Storage forum: Seagate USB HD connectivity issue with Netgear WNDR3700

Thanks Kees, I am going to check this out and see if this works for me.

I am also having a problem with a GoFlex Drive - I have a 3 TB drive, and have reformatted the drive right out of the box (saving the data on the drive on a separate drive for safe keeping). There is still 177 MB of used space, when I looked at the properties of the drive, after a *long* 2 days reformatting the drive (the computer I had available to let sit and use the CPU exclusively for reformatting is a Centrino Duo laptop, and probably wasn't the best choice in hindsight.)

I am trying to be able to use this drive on a Netgear WNDR3700 Router, with a "readyshare" USB option, to network a drive. Is it possible there is something in that 177 MB of hidden data that is keeping the drive from being able to be recognized as a drive useable by the router, even though Seagate and Netgear both list the 2 TB counterpart drive as being available and useable in this fashion?

Another possibility would be the new base units for these drives, which change the drives over 2 TB to "look like" they are using a 4 GB kernel as opposed to a 512 MB kernel for operating system recognition. The new GoFlex drives are coming out with the new interchangeable base units because drives larger than 2 TB aren't useable by operating systems prior to Windows 7 (actually I am not sure if Windows 7 can view the larger drives) because they have larger segments in the formatting. This is a work-around, to enable the drives to show up on legacy computers. It also allows people to upgrade the drive (not the storage space, but the amenities), so if you want USB 3.0 later, or an ethernet port, or a wireless N Mac address onboard, you just upgrade the base unit (for a cost, or course,) not the drive with all of your data on it. Relatively neat, but not if I cannot use the drive from the get-go.

If it is the base unit, I need to actually just take the drive back to the store, and cut my losses, getting a 2 TB drive and reformatting it to NTFS to go on the router (or maybe even two 2 TB drives with a splitter or small USB hub, to get more than 2 TB networkable - not sure if the router would understand that, but who knows.)

The software for the GoFlex offers a way to make the drives accessible (through a USB connected computer) through the internet, generating a URL for the drive accessible with password access, in addition to the use on the internal network. The Netgear router will do the same.

I cannot get the router to recognize that there is a drive attached to it with the 3 TB GoFlex Desk external drive at all, but I *can* get my two 320 GB SimplePortable portable drives to be recognized, as well as my older, huge footprint 250 GB and 750 GB Seagate external drives (none of which have any capacity for "making the drive a network" or "generating a URL for internet access outside the home".)

Any help is appreciated. I get *nothing* when I talk to Netgear, nor to Seagate - they both just say that it should *work*, although both says the pairing of these two particular devices is not supported - they don't have the two as incompatible, but by exclusion, do not support it either, because it isn't on their "supported drive to router" list.

Thanks in advance!

And require support of a new formatting. I don't think it should work and I hope you know why it may not work.

For example, the move from 512 byte sectors to 4096 byte sectors. This is just one of the changes that the router would have to support.

-> But taking days to format is a sign. Not a good one. Most folk will do the quick format that takes a few seconds. The long format rarely is any better. You may be working too hard.
Bob

Thanks , I am going to check this out and see if this works for me.

My WNDR 3700 recognizes USB sticks of various types and vintage, but not the GoFlex 3 G. The GoFlex does not show up in the basic or advanced USB screens on the router.
The Goflex works fine attached directly to my Windows 7 desktop (ultimate 64 bit)