NAS and Modem-Router not communicating

**derekcohen** · 28th April 2016, 12:54 AM

I recently installed a new modem-router, a D-Link DSL-2900AL, which came recommended. I have a Toshiba 1.5 Gb hard drive attached to this, which is read by a smart box attached to my TV, and my iPad (great to watch videos while running on the treadmill).

The D-Link replaced a Netgear router-modem, which had begun to drop out.

Now that the D-Link is installed, I find that I read video from the hard drive, however I cannot upload to it from my MacBook Pro (running Mavericks). I can read and write to/from a USB thumb drive plugged into the D-Link. This also works on my Mac.

The MacBook will not read the Toshiba hard drive when it is plugged into the Mac, but can read it when plugged into the D-Link. The MacBook also cannot upload a video to the Toshiba wirelessly as now it does not have permission. This is not a factor with the thumb drive. The problem is that I want to upload movies, etc to the Toshiba, but now cannot do so.

So I purchased a new 1 Gb hard drive, a WD, to see if this would work. I suspect the problem is with the OS, but I did not want to reformat the Toshiba until I had another hard drive to move the data to.

I plugged the WD into my Mac, and it did not read. I formatted the hard drive to Ex-fat, so it work work with all systems. The Mac now read the WD, and I copied all the data across. Now I plugged the WD into the D-Link ... and guess what? The D-Link will not read it. So there is no signal from the WD via the D-Link. The Mac still reads the WD when it is plugged in to the laptop.

I would like the Toshiba and the WD to read/write via the D-Link/MacBook Pro. Any help would be most welcome!

Regards from Perth

Derek

**ian** · 28th April 2016, 04:07 PM

Hi Derek

it's possible that the D-Link is too smart for your hard drives.
My first guess is that the D-Link can communicate with a "Cloud" device, but the bare hard drives require a software interface which the D-Link either lacks, or needs to have specifically activated.
Can you get into the D-Link (via a web page) and see what the modem / router can see?

**derekcohen** · 28th April 2016, 04:51 PM

Hi Ian

I can access D-Link and either a USB thumb drive or the Toshiba NAS on my Mac via Connect to Server (smb://shareport.local). I can read both, but only write to the thumb drive. If I try and write to the Toshiba, the Mac will say that I do not have permission. However, if I disconnect the Toshiba from the D-Link, then re-connect it, I can write to it for a brief time, before it again asks me for the password (provided correctly) and then says "you do not have permission".

I recall setting up the D-link to read/write from the Toshiba, but will check it out again.

Regards from Perth

Derek

**ian** · 29th April 2016, 03:37 AM

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Hi Ian

I can access D-Link and either a USB thumb drive or the Toshiba NAS on my Mac via Connect to Server (smb://shareport.local). I can read both, but only write to the thumb drive. If I try and write to the Toshiba, the Mac will say that I do not have permission. However, if I disconnect the Toshiba from the D-Link, then re-connect it, I can write to it for a brief time, before it again asks me for the password (provided correctly) and then says "you do not have permission".

I recall setting up the D-link to read/write from the Toshiba, but will check it out again.

Hi Derek

In a Windows environment, you would need to instruct the "owner" of a device like a shared printer or NAS to share the device with other members of the network.
It sounds to me like the D-Link "owns" the NAS and will not let the Mac "borrow" it. I suspect you can write to the thumb drive because unlike the Toshiba it doesn't have any smarts.

It might pay to completely disassemble and reconfigure your home network, designating one of your devices -- e.g. your Mac -- as the "master" used to access and configure the D-Link.

I have a similar problem here with a cloud device that causes grief because, the house being a rental, I don't "own" the router it connects to.

**derekcohen** · 29th April 2016, 11:56 PM

Hi Ian

OK, it is done. I re-formatted the new portable WD hard drive to FAT32, and it is now working as desired – reading and writing from the D-Link via my MacBook Pro. I checked the thumb drives that worked – they were formatted FAT32. Clearly, the EXFAT format (on the WD previously) is not read by either my laptop or the D-Link, or both. I will now remove the Toshiba portable hard drive from the D-Link and reformat it (not sure what it is at present).
Regards from Perth

Derek

q9 · 30th April 2016, 07:50 PM

Filesystem on the nas shouldn't matter - only the nas has to read it. The other devices connecting through the network won't or shouldn't care.

**Chris Parks** · 1st May 2016, 12:10 AM

Derek, I have never seen an NAS that needed formatting, in fact I didn't know it could be done as they generally run Linux or at least WD's do. Is it an NAS or an external hard drive? An NAS should come up on the network with a special icon and be accessed through a web browser until it the public share is mapped as a drive.

**derekcohen** · 1st May 2016, 12:17 AM

Hi Chris

It is a portable hard drive.

All was fine until about 30 minutes ago. Now, when I connect to it (the WD connected to a USB port on the D-Link) from my MacBook Pro, and attempt to make changes or upload, I am asked for a password (which I provide) and then told I do not have permission to make changes.

Regards from Perth

Derek

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