Hi all.
I have just installed my new router and plugged in an Iomega USB drive.
The drive does not show on the connected USB drive section of the router login, but it shows in Finder on my Mac. When I try to connect via finder, I am asked for the login and password. Nothing I try seems to work.
Why can I not see it on the router login pages and how can I get this to work?
On a slightly different tangent, which firmware is the most popular to use?
Thanks for any help!
Glenn
Hi Glenn,
What is the model name and size of your Iomega USB driver?
Do you mean you cannot see the USB drive from the router's management GUI? and you can see it from the Finder on Mac but always get login prompt when connect to it through Finder?
What is the firmware version you use? The latest firmware is version 1.0.2.26 and you can get it here:
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12964
When you get prompted through the Finder, you may just enter the name as "Guest" and leave the password unspecified. Then you should be able to get connected.
--Qwert
Hi guys.
My firmware is the latest Netgear firmware, updated yesterday.
The drive is an Iomega Ultramax HDD1H4-2 1TB external drive.
My original post meant that, using the Netgear GUI, the drive does not appear, yet it shows in Finder on my Mac. When I try to access in in Finder, I get asked for a login and password. If accessing the drive via firewire connection to the mac, no login is required!
Does that all make sense?
Thanks!
Hi Glenn, may I know the exact version of the firmware. Since right now there are two kinds of firmware: one from NETGEAR and one from this website (myopenrouter).
Accessing a USB drive through network is different from accessing it with a direct connection. Mac would always prompt for user name and password for a network connection, but you can let Mac remember the credential so you won't be prompted again later for the same network storage.
--Qwert
Sure man
It is the official Netgear firmware, V1.0.2.26_30.0.98 (according to the update log!!)
Thanks!
Glenn
The readyshare utility does not work on Mac.
Hi Glenn, can you try to enter the user name and password on the Finder prompt to see whether it helps? Since the default is not password protection, a "guest" acoount without a password should work, you may also try the "admin" account with the password for the router GUI login.
By the way, what is your browser application (Firefox, Safari...?) and what version it is?
--Qwert
Hi guys.
Okay - assuming the defaults are 'admin' and 'password', it simply says 'connection failed'. If I try to log on as a guest, it says ' the server Readyshare does not allow guest accounts'.
The browser is the latest version of Safari.
Am I lucked out????
Thanks!
Here si another clue maybe? If, on the netgear GUI, I select USB Settings, then click on the blue 'readyshare' link, it tries to connect to 10.0.0.1, and brings up the login/password prompt again. I types in admin and password, but get the message
Connection failed - There are no shares available or you are not allowed to access them on the server 10.0.0.1.....
Any use?
Okay - BIG update! I stuck a USB drive in the slot, and selecting Guest worked!!! So then, why does Guest not work on my Iomega drive and how can I fix that????
Thanks
Glenn
So it looks like a USB drive IOT issue, a debugging firmware would be needed to find out the cause.
--Qwert
Is that a simple process? Sounds tricky to me! Any advice, or am I just stuck with it?
No it doesnt show up at all, yet a USB pendrive does, so it must be either the drive (which works fine if plugged into the mac directly) or the router not liking the drive!!
OK, this is because the current WNR3500L does not support a USB storage device in the Mac file system format (HFS or HFS+...). Currently the NETGEAR firmware on the WNR3500L only supports the FAT or NTFS formatted USB devices.
So is there a solution for this? The main reason I got this router was so that I could access my external HDD from my MacBook without having to keep it plugged into a Windows 7 PC that is kept on 24x7.
The drive itself is formatted as NTFS and when I plug the drive directly into the MacBook, it mounts perfectly and I can access all the files on it, just when I plug it into the Netgear router, I can only access it from my Windows 7 machine.
Any help or suggestions? Does DD-WRT or Tomato fix this issue for granting USB storage access for both Windows and OSX?
What is your firmware version on WNR3500L? and how do you access the USB through your MacBook? that is, what is the application you use on the MacBook to access the USB HDD attached to the WNR3500L?
Okay guys. Here is the update after loads of debugging etc.
If the drive is formatted to FAT32, the Mac will happily see it on teh router network, and will read and write, as long as no file is 4gb or over. However, certain Mac system files that are hidden, such as _ds.store files, can and will cause the writing process to fail.
Format the drive to NTFS, to remove the 4gb issue, and the Mac cant write to it. Install a 3rd party driver to the Mac, such as NTFS-3G, and it will see, read and write, but not what I call 'comfortably'.. The drive 'hunted' a lot and didnt seem at all happy. maybe a one-off?
Finally, format the drive to Mac EXT and the router sees the drive when viewed through terminal, but simply doesnt display it on the router GUI. This is because the router cannot yet use Mac EXT.
Only when this is fixed can we use the router as we wanted to!
If anyone has succes using NTFS-3G on their Mac, let me know!!
Thanks
Hopefully a fix will come soon? I spent all morning trying to get to my Western Digital myPassport drive through the WNR3500L and just now discovered this post. I already have a lot of files on the drive, so formatting it is not an option.
Still no luck getting to the drive if it's formatted for the Mac file system through a MacBook Pro running OS X 10.6.3 ..
I finally just returned the router to the store and got a refund. The ONLY reason I got is was so I could share files between my MacBook and PC without having to use my PC as a server with my external drive connected to it.
I guess I will just have to keep using my normal wireless network to stream media from external HDD --> PC --> wireless router --> MacBook.
If Netgear ever fixes this issue in the firmware or a 100% fully working fix is discovered, I might try this router again.
Side Note: When I called Netgear support to try and get some questions answered, they tried telling me it states on their own website that the router will not work with OSX. When I asked for the exact URL that states that, I got hung up on. I am more likely to spend up to $ 100 more for a Linksys that has the USB connectivity for external drives than use a product from a company that has that kind of support for basic questions.
Looks like mine may be headed back to the store as well. Sounds like customer support is thoroughly unhelpful
Hi guys. I must say that I have dealt with one of the Netgear guys trying to see what this issue was. He spent ages (weeks) working through helping me debug the system to see where the problem lay and that is when we found that it is an issue with Mac formatted drives.
I will be keeping the router as I think it will just be a matter of time! Shame to lose a great piece of kit for an issue that should be hopefully fixed soon?
Cheers!
@TheNZDaddy - did you keep your drive and find a workaround; or any news on a firmware update.
I bought this router today and fell straight into this same issue. The Box has the Mac logo and the system requirements include Mac OS, so I figured it would work!
Hi Pragantek
Yeah I kept the router - it is excellent. I still can't use it if the plugged in USB drive is formatted in OS-x format. I think (but dont know) that using the router with one of the 3rd party firmwares might make it possible, but I dont want to risk trying it!
If you install the driver for NTFS-3G driver for Mac, Mac can then write to the drive, and see it on the network, but I found it to be very stuttery.
Maybe try that option and let me know if it works for you!
The firmware with the Mac file system support will be coming in Q3.
Excellent news! I look forward to it mate! It will make what has by far been the best router I have ever used into one that is a little bit better!!
Good news there is a firmware update in the pipeline to address this.
I have now connected an NTFS formatted drive to usb port and can connect to it through finder as an smb share - so I can read and write the drive. Happy enough for now.
Has there been any progress on firmware for the WNR3500L Netgear router to handle Mac formatted external drives? I notice the last post was two months ago.
Has this issue been resolved yet? Is there an updated firmware yet that 100% FULLY supports OSX and Windows read/write/GUI access to storage connected to this router?
Yes, download this firmware (version 1.2.2.30) from the NETGEAR website:
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/16643/kw/wnr3500l
So, if I have the drive formatted in NTFS now with data already on it... once I update the firmware, OSX will be able to fully see it?
I do not want to have to reformat my USB storage drive to a new file format and recopy everything ever.
That should work even with the previous firmware. Attached the NTFS formatted HDD to the WNR3500L, then, on the Mac machine, using Safari with the URL like smb://www.routerlogin.net should work.