D7800 attached hard drive storage.

[MACH100]

Can anyone point me in the direction of a 'Noddy guide' to setting up a shared storage facility on the D7800?   After some initial problems due to incompatibility of my chosen USB drive, I have now obtaikned a compatible USB 4Tb drive which I have connected to USB1.

Whilst the drive (and folders) is visible on the Netgear configuration page, it seems to be restricted to read only mode.   Ideally I am looking to divide the 4Tb into 3 regions: 1 & 2 would be set up to store backups from 2 users laptops, whilst the third would be used to share files.

I am having no luck trying to assign access privileges to parts of the drive - but my expertise is pretty basic, so I would be grateful for any guidance.

[IrvSp · Accepted solution]

No go if you are doing partitions, filesystem on the router DOESN'T allow that. You CAN create individual folders though. See my Screen Capture on the left.

I have TWO shares on the drive. One, basically the ROOT is access controlled with the SAME credentials as the ROUTER (Sorry, that is only option if you want it protected). The other anyone can access. However, there is only one choice for blocking access.

When you create a folder on that page, using EDIT you can either allow all access or protect it. Not sure what you did to make it read only? Were you prompted for anything before trying to access it? If possible, make a screen capture and post it (blocking out what I did, that data shouldn't be made public.

Some of the problem could be OS related. You should be able to assign the share as a NETWORK DRIVE and have full control that way on a PC?

[IrvSp · Accepted solution]

No go if you are doing partitions, filesystem on the router DOESN'T allow that. You CAN create individual folders though. See my Screen Capture on the left.

I have TWO shares on the drive. One, basically the ROOT is access controlled with the SAME credentials as the ROUTER (Sorry, that is only option if you want it protected). The other anyone can access. However, there is only one choice for blocking access.

When you create a folder on that page, using EDIT you can either allow all access or protect it. Not sure what you did to make it read only? Were you prompted for anything before trying to access it? If possible, make a screen capture and post it (blocking out what I did, that data shouldn't be made public.

Some of the problem could be OS related. You should be able to assign the share as a NETWORK DRIVE and have full control that way on a PC?

[MACH100]

Many thanks - I think you have solved the mystery!

From reading through the Netgear notes, it appeared that using the fileshare should not be difficult but when I created my folders they turned out to be read only - with no way of changing this!  I can now say that this is an artefact caused by having partitioned the hard drive by attaching to my laptop BEFORE connecting to the D7800, as I reckoned this was the best way to manage access.

On the basis that there is effectively NO security then, for folders on the router attached drive, this leads me to be concerned about potential unauthorised access to these files.  I have set the router configuration page to require MAC address verification - which obviously restricts any users attaching to the wifi, but could anyone confirm if / that this would also provide a barrier to any external access to my home network (ie some kind of hacking) ?

[IrvSp]

You''ve switched from USB problem to access control now it seems?

First, I'm not 100% sure the read only problem was due to creating folders on a PC, but PERMISSIONS could have been set when created. The drive even on the PC might be R/O? Doubt it but it could be created without 'Everyone' having r/w access. Bringing the drive back to the PC and under PROPERTIES of those folder you should be able to change the permissions.

ACCESS CONTROL should work... and there is a setting not allowing new devices to attach.

I'll assume you have REMOTE ACCESS off as well.

If you are worried about specfic folders on the USB drive, you can protect them with the router USERID password. This will stop anyone on the LAN from accessing that (or those) folder(s) that you do this for. However, some applications can't handle the p/w requirement, like most DLNA clients.

Want full safe control, get a NAS (Network Attached Storage) as they connect to the LAN and provide better support and protection.