Linksys router not accepting WD "My Passport" as external storage.

[Richard Treen]

I cleared and reformatted the drive in Windows but still same problem.
"Unsupported partition or drive mapping detected"

Newly formatted NTFS should be OK.

"Supported drive mappings: GUID Partition Table (GPT) and Master Boot
Record (MBR)" I'm not so sure of.

Where can I read the current state in this regard on the drive?
Does this not get cleared and renewed during formatting?

TIA
--

Richard Treen

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[Chris Whelan]

Richard Treen wrote:

>
> I cleared and reformatted the drive in Windows but still same problem.
> "Unsupported partition or drive mapping detected"
>
> Newly formatted NTFS should be OK.
>
> "Supported drive mappings: GUID Partition Table (GPT) and Master Boot
> Record (MBR)" I'm not so sure of.
>
> Where can I read the current state in this regard on the drive?
> Does this not get cleared and renewed during formatting?

http://gparted.org/

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

[Henry Law]

On 12/07/17 13:35, Richard Treen wrote:
> Newly formatted NTFS should be OK.

Does the manual say that? I'm asking because this ...

> "Supported drive mappings: GUID Partition Table (GPT) and Master Boot
> Record (MBR)"

... refers to the type of partition table, not to the types of
partitions within it.

I'd be a bit surprised if a router supported NTFS. Most of them (well,
the ones I've looked at or researched) run some form of Linux; NTFS
support for Linux is an add-on and has had its problems over the years.
It's still generally recommended to use it read-only where possible.

--
Henry Law n e w s @ l a w s h o u s e . o r g
Manchester, England

[Richard Treen]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 14:10:36 +0100, Henry Law <ne...@lawshouse.org>
wrote:

>On 12/07/17 13:35, Richard Treen wrote:
>> Newly formatted NTFS should be OK.
>
>Does the manual say that? I'm asking because this ...
>> "Supported drive mappings: GUID Partition Table (GPT) and Master Boot
>> Record (MBR)"

I would've referred tp the manual but it states on the web GUI
Configuration, External Storage page "Learn More" section, that
FAT, FAT32, NTFS and HFS+ are supported formats.

Supported drive mappings:
GUID Partition Table (GPT) and Master Boot Record (MBR)

When the Data Lifeguard Tool's 5 hour extended test of the external
drive is finished, I'll try formatting the drive to FAT32 and see if
that improves compatitbility.

But having just read about precisely the same error messages in
relation to the same drives recommended on Linksys's Drive
Compatibility list, I'm not so sure it's going to be the solution.

If there turns out to be a route to the solution, I'll surely wish I'd
tried that one first. Meanwhile I'll keep going down whichever alley
looks like a possibility.

>... refers to the type of partition table, not to the types of
>partitions within it.
>
>I'd be a bit surprised if a router supported NTFS. Most of them (well,
>the ones I've looked at or researched) run some form of Linux; NTFS
>support for Linux is an add-on and has had its problems over the years.
>It's still generally recommended to use it read-only where possible.
--

[Henry Law]

On 12/07/17 16:52, Richard Treen wrote:
> I would've referred tp the manual but it states on the web GUI
> Configuration, External Storage page "Learn More" section, that
> FAT, FAT32, NTFS and HFS+ are supported formats.

Oh well, there we are; I'll update my mental model of how these things
work. Sorry to be misleading.

[Richard Treen]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 18:00:56 +0100, Henry Law <ne...@lawshouse.org>
wrote:

>On 12/07/17 16:52, Richard Treen wrote:
>> I would've referred tp the manual but it states on the web GUI
>> Configuration, External Storage page "Learn More" section, that
>> FAT, FAT32, NTFS and HFS+ are supported formats.
>
>Oh well, there we are; I'll update my mental model of how these things
>work. Sorry to be misleading.

You weren't misleading at all Henry, you've been very helpful.
You just suggested a possibility worth considering. I'm still
intending to try it.
Thanks for that.

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo <465cmclfeq1ibed45...@4ax.com>, Richard
Treen <treen...@googlemail.com> escribió:

>"Supported drive mappings: GUID Partition Table (GPT) and Master Boot
>Record (MBR)" I'm not so sure of

A drive has to be partitioned before use. The partition table contains
information on how the drive has been divided into logical volumes.
There's the legacy MBR (master boot record) and the newer GPT (GUID
partition table).

It's like a list of chapters in a book. The list tells you how many
chapters are present and the page number each starts at.

For your purposes, it doesn't matter which is used unless the drive is
larger than 2TB, in which case GPT is required.

Once the drive is partitioned, a filesystem is then laid down within the
partition(s). These can be NTFS, FAT32, Linux ext2/3/4, etc.

The filesystem is blank pages with page numbers. Writing data to the
drive is filling those pages with words, then the filesystem creates an
index (the FAT in FAT, FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, etc) or the MFT (Master file
table) in NTFS.

>Where can I read the current state in this regard on the drive?

As Chris said, gparted will show you how the drive is laid out and
attempt to correct any errors.

>Does this not get cleared and renewed during formatting?

Formatting creates a filesystem, not a partition table. If there are
problems with the partition table, this might be why the router is
complaining.

The error you quote isn't helpful. What would be helpful is the exact
error thrown by the attempt to mount the drive. This might be visible
in your router's system log.

One possibility is that you've created the NTFS fileystem in Win10. I
don't know if the Linux NTFS code (assuming your router runs Linux) has
yet caught up with the substantial changes to NTFS M$ made in Win10.

If the drive is 2TB or smaller, I suggest you try reformatting it with
MBR and use FAT32 or exFAT as the filesystem, and see if that works.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) "Between two evils, I always pick
(")_(") the one I never tried before." - Mae West

[Richard Treen]

I tried the various current versions of gparted, onto a flash drive
using tuxboot. I couldn't get any of them to work on my computer.

I did have the free version of Partition Magic already installed in
windows, so I used that the rebuild the MBR, then make partitions of
less than 1 terabyte.

As a result the Linksys router now *seems* to like the usb drive.

[Richard Treen]

Thanks for the great explanation. I'm going to print it and stick it
on the wall.

[Chris Whelan]

Richard Treen wrote:

[...]

> I tried the various current versions of gparted, onto a flash drive
> using tuxboot. I couldn't get any of them to work on my computer.

Does anything else boot OK from USB on that machine?

I've never known gparted to fail to boot either from optical drive or USB.

> I did have the free version of Partition Magic already installed in
> windows, so I used that the rebuild the MBR, then make partitions of
> less than 1 terabyte.
>
> As a result the Linksys router now *seems* to like the usb drive.

Glad you got it sorted.

[Richard Treen]

On Thu, 13 Jul 2017 11:57:29 +0100, Chris Whelan
<cawh...@prejudicentlworld.com> wrote:

>Richard Treen wrote:
>
>[...]
>
>> I tried the various current versions of gparted, onto a flash drive
>> using tuxboot. I couldn't get any of them to work on my computer.
>
>Does anything else boot OK from USB on that machine?

Linux from an external usb drive.
Image for DOS.
Both of those seem OK.

I spent the morning trying the various options on the different
current versions of gparted but never made it to the GUI.
It always booted but then stuck, apparently at the same place.

I'll look at the docs and give it another go soon,

>I've never known gparted to fail to boot either from optical drive or USB.
>
>> I did have the free version of Partition Magic already installed in
>> windows, so I used that the rebuild the MBR, then make partitions of
>> less than 1 terabyte.
>>
>> As a result the Linksys router now *seems* to like the usb drive.
>
>Glad you got it sorted.

Yes thanks. Completely trouble free networking from now on, or next
problem, whichever comes sooner.
>Chris

[Richard Treen]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 20:34:54 +0100, Mike Tomlinson
<mi...@jasper.org.uk> wrote:

>A drive has to be partitioned before use. The partition table contains
>information on how the drive has been divided into logical volumes.
>There's the legacy MBR (master boot record) and the newer GPT (GUID
>partition table).

A question arising from what you wrote:

In Partition Wizard there's a menu item "Rebuild MBR".
Another "Convert GPT to MBR"

Can either of these options be used on an empty partition, when
there's another partition with data on it, without losing the data on
the second partition?

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

On Fri, 14 Jul 2017 09:47:05 +0100, Richard Treen
<treen...@googlemail.com> wrote:

>On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 20:34:54 +0100, Mike Tomlinson
><mi...@jasper.org.uk> wrote:
>
>>A drive has to be partitioned before use. The partition table contains
>>information on how the drive has been divided into logical volumes.
>>There's the legacy MBR (master boot record) and the newer GPT (GUID
>>partition table).
>A question arising from what you wrote:
>
>In Partition Wizard there's a menu item "Rebuild MBR".
>Another "Convert GPT to MBR"
>
>Can either of these options be used on an empty partition, when
>there's another partition with data on it, without losing the data on
>the second partition?

Slightly question - the partition table isn't used on partitions at all,
it's used on the disk. It's the disk's table of contents.

Rebuild MBR will take an existing MBR, check its validity, mess with it
if needed, and write that over the current one. This should be
non-destructive to the partition layout, but you'd only be doing it if
there was already some trouble and you'd lost access to a partition or
several. Its intent is to regain access.

Convert GPT to MBR is destructive. This is to re-initialise a disk that
has been laid out GPT and bring it back to the (awful old) MBR format.

(It may be possible under certain conditions to construct an MBR that
takes GPT partition layout and converts it non-destructively, but I
don't think it's a sensible thing to try - assume complete data loss)

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"First they came for the verbs, and I said nothing because verbing weirds
language. Then they arrival for the nouns, and I speech nothing because
I no verbs." - Quoted by Peter Ellis, afp

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

On Fri, 14 Jul 2017 10:17:01 +0100, Jaimie Vandenbergh
<jai...@sometimes.sessile.org> wrote:

>On Fri, 14 Jul 2017 09:47:05 +0100, Richard Treen
><treen...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>>On Wed, 12 Jul 2017 20:34:54 +0100, Mike Tomlinson
>><mi...@jasper.org.uk> wrote:
>>
>>>A drive has to be partitioned before use. The partition table contains
>>>information on how the drive has been divided into logical volumes.
>>>There's the legacy MBR (master boot record) and the newer GPT (GUID
>>>partition table).
>>A question arising from what you wrote:
>>
>>In Partition Wizard there's a menu item "Rebuild MBR".
>>Another "Convert GPT to MBR"
>>
>>Can either of these options be used on an empty partition, when
>>there's another partition with data on it, without losing the data on
>>the second partition?
>
>Slightly question - the partition table isn't used on partitions at all,

^ the wrong

>it's used on the disk. It's the disk's table of contents.

Cheers - Jaimie (editing poorly today)
--
panic("Foooooooood fight!");
-- /usr/src/linux/drivers/scsi/aha1542.c

[Richard Treen]

On Fri, 14 Jul 2017 10:17:01 +0100, Jaimie Vandenbergh
<jai...@sometimes.sessile.org> wrote:

>Convert GPT to MBR is destructive. This is to re-initialise a disk that
>has been laid out GPT and bring it back to the (awful old) MBR format.

OK, thanks I'm learning and that's cleared a lot up.

One of my external drives is 1.82 TB and has a MBR.
The other is 2.87 TB and has GPT
Both drives are now recognised by my router after I changed the
smaller drive to MBR and increased the number of partitions on the
larger GPT drive.

I did try to change the larger drive to MBR as a concession to the
router but the program wouldn't let me because the drive is over 2TB
in size.

As you describe MBR as "awful old" should I try changing the smaller
drive from MBR to GPT?

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

On Fri, 14 Jul 2017 11:38:00 +0100, Richard Treen
<treen...@googlemail.com> wrote:

>On Fri, 14 Jul 2017 10:17:01 +0100, Jaimie Vandenbergh
><jai...@sometimes.sessile.org> wrote:
>
>>Convert GPT to MBR is destructive. This is to re-initialise a disk that
>>has been laid out GPT and bring it back to the (awful old) MBR format.
>
>OK, thanks I'm learning and that's cleared a lot up.
>
>One of my external drives is 1.82 TB and has a MBR.
>The other is 2.87 TB and has GPT
>Both drives are now recognised by my router after I changed the
>smaller drive to MBR and increased the number of partitions on the
>larger GPT drive.
>
>I did try to change the larger drive to MBR as a concession to the
>router but the program wouldn't let me because the drive is over 2TB
>in size.
>
>As you describe MBR as "awful old" should I try changing the smaller
>drive from MBR to GPT?

Nah - like FAT partitions, MBR is a lowest-common-denominator but
everything understands it. Best to leave alone.

But if you ever need more than four partitions or a >2Tb bootable
partition, drop MBR.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
"For our younger readers -
books are hardened bits of the internet that have fallen off."
-- http://www.e4.com/wtf/ispot-games/?sheet=28

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo <007hmc13omvmlo793...@4ax.com>, Richard
Treen <treen...@googlemail.com> escribió:

>As you describe MBR as "awful old" should I try changing the smaller
>drive from MBR to GPT?

No. If it works, leave it alone.