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Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30

designgrrl
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Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30

Hello helpful souls,

 

I am trying to attach a LaCie d2 Professional 8TB External Hard Drive to the USB port of my Nighthawk AX2400 RAX 30. (Links are to Amazon and will open in a new page.)

 

Following the directions in the manual, I formatted the drive to HFS+ using Disk Utility to select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". I named the drive "DATA".

 

When I attach "DATA" to the Nighthawk and select "Create Network Folder" in the ReadySHARE > USB Storage (Advanced Settings) GUI, I get a "No Disk" modal. When I access the drive from the "Network" location in the Mac OS Finder, I can see the drive and can access an "S_Drive" with a "share" folder already created; however, this "S_Drive" is only 206.5 MB (naturally defeating the purpose of offloading any media from my computers to an 8TB HD).

 

What am I doing wrong? Is this an issue with the 8 TB drive being too large? Do I need to create smaller partitions? Format the drive differently? I keep trying different options with the same results--the only thing I can access is a microscopic "S_Drive".

 

My goal is to store a couple TBs of photos and another 500GB of music on the drive for access on my home network.

 

Thanks for any help!

Message 1 of 7

Accepted Solutions

Re: Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30


@designgrrl wrote:

 

Could you tell me which 8TB Seagate drive you're using? Right now, I think I'd rather purchase something with at least one example of proven success than bang my head against the wall trying to get the LaCie to work.

 


Seagate Backup Plus Hub 8TB. STEL8000200.

 

This is in an R7800. It does not claim to be compatible with that router. It just works. I got it because it is listed as working with the R7000P. I have one of those too.

 

But this is suspicious:

 



So I decided to a 1TB Seagate Expansion Portable drive that I had lying around, since you mentioned success with Seagate. This showed promise, because I was able to use the "Create Network Folder" GUI. However, I still bumped. up against that ~200mb-sized "S_Drive" issue that I had with the LaCie.

 

Is that what you got on the Mac? If so, it smells like something that has nothing to do with ReadySHARE.

 

You might want to see what they say over on the RAX world.

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Message 4 of 7

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Re: Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30

Oh dear, another USB problem. ReadySHARE technology is just a pain.

 

This is the first port of call for problems:

 

Solved: ALL Netgear USB Drive Mapping Issues ReadyShareCo... - NETGEAR Communities

 

We have had recent discussions here about which drives do and don't work with ReadySHARE. Some brands just don't seem, to play nicely.

 

Your router doesn't even feature in the compatibility list:

 

ReadySHARE USB Drives Compatibility List | Answer | NETGEAR Support

 

But that doesn'r seem to matter much, that list is so incomplete

 

The Lacie is also notably thin on drives listed there.

 

One recent victim ended up moving a drive between two different enclosures to get it to work.

 

The good news is that you can use 8TB drives. I do, but it is a Seagate drive. That even has two USB ports that ReadySHARE can see.

 


@designgrrl wrote:

 

When I access the drive from the "Network" location in the Mac OS Finder, I can see the drive and can access an "S_Drive" with a "share" folder already created; however, this "S_Drive" is only 206.5 MB (naturally defeating the purpose of offloading any media from my computers to an 8TB HD).

 

That can be a sign of a partitioned drive. ReadySHARE hates those.

 

And if a drive doesn't play nice with your operating system, I would put much hope in getting ReadySHARE to cooperate.

 

You might get more help, and find earlier questions and answers specific to your device, in the appropriate section for your hardware. That's probably here:

Nighthawk Routers with WiFi 6 (AX) - NETGEAR Communities

Message 2 of 7
designgrrl
Aspirant

Re: Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30

Thanks for all of this information, @michaelkenward!

 

I tried a few things related to the information you shared and nothing seemed to improve the situation with the LaCie. So I decided to a 1TB Seagate Expansion Portable drive that I had lying around, since you mentioned success with Seagate. This showed promise, because I was able to use the "Create Network Folder" GUI. However, I still bumped. up against that ~200mb-sized "S_Drive" issue that I had with the LaCie.

 

Could you tell me which 8TB Seagate drive you're using? Right now, I think I'd rather purchase something with at least one example of proven success than bang my head against the wall trying to get the LaCie to work.

 

Thanks again!

Message 3 of 7

Re: Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30


@designgrrl wrote:

 

Could you tell me which 8TB Seagate drive you're using? Right now, I think I'd rather purchase something with at least one example of proven success than bang my head against the wall trying to get the LaCie to work.

 


Seagate Backup Plus Hub 8TB. STEL8000200.

 

This is in an R7800. It does not claim to be compatible with that router. It just works. I got it because it is listed as working with the R7000P. I have one of those too.

 

But this is suspicious:

 



So I decided to a 1TB Seagate Expansion Portable drive that I had lying around, since you mentioned success with Seagate. This showed promise, because I was able to use the "Create Network Folder" GUI. However, I still bumped. up against that ~200mb-sized "S_Drive" issue that I had with the LaCie.

 

Is that what you got on the Mac? If so, it smells like something that has nothing to do with ReadySHARE.

 

You might want to see what they say over on the RAX world.

Message 4 of 7
designgrrl
Aspirant

Re: Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30


Is that what you got on the Mac? If so, it smells like something that has nothing to do with ReadySHARE.

Nope, the "S_Drive" is what ReadySHARE auto-creates on any drive I attach to it when I plug it in, regardless of how it's formatted. So it's not related to the OS (I checked on my Windows 11 laptop and it shows the same folder size). This makes me wonder if it's not playing nice with the drives. I also have the router you have in storage and I remember a similar thing happening, but I was just tinkering with the idea of network storage then and chalked it up to "well this doesn't work"...this time I'm more determined!

 

Costco has the drive you're using on discount starting today. I think I'll pop over there and get one this morning and test.

 

Thanks again for your help @michaelkenward ! I'll report back if it works and head over to the RAX group if it doesn't.

Message 5 of 7
designgrrl
Aspirant

Re: Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30

@michaelkenward I just returned from Costco with the Seagate drive. (Link to Costco for anyone that might want one.) Plug and play perfection! I did nothing but plug the drive into the router and boom! full 8 TBs.

 

Thanks so much for your help!

Message 6 of 7

Re: Help with USB Device and ReadySHARE on RAX30


@designgrrl wrote:

@michaelkenward I just returned from Costco with the Seagate drive. (Link to Costco for anyone that might want one.) Plug and play perfection! I did nothing but plug the drive into the router and boom! full 8 TBs.

 

Thanks so much for your help!


You may be pleasantly surprised by that drive.

 

Here at least, it isn't just the 8TB that it can access, but also drives attached to the USB ports. I tried it with a 4TB WD drive. Works just fine.

 

Good to know too that this drive works with at least some of the RAX range.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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