls for some things not in one or the other 2nd parts to be built/included. Sure, there might be added final testing needed, but with what appears to be the ability of NG's testing of new f/w being, at best minimal, it can't be much cost/overhead to the process.
That build process would allow old users and new users the ability to include on THEIR routers what functions they wanted. It would have shown (to me at least) NG's RESPECT and COMMITMENT to ALL users of their products.
Yes, I over simplified it, but the basic method could have been done, if one wanted too.
I realize this thread is a year old, but I was having the same issues. I finally figured out how to enable this, and since I couldn't find anywhere else that explained it, I figured I would do it here since I found this thread when looking for answers myself. I know the OP already did some of this, but I'm going to make it a step by step guide.
If you don't care about why we have to do it this way, you can skip to section 1. But basically, Time Machine looks for mounted drives in OSX, which happens automatically with AFP. Some netgear routers support AFP, but many do not. Lots of them, the C7000 included, only support the SMB protocol, which cannot be "mounted" by OSX. So, we're going to give OSX a way to mount an image ON the external drive, which we're connected to with SMB.
1. SETTING UP THE DRIVE
** WARNING **
This will erase all content on the drive. If it's already Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID Partition mapped, you may be able to skip this section.
a. Plug the external drive directly into the computer.
b. Launch "Disk Utilities" through spotlight or through Finder -> Applications -> Utilities.
c. You should see the external drive on the left side pane. It should have multi-levels, like you see in the OVAL in the screenshot attached. If it's only 1, click the "View" button (highlighted by the red ARROW in the screenshot attached) and select "Show All Devices"
d. Select the top level for the external drive, like in the OVAL in the screen shot attached, then click erase (SQUARE in the screen shot attached). Choose a name for your device, then select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" for the format and "GUID Partition Map" for the Partition Map
e. Wait for that to finish. Depending on what's on the drive, this could be a few seconds, or take a little while.
f. DO NOT let Time Machine start backing up to this drive yet.
2. CREATING THE SPARSEBUNDLE
The sparsebundle is what OSX will mount and Time Machine will be able to back up to. A couple words of warning: This is going to take a looooong time. This step took roughly 12 hours for me on a 4TB drive.
a. First, figure out how much usable space you have that you want to devote to backups. This space will ONLY be available to backups, and can't be adjusted later. You have to have AT LEAST as much space available as your hard drive that you'll be backing up. I used 3.9TB and left 100GB free for file storage on my 4TB drive.
b. In Disk Utility, go File -> New Image -> Blank Image. Put "TimeMachine" or similar into the "Save as" and "Name". Click the down arrow all the way to the right of the "Where:" dropdown box - this will expand your selection - and choose your external drive. Put your size as what you determined in step 2A. GB = gigabytes, TB = terabytes. Format should be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", Encryption = "None", Partitions = "Single Partition - GUID Partition Map", Image Format = "read/write disk image"
c. Click "Save" and then go about your business. It's going to take a long time.
3. TIME MACHINE SETUP
a. Now that that's completed, find and double click on the .dmg file it created on your external drive. You should see this "mount" on your sidebar in Finder.
b. Open Terminal, either through spotlight, or through Finder -> Applications -> Utilities.
c. Type in `sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/TimeMachine/` (without the ticks) and enter your password. **NOTE! If you named your image something other than "TimeMachine", you should enter that instead of "TimeMachine" like in this example.** That will tell Time Machine that even though it did not recognize the disk image as something it could write to, it definitely is.
d. Open up Time Machine preferences, and you should now see your "TimeMachine" (or whatever you called it) drive listed! Success! But don't let it go to your head. There's still more steps below.
e. While not explicitly needed, it's always faster to do your first backup while you're physically connected to the drive. So start your first backup now, if you like.
f. Once you're ready to attach your Time Machine disk to the router, click the "eject" button next to the external drive and the "Time Machine" disk image. Both should be on the sidebar in Finder.
4. ROUTER SETUP
a. Plug the USB drive into the router.
b. Log in to the router (Mine is http://192.168.0.1, but yours may be different), then click the "Advanced" tab, and click "Reboot" under the Cable Information box. In different versions of the software, the reboot button may be located somewhere else, but that's where it is in v1.03.01 on my C7000v2.
c. Once rebooted, you should see the drive listed in the "Basic" tab, under "ReadySHARE", in the "Available Network Folders"
5. MAC SETUP (aka RETURN OF THE MAC)
a. Open up Finder, then, from the menu bar, choose Go -> Connect to Server.
b. Enter in "smb://readyshare". (If you changed the name of your Network/Device Name, use that instead of readyshare)
c. You may need to login, but use your router username and password (ex. "admin" and whatever password you used to login to the router in step 4).
d. It may prompt you to select which drive to mount. You will probably see 2: Something like T_Drive and USB_Storage. I don't think it makes a difference, but select the T_Drive (or similar) and click "Ok"
e. You should now see your "readyshare" external drive on the sidebar in Finder. Click on that, then "T_Drive" (or similar), and you should see your "TimeMachine.dmg" or whatever you named it. Double click to mount.
f. Go into to Time Machine settings on your mac and it should already be selected, but you can click "Back up now" and it should start backing up to the external drive! You've done it!
g. The last step is setting up the Drive to automatically mount on startup. To do this, go to Apple Button -> System Preferences -> Users and Groups -> your user name. Click the "Login Items" tab, then the "+" button at the bottom of the pane. Choose your "TimeMachine" mount on the sidebar and click "Add". It should now have a Time Machine icon and say it's a "Volume". Sweet!
Oh so close. Your detailed instructions are great. But when I try to backup with the HD connected to the router, I get a Time Machine failure "don't have required permissions" to write to the disk. I can't change the permissions to Read&Write. Any way around this? Thanks again.
After playing around with this for a little bit, I was able to get the attached error message (which I think is the one you're reporting) by trying to connect to "smb://readyshare/T_Drive" and then mounting the .dmg file. It is fixed by ejecting both the "TimeMachine" and "readyshare" mounts from the sidebar in Finder. Next, still in Finder, go to the menu bar and choose Go -> Connect to Server and typing in only "smb://readyshare". It pops up with a message box and I choose "T_Drive" (USB_Storage is also available but unselected) and then clicking Ok and mounting the .dmg file. It would then work correctly.
Note - as always, if you changed any of the names for the ready share or anything you will have to change them in the examples above.
@wkuchrisn, I tried your fix, but Time Machine still can't write to the mounted dmg that contains the initial backup. Nothing I do changes the permissions on the mounted T_Drive disk. Just for fun, I connected the HD back up to the laptop with the USB cable to see if I could do an incremental backup, and I now can't get Time Machine to recognize the mounted dmg. It recognizes the HD that contains the dmg, which has a small amount of free space, but it dooesn't recognize the 3.5TB dmg. I am really stuck. Is there anything else to try? I don't really want to go back to the beginning to recreate the dmg again. I am ready to toss this router and get one that works with TimeMachine.
Try going to system preferences/security & privacy/privacy, select Full Disk Access from the left pain, and add Terminal in the right pain. With the drive connected to your computer dirrectly via USB, re-run the command from wkuchrisn's instructions.
Other option is to get a standalone NAS. Routers were meant to route. IMHO things like you are trying to get done is like an ugly wort on a pretty face. I decided long ago to not subject myself to the pain and suffering of getting disk sharing working on a router. With my NAS my MAC is backed up without even worrying about it and since the NAS has mirrored drives I can lose one and not lose my info unlike when using the USB drive function on a router.
IMHO things like you are trying to get done is like an ugly wort on a pretty face. I decided long ago to not subject myself to the pain and suffering of getting disk sharing working on a router.
Ok ... but this thread is about getting a feature that's a selling feature - it's literally on the box - to work. People purchased these routers and are expecting to get at least what they paid for. Some of these routers had the feature completely removed in a firmware update making them choose between critical updates a reason they bought the hardware. This is a work around to a broken or missing feature, just as adding a separate NAS is. Maybe it's not as pretty, but it sure is free.
