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Michael_O's avatar
Michael_O
Follower
Jan 01, 2017
Solved

Inconsistent USB Storage Connection

I have two Macs that I want to set up with automatic Time Machine backups over WiFi. I used to do this with an Apple Time Capsule, no problem.

 

I have two hard drives in an IcyRAID enlcosure (MB662U3-2S R1) that I want to use. I have been able to connect the computers to these drives using the provided instructions with the router manual.

 

However, the drives keep disappearing off the network and I have to go in and physically disconnect the cable and reconnect it to get them to come back.

 

When I do this, the drive letter seem to changing at random, so I have to connect to a different drive every time. (i.e. one time it's G, the time it'll be F, the next time it'll be P)

 

As if this wasn't frustrating enough, the router dashboard sees 4 drives, even though there are only 3 on the network - one built in to the router (200 MB) and the two in my IcyRAID enclosure (4TB and 2TB). 2 of these drives share the same letter every time and, you guessed it, they're the 4TB and the 200MB drives. When I try to connect to the 4TB drive, I can now only get the 200MB one, so even though the router knows it's there, I can't connect to it.

 

This is the case whether I am using AFP or SMB to connect.

 

So, three questions.

 

1 - How can I get the router to differentiate between the drives properly?

 

2 - How can I get the drive/share name to stop changing?

 

3 - How can I keep the drives/shares available all the time?

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

  • Hi Michael_O,

     

    I believe the issue of the changing drive names can be addressed if there is a stable connection between the router and the enclosure. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to assign a volume name to a specific drive. I would also like to confirm the following information:

     

    1. What is the model number and firmware version of your NETGEAR device?

    2. Is the 200 MB storage that is being detected referring to the internal flash memory ? Or is it another storage device?

    3. Have you tried resetting the router?

    4. Have you tried re-flashing the firmware?

    5. Is the enclosure connected to the USB 2.0 or 3.0? Have you tried swapping?

    6. Is the connection stable if the enclosure is connected straight to a computer?

    7. Are the drives set to JBOD configuration?

     

    Regards,

     

    Dexter

    Community Team

2 Replies

  • DexterJB's avatar
    DexterJB
    NETGEAR Moderator

    Hi Michael_O,

     

    I believe the issue of the changing drive names can be addressed if there is a stable connection between the router and the enclosure. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to assign a volume name to a specific drive. I would also like to confirm the following information:

     

    1. What is the model number and firmware version of your NETGEAR device?

    2. Is the 200 MB storage that is being detected referring to the internal flash memory ? Or is it another storage device?

    3. Have you tried resetting the router?

    4. Have you tried re-flashing the firmware?

    5. Is the enclosure connected to the USB 2.0 or 3.0? Have you tried swapping?

    6. Is the connection stable if the enclosure is connected straight to a computer?

    7. Are the drives set to JBOD configuration?

     

    Regards,

     

    Dexter

    Community Team

  • DexterJB's avatar
    DexterJB
    NETGEAR Moderator

    Hi Michael_O,

     

    I would like to follow up and check if you are still experiencing the issue.

     

    Regards,

     

    Dexter
    Community Team