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Re: R7960P ReadyShare

ratler
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R7960P ReadyShare

I want to setup ReadyShare on my Nighthawk R7960P router.  I have a USB stick plugged in but that doesn't seem to work.  Does the device have to be a USB disk drive?  If so can it be EITHER a mechanical drive (heads, platters, all that) OR can it be a HDD?

 

Thanks 🙂

Message 1 of 9

Re: R7960P ReadyShare


@ratler wrote:

I want to setup ReadyShare on my Nighthawk R7960P router.  I have a USB stick plugged in but that doesn't seem to work.  Does the device have to be a USB disk drive?  If so can it be EITHER a mechanical drive (heads, platters, all that) OR can it be a HDD?

 


It can be many tnings, but you don't tell us what you are using, so who knows?

 

The manual spells out some of the requirements.

 

Visit the support pages:

Support | NETGEAR

Feed in your model number and check the documentation for your hardware.

Check the section in the manual USB Device Requirements.

You may have done that already. I can't tell from your message.

I mention it because Netgear gave up on supplying paper manuals and CD versions some years ago and people sometimes miss the downloads.

 

You can get an idea of what you can use from this page:

 

Will my USB drive work with ReadySHARE | Answer | NETGEAR Support

 

For serious networking use Ethernet.

 

Message 2 of 9
ratler
Aspirant

Re: R7960P ReadyShare

Well, actually I said I was using a USB stick so you do know something.....  And it does NOT require any software to be downloaded to use it.  But it's a SanDisk USB 3.0 Ultra Fit flash drive.

 

But thanks for the response with the link about disk drives.

Message 3 of 9

Re: R7960P ReadyShare


@ratler wrote:

But it's a SanDisk USB 3.0 Ultra Fit flash drive.

 


And the size is?

 

You may think that saying "USB stick" reveals all, but in reality or is next to useless as a guide to what ReadySHARE can handle.

 

Most USB will work, but anything that requires drivers and/or special software, for encryption for example, can cause problems. That applies regardless of the form factor.

 

But if you don't want to explain what you are doing, and with what, that's fine by me.

 

 

Message 4 of 9
ratler
Aspirant

Re: R7960P ReadyShare

You know, I read the manual for this item.  It's a 64 GB thumb drive, the NetGear device should be able to handle it, per the listing here Will my USB drive work with ReadySHARE | Answer | NETGEAR Support .  But I plug the thing in and the router sets up a share as noted on the Advanced tab, USB functiions.  But if try to Create a Network Folder the router tells me there's no disk present.  No, I don't have a ReadyCloud account because I only want to access these files from multiple computers on my network.  (The ReadyCloud manual indicates that I only need a ReadyCloud account to access the files from the Internet, near as I can tell).

 

In any case I'm beginning to wonder if I care.  I run McAfee's Total Protection and ReadyCloud seems to interfere with that on a Windows 10 (Home edition) computer.  With the USB device inserted in the router the router will create the ReadyShare but then McAfee will tell me that my computer is on two networks and pretty much indicate that the primary network is the ReadyShare and there's no way I can get McAfee to trust other computers on my home network.  If I take the USB device out of the router McAfee will show that the Windows 10 (Home edition) computer is connected to my router and I can trust multiple computers from the Home edition computer.  

 

And here's another point.  While I appreciate your assistance you need to understand that I'm not all that familiar with ReadyShare because I only recently tried to use it.  And I'm troubleshooting a somewhat complex issue that could, IMO, be the fault of Windows Home edition (I have a Windows Pro machine already on this network, it doesn't experience this issue), McAfee, or NetGear's ReadyShare and router.  So I start with the basics - does my device even work or are there known problems.  The doc set for this router is a few years old, HDDs weren't all that common when this router was released.  So, IMO again, the doc set may not identify all the issues or restrictions that exist today vs. when it was released.  This is my first NetGear product so I have little knowledge of how good NetGear actually is at supporting their products and keeping their docs up to date.  My understanding is that this forum is designed to help folks correct issues so I started here with the basics.  

 

You don't have enough information you could tell me what you'd like to see and I can respond.

Message 5 of 9

Re: R7960P ReadyShare

You've lost me in that flood of detail. From knowing nothing we have gone to information overdrive.

 

Have you managed to get any USB drive to show up on ReadySHARE on any PC?

 

Most of us have plenty lying around. That would tell you if it is something strange about this one.

 


@ratler wrote:

I run McAfee's Total Protection and ReadyCloud seems to interfere with that on a Windows 10 (Home edition) computer. 


Another way of describing that is that McAfee's Total Protection seems to interfere with ReadyCloud. That is a more likely scenario. After all, there are many other examples of where McAfee has got in the way of an otherwise harmless computer.

Message 6 of 9
ratler
Aspirant

Re: R7960P ReadyShare

Have I managed to get a drive to show up?  Well, yes and no.  When I plug the USB stick into the router and give it a few minutes the router will show that a sharename has been created (ReadyShare tab), I think that means the router is aware of the USB device.  But if I then try to create a network folder (USB Functions tab) I get a message that there's no drive installed/inserted (I think that indicates the router doesn't really know how to deal with that USB stick).  Seems rather odd to me.  The USB drive I'm using is good - I tested it in a computer and it works fine.

 

And yes, I have had other issues with McAfee and I'm already trying to work with them.  Don't mean to run them down but their initial rep couldn't fix the issue and has escalated it.  Always takes them a day or two for the escalation team to call back.

Message 7 of 9

Re: R7960P ReadyShare

Message 8 of 9
ratler
Aspirant

Re: R7960P ReadyShare

Sorry for the slow reply - hurricane Ida came through southeastern PA yesterday and did a LOT of flooding - solving this problem wasn't at the top of my list....

 

No, I hadn't seen this paper/solution and I find it VERY disturbing.  There's no reason for a company like NetGear to continue using outdated/unsafe protocols.  But I do note that the solution is 4 years old and have to wonder if NetGear have done anything, since it was posted, to move to more secure protocol(s)?  Any idea?

 

Still, it's very interesting to me that my Windows 10 Pro machine has no problem selecting the router as its network of preference while the Windows 10 Home machine gets reported in the McAfee Network diagram as being connected to the ReadyShare and McAfee also reports that machine is connected to two (2) networks (but doesn't identify them by any name) and that the connection McAfee thinks is shared with the Windows 10 Pro machine is not the preferred network on that Wiindows 10 Home machine.  The only indication I get about the ReadyShare is that the McAfee Network, on the Windows 10 Home machine, shows that Windows 10 Home machine as being connected to ReadyShare.  If I remove the USB storage device then the Windows 10 Home machine appears, in the McAfee Network on that machine, as being connected to my router.

 

Of course all this being said, that really doesn't explain why, when the USB storage is installed on router, I can't create the network shared folder and connect either machine to it.  That would seem to be a purely NetGear issue.

 

Thanks for the pointer.

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