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Possibility of using HFS+ formatted drive with ASUS RT-ac66u

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blackpirates

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Hello,
I've been trying to get this working for a few days now: I can't put files from my MacBook on my WD MyBook connected to an ASUS RT-ac66u, without formatting it to FAT32. But when I do that, the files I need to transport are too big for the format. Is there any possibility that I can use the HFS+ format with this router? When there isn't one, can I use the NTFS format with my Mac (Programs like Tuxera NTFS don't work with wireless drives). Hope you can help ;)
 
iirc, your router has ext4 support and is what you should use. otherwise, use ext3.
 
okay, do you know how to format to those standards? cause in Disk Utility there are only options for HFS+, NTFS, FAT and ExFAT.
 
with the drive attached to the router, telnet or SSH in.

fdisk -l //that's an L, to figure out the path to the harddrive. probably something like /dev/sda1. the 1 represents the first partition.

mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/sda1
 
I'm sorry, I'm a bit of a terminal noob, how can I SSH into it? Just using frisk -l in terminal results in an error. Thanks for the help ;)
 
I think I've got it:
I've partitioned the drive into 3 parts (fat32, NTFS and HSF+) I think the HSF+ is sda3, cause it says 'unknown'. Can you confirm this? The other ones are FAT32, and HTFS/NTFS
 
that sounds right.

keep in mind, the partitions are separate areas of storage. the hfs partition would be good for storing stuff if/when the drive is connected to your mac, but the partition wont be accessible when connected to the router.

using whatever utility you're familar with, you should delete the fat and ntfs partitions and create a single linux-type partition. this is type number 83 from fdisk, iirc. use this partition for ext4.

further, i'd consider swapping the order of the hfs and ext4 partitions, so hfs comes first. i know linux will be smart and be able to use the linux filesystem, no matter the partition number, but i'm not so sure about the mac. i've had to partition this way in the past to get things to work right for windows.

fat32 and ntfs are ugly
 
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So how do you think I can do this best? I've installed Merlin, so which console commands do I have to use? I hoped to keep the files on the other partitions, but I don't think thats possible? I'd love to see a step by step guide, that would be awesome man :)
 
Well, you should probably use a partitioning tool from your Mac with the drive connected. This will make resizing the partitions easier. Whatever partition tool you use should have the ability to set the partition type.

Basically, delete all the partitions and create the first one to format HFS if you need to use it directly from the Mac. If you think that wont be the case, then just make the whole disk a single partition.

If you do make your first partition for the Mac, you'll obviously create a second partition for linux. When you use the command 'fdisk -l', it'll likely show the mac partition as /dev/sda1 and the linux part as /dev/sda2. You'll need to remember that for when you are configuring which partition the router should use for storage, from the web interface.

You'll format the first partition to HFS from the Mac, after the partitions are both created and saved.

In the router webconfig, 'Administration' > 'System' is where you enable/disable telnet and ssh. it doesn't really matter which you use. SSH is cooler, though. lol.

After, connect the drive to the router and use fdisk -l to verify that the linux partition is /dev/sda2. if not, amend the below accordingly.

mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/sda2

an aside, fdisk isn't that difficult to work with. I just figure it's better to keep you out of the CLI as much as possible, no offense. if you did want to try fdisk, you'd use it like thus; fdisk /dev/sda (no number). This puts you in the fdisk program and will immediately say something like 'press m for help', which will tell you what letters to press to do what. I'd really only recommend using fdisk if you intend to partition the entire disk for linux. Again, partitioning can easily be accomplished with a graphical UI, from the Mac. Personally, I'd prefer this method for myself, too.
 
that's formatting, not partitioning. if you can't specify linux-type partition, then use windows and format it to ext4

[edit] you should be able to get some variant of GParted or whatever the Mac equivalent is, which will have no problem specifying type 82[/edit]

[edit2/] also, i messed up. linux type partition number is 83, swap is 82. sorry
 
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iirc, your router has ext4 support and is what you should use. otherwise, use ext3.

The RT-AC66U does not support ext4. Only ext2 and ext3.
 

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