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Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

MommaRoth
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Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

Hi all - (I searched for this in the community but didn't quite find the solution.  If I've missed it please post a link & sorry for the trouble!)

 

I run a small home office and recently bought a Netgear router after a blackout toasted my Airport Time Capsule (we're all Mac here).  I then purchased a WD My Book for Mac 3T external hard drive, but it wasn't recognized when I connected it to the router.  Found out that it's the ONE drive that's listed as incompatible on the Netgear site (http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/18985/~/readyshare-usb-drives-compatibility-list?cid=w... I sucked it up and am just randomly connecting it to our computers and running time machine when I have the time.

 

However I just found a reason to purchase a second external hard drive.  I figured this time I would go to the list & select one that would connect via the router, so we could back up everything regularly again.  I bought the Seagate Backup Plus 5T Desktop, Model #STDT5000100.  Again, it is not recognized.  I went through the ReadyCLOUD process, registered the router, but it still doesn't "see" the drive.

 

What am I missing here?  I really don't need a NAS - I don't think.  And I can't believe that I just happened to buy another uncompatible device.  What am I doing wrong?

 

Thanks for any help / guidance you can provide!

Model: R7000|Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 7

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MommaRoth
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Re: Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

Hi @ElaineM

 

Thanks for your response.  I ended up returning the drive - no amount of partitioning or driver-downloads made it readable.  I'm going to go back to the list of recommended external hard drives and see if I can find an exact match.  I must say it's incredibly frustrating that this Netgear router is so persnickity about it's compatability. 

 

I appreciate you spending a bit of time with me on this.

 

Regards,  Susan

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ElaineM
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

Hi @MommaRoth

 

Welcome to the community!

 

5TB is to big for the router to read and handle. 

Did you try USB stick? See if that will work. 

Try to partition the HD and see if it will read it. 

Also take note that the router will not be able to read the external hard drive if it requires software to be installed on the PC or if it's password protected. 

 

ReadySHARE USB Drives Compatibility List

Message 2 of 7
MommaRoth
Aspirant

Re: Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

Thank you for your response!

 

I had wondered whether it was just the size of the hard drive.  I'd like to use this 5T drive - how many partitions should I do?  How small do you think the partition should be in order to be recognized by the router?  I've dug around the community for answers - looks like some say 3T but I haven't found any actual documentation.

 

I'm comfortable doing the partitioning - I'm expecting that I'll make them all OS extended journaled.  But if I do the partition to 3T and it's still not recognized, can I go back and re-partition?  (I'm guessing yes - I should be able to re-partition all day long if I'm not worried about losing any data, yes?)

 

I tried using a little USB stick and it reads just fine.  This gives me hope of a solution today!

 

Thanks again - I appreciate that I don't have to wade into this alone 🙂

Message 3 of 7
MommaRoth
Aspirant

Re: Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

Hi @ElaineM

 

So I erased the drive and then Mac OS extended journaled the partitions off - 3T & 2T.  Still nothing. I then split down to 1T, then split to 500GB and then, finally 16GB (the size of the USB stick i tried initially & which it was able to read) - all Mac OS extended journaled.  Still nothing.

 

(for the record, when it's plugged directly into my computer it works fine.  It's just the router that doesn't recognize the HDD in any of these formats)

 

I did some digging and found that it might need a driver: http://www.seagate.com/support/software/paragon/

 

Followed all the instructions & it still isn't recognized through ReadySHARE.  I am absolutely at a loss.  I would appreciate any thoughts you, or anyone else, might have before I return this!  (oh for goodness sake, am I even going to be able to return it now that I've worked on it??)d

 

TiA - Susan

Message 4 of 7
ElaineM
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

It just answers that the router cannot handle such drive. 

Message 5 of 7
MommaRoth
Aspirant

Re: Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

Hi @ElaineM

 

Thanks for your response.  I ended up returning the drive - no amount of partitioning or driver-downloads made it readable.  I'm going to go back to the list of recommended external hard drives and see if I can find an exact match.  I must say it's incredibly frustrating that this Netgear router is so persnickity about it's compatability. 

 

I appreciate you spending a bit of time with me on this.

 

Regards,  Susan

Message 6 of 7
ElaineM
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: Nighthawk r7300 doesn't recognize external hard drive

You are very welcome. 

I hope you'll get this working soon. 

Message 7 of 7
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