Read only HDD

[Anthea Holland]

For ages we've not been able to do anything with our Brennan B2 as we have the Read Only HDD message come up.  I've followed all the recommended steps - but can't reformat the HDD as ... well ... it's read only,.
Neither of us are very technically minded so not sure what to do next.  Any helpful suggestions would be much appreciated

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Anthea,

First thing - do you have a backup "Export command" of your B2 that is up to date - if not do one first, the Read Only will not prevent you doing this.

I ask this because reformatting your HDD will delete ALL your music.

We can then tell you how to do the format.

Frec

[Peter Lowham]

Hi Anthea,

Here is an extract from my notes when I found that an internal HDD would not format.  The process below enable the format to complete successfully.

First though, can you find out the version of software that your B2 is running?  With the clock showing on the front panel display, using the B2's remote control, press the 'Info' button twice and the version number will be shown in the top line of the display. It will show something like 'Version Bxx mmm dd yyyy', so if you let us know the date that shows then that would be helpful.

Format B2 Internal HDD Fails to Complete Successfully

There is a situation where the B2 sometimes will not format directly.  By following the process below this should enable the format to run successfully to completion.  If you have already run an 'Export' Backup, you can start at step 2.

1.  Plug a FAT32 formatted USB device into the B2's USB C port and select ‘USB Functions’ → “Export to C’ (or ‘A’) from the front panel knob.

2.  When ‘Export’ is complete, unplug the USB device from the B2 (to prevent accidental formatting of the backup device)

3.  Select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Stop NAS'

4.  Select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Use SD'

5.  Power the B2 down, wait 30 seconds and power up.  (This step is important)

6.  Select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Advanced' --> 'Format HDD'

7.  When the format has completed select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Use HDD'

8.  Select 'Settings' --> 'Maintenance' --> 'Start NAS'

9.  Plug the USB backup device back into the B2

10.  Select ‘USB Functions’ --> 'Import from C’ (or ‘A’)

In step 6 you should see, on the front panel ,display a message ‘Partitioning’ briefly followed by another message ‘Formatting’ which should show for a time between 2 and 5 minutes, depending on the capacity of the HDD.

If  the ‘Formatting’ message disappears after a few seconds, then the format has failed and the above steps 3 and onwards should be repeated.

If the format fails again then it is likely that the HDD has suffered a hardware failure.  In this case, contact Brennan through this forum and request further assistance.

Let us know how you get on.

Regards,

Peter.

On Thursday, 9 September 2021 at 17:10:08 UTC+1 anthea...@sky.com wrote: