AC86U USB Drives not recognized & Time Machine not working

[ApexRon]

1. Drive size 1 TB - 2 Partitions....(Partition 1 - 250GB / Partition 2 - 750GB). Both partitions formatted as ex-FAT on the Macbook prior to connecting to the router. Partition 2 was meant for the Time Machine backup.

I could not create partitions once I formatted the drive with exFAT. I then formatted drive using MAC OS Extended and was able to create two partitions each formatted in exFAT. AC86U would not mount the drive. When I tried the entire volume at 1TB in exFAT, AC86U would still not mount.

Basically, my symptoms have not changed. With several iterations of formats, I am able to connect to the ASUS drive as a network drive and write/read files. Mac Time Machine cannot connect.

Since the ASUS can handle a network drive of 1TB, size is not the issue. The ASUS Time Machine is still broke for me.

 

[sfx2000]

The ASUS Time Machine is still broke for me.

Funny how things work with reverse engineering... but, hey, Russia has issues with China reverse engineering the Flanker jets... esp. the J-15 Flopping Fish... which barely works on their new carrier...

Apple changed the rules with recent OS updates - keep in mind that TimeMachine is client driven, so as long has a useful target, it might work...

 

[rony1234]

I could not create partitions once I formatted the drive with exFAT. I then formatted drive using MAC OS Extended and was able to create two partitions each formatted in exFAT. AC86U would not mount the drive. When I tried the entire volume at 1TB in exFAT, AC86U would still not mount.

Basically, my symptoms have not changed. With several iterations of formats, I am able to connect to the ASUS drive as a network drive and write/read files. Mac Time Machine cannot connect.

Since the ASUS can handle a network drive of 1TB, size is not the issue. The ASUS Time Machine is still broke for me.

Here are some snapshots of my setup....

 

[ApexRon]

Funny how things work with reverse engineering... but, hey, Russia has issues with China reverse engineering the Flanker jets... esp. the J-15 Flopping Fish... which barely works on their new carrier...

Apple changed the rules with recent OS updates - keep in mind that TimeMachine is client driven, so as long has a useful target, it might work...

Found an interesting article; https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208018
Since my MacBook uses APFS, Apple's Time Machine can no longer use AFP to backup to a network drive. The protocol must be either SMB or NFS. ASUS Time Machine enables AFP. Consequently, I cannot use ASUS Time Machine. I am going to test an alternative method and if I find one that works, I will update.

 

[RMerlin]

Found an interesting article; https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208018
Since my MacBook uses APFS, Apple's Time Machine can no longer use AFP to backup to a network drive. The protocol must be either SMB or NFS. ASUS Time Machine enables AFP. Consequently, I cannot use ASUS Time Machine. I am going to test an alternative method and if I find one that works, I will update.

Asuswrt supports SMB.

 

[ApexRon]

Configured AC86U for a 'Network Place' Samba. Formatted hard drive using ASUS NTFS. MacBook was able to login to network drive and I was able to copy file to same. However, MacBook Time Machine did not see network drive. An app I use to see what protocols the MacBook is seeing only sees SMB from my printer. Not willing to use anything other than ASUS firmware at this point.

ASUS needs to either fix or remove Time Machine function. As far as SMB, it is my understanding that there is new version of SMB that Apple MacOS requires. However, since ASUS is not up to speed on Time Machine it is safe to assume that they are also behind in SMB support.

 

[rony1234]

Found an interesting article; https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208018
Since my MacBook uses APFS, Apple's Time Machine can no longer use AFP to backup to a network drive. The protocol must be either SMB or NFS. ASUS Time Machine enables AFP. Consequently, I cannot use ASUS Time Machine. I am going to test an alternative method and if I find one that works, I will update.

My Mac uses APFS too, and Time Machine works perfectly onto the drive connected to my router.

Volume name : Macintosh HD
Volume type : APFS Volume
BSD device node : disk1s1
Mount point : /
File system : APFS (Encrypted)

Lemme know if you'd like me to pass on any specific configuration options from my router.

Fyi below latest automatic backup via TimeMachine when I came home today evening.

 

[ApexRon]

My Mac uses APFS too, and Time Machine works perfectly onto the drive connected to my router.

Volume name : Macintosh HD
Volume type : APFS Volume
BSD device node : disk1s1
Mount point : /
File system : APFS (Encrypted)

Lemme know if you'd like me to pass on any specific configuration options from my router.

Yes, please advise as to:

• Router model and firmware level used
• Router configuration options for the USB drive (USB 3.0 port?) (snapshots would be fine)
• MacOS version (mine is 10.14)
• Hard drive used on router; make, size, and format type

I tried with the previous post of your but it was a no go.
Thank you

 

[rony1234]

Yes, please advise as to:

• Router model and firmware level used
• Router configuration options for the USB drive (USB 3.0 port?) (snapshots would be fine)
• MacOS version (mine is 10.4)
• Hard drive used on router; make, size, and format type

I tried with the previous post of your but it was a no go.
Thank you

Hi there,

Here you go...

MacOS Version: MacOS Mojave / Version 10.14 (18A391)

Router Model: RT-AC86U
Router Firmware: 3.0.0.4.384_32799
Router Configuration Options for USB Drive: USB 3.0 Port / Mount options below

<deleted>@RT-AC86U:/tmp/home/root# mount
/dev/sda2 on /tmp/mnt/SSD_P2 type tfat (rw,nodev,relatime,uid=0,gid=0,umask=0000,allow_utime=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=winnt,min_prealloc_size=64k,max_prealloc_size=232252000,writeback_boundary=4M,readahead=1M,nocache,fail_safe,hidden=show,errors=continue)

/dev/sda3 on /tmp/mnt/SSD_P1 type tfat (rw,nodev,relatime,uid=0,gid=0,umask=0000,allow_utime=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=winnt,min_prealloc_size=64k,max_prealloc_size=704742336,writeback_boundary=4M,readahead=1M,nocache,fail_safe,hidden=show,errors=continue)

Hard Drive Details: SANDISK ULTRA 1 TB SSD / 2 Partitions / FAT32

My earlier post has the snapshots for the above.

 

[rony1234]

Further information from sysinfo in case it helps... The SSD is in a Transcend USB 3.0 enclosure.

FILE SYSTEMS
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
ubi:rootfs_ubifs 79132 58532 20600 74% /
mtd:bootfs 4352 3312 1040 76% /bootfs
mtd:data 8192 560 7632 7% /data
/dev/mtdblock8 49152 4260 44892 9% /jffs
/dev/sda2 232252000 1759264 230492736 1% /tmp/mnt/SSD_P2
/dev/sda3 704742336 260870688 443871648 37% /tmp/mnt/SSD_P1

SCSI DEVICES
Attached devices:
Host: scsi1 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: StoreJet Model: Transcend Rev: 0
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 06
usb 2-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci-hcd
usb-storage 2-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
scsi host1: usb-storage 2-2:1.0
scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access StoreJet Transcend 0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] 1875385008 512-byte logical blocks: (960 GB/894 GiB)
sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 43 00 00 00
sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
sda: sda1 sda2 sda3
sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
tfat: fail_safe is enabled
tfat: cluster_heap_lbo 0x3763c00
tfat: 10 blkbits for normal inodes
tfat: fat start lbo 0x4000
tfat: 9 blkbits for main FAT32 inode
tfat: cluster size 32768
tfat info: FAT32 volume name 'SSD_P2', version 0.0.
tfat: fail_safe is enabled
tfat: cluster_heap_lbo 0xa80a400
tfat: 10 blkbits for normal inodes
tfat: fat start lbo 0x4000
tfat: 9 blkbits for main FAT32 inode
tfat: cluster size 32768
tfat info: FAT32 volume name 'SSD_P1', version 0.0.

MOUNTPOINTS
ubi:rootfs_ubifs on / type ubifs (ro,relatime)
devtmpfs on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,relatime,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /var type tmpfs (rw,noexec,relatime,size=420k)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,relatime)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,relatime)
mtd:bootfs on /bootfs type jffs2 (ro,relatime)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,relatime,mode=600)
mtd:data on /data type jffs2 (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,relatime)
/dev/mtdblock8 on /jffs type jffs2 (rw,noatime)
/dev/sda2 on /tmp/mnt/SSD_P2 type tfat (rw,nodev,relatime,uid=0,gid=0,umask=0000,allow_utime=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=winnt,min_prealloc_size=64k,max_prealloc_size=232252000,writeback_boundary=4M,readahead=1M,nocache,fail_safe,hidden=show,errors=continue)
/dev/sda3 on /tmp/mnt/SSD_P1 type tfat (rw,nodev,relatime,uid=0,gid=0,umask=0000,allow_utime=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=utf8,shortname=winnt,min_prealloc_size=64k,max_prealloc_size=704742336,writeback_boundary=4M,readahead=1M,nocache,fail_safe,hidden=show,errors=continue)

 

[bbunge]

Change the router to use USB2 on the USB3 port. Might just work!

Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk

 

[ApexRon]

I have a lot information to work out a test plan, which will take a couple of days. Thank you all.

What I do know now:

• I am able to use ASUS USB 3.0 attached hard drive as a network drive from my MacBook, just not with MacOS Time Machine
• When ASUS USB 3.0 attached hard drive is configured to be used by ASUS Time Machine my MacBook sees AFP and MacOS Time Machine sees the hard drive. However, MacOS Time Machine cannot connect
• When ASUS USB 3.0 attached hard drive is configured as a Samba network the MacBook does not see SMB

 

[rony1234]

I have a lot information to work out a test plan, which will take a couple of days. Thank you all.

What I do know now:

• I am able to use ASUS USB 3.0 attached hard drive as a network drive from my MacBook, just not with MacOS Time Machine
• When ASUS USB 3.0 attached hard drive is configured to be used by ASUS Time Machine my MacBook sees AFP and MacOS Time Machine sees the hard drive. However, MacOS Time Machine cannot connect
• When ASUS USB 3.0 attached hard drive is configured as a Samba network the MacBook does not see SMB

Wish you all the best in getting it to work. Let me know how it goes and if you need any other info. Cheers.

 

[ApexRon]

Still have the ASUS Time Machine issue. However, Wireshark packet capture has found more information:

My research for a -5014 error shows the likely cause is the Apple Filing Protocol software either having an issue or discovering one.

 

[rony1234]

Still have the ASUS Time Machine issue. However, Wireshark packet capture has found more information:
View attachment 14947
My research for a -5014 error shows the likely cause is the Apple Filing Protocol software either having an issue or discovering one.

What is the version of your MacOS? In one of your earlier posts (October 17) you mentioned 10.4, is that a typo? Or did you mean 10.14?

 

[ApexRon]

What is the version of your MacOS? In one of your earlier posts (October 17) you mentioned 10.4, is that a typo? Or did you mean 10.14?

Yup, typo (fixed). Although now it’s 10.14.1

My last post was a capture of the error reported by ASUS firmware to my Mac while MacOS Time Machine was attempting to login to the disk volume reported by ASUS. It’s my belief that the ASUS can’t find the volume it reported.

I updated ASUS on my findings and 24 hours later received a reply that their Engineers (both of them ) should have a reply in another 48 hours. I am suspecting a firmware update is coming because their due.

 

[Serge]

I am suspecting a firmware update is coming because their due.

Could you please share updates from Asus, if you have some? I faced with the same issue...

 

[ApexRon]

Could you please share updates from Asus, if you have some? I faced with the same issue...

@Serge Welcome aboard! Over the past several weeks I have asked ASUS for an update several times. Their response, after a 48 hour delay, "I've asked engineering for an update and will let you know". Nothing. I have to admit, ASUS is due for a firmware update but even if they come out with one, I have little confidence Time Machine will be fixed.

Open up a case with ASUS, the more the merrier.

 

[Serge]

@ApexRon thank a lot for fast feedback.
BTW, I've already opened the case with Asus so will push them too.

 

[RMerlin]

Time Machine is a proprietary Apple technology. It will never work reliably outside of with an Apple product, because everyone has to reverse engineer and guess how Apple's implementation is working. And Apple can make changes at any time, which will break support with third party products.