RT-AC68U Time Machine Drive showing < 1GB free

[OwlBot3000]

Been working to set up time machine on since I bought this router without success. Have a 2TB WD My Passport Ultra that I was successfully using with an old Airport for a long time without issue. On the AC68U I can only see what is presumably the wrong partition (sda3) with a total space of just 0.125GB (in actuality the drive has 1.5TB free). I've tested the drive while both FileVault 2 encrypted and unencrypted with the same results. I cannot seem to connect via SMB either ("There was a problem connecting to the server 192.168.1.1. There are no shares available or you are not allowed to access them on the server...").

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[bbunge]

You may not be able to use that drive as it does not have an external power supply. Or the drive has a GPT partition table which should work but MBR may be needed.

 

[OwlBot3000]

You may not be able to use that drive as it does not have an external power supply. Or the drive has a GPT partition table which should work but MBR may be needed.

Not sure what the problem was, but I simply erased and reformatted the drive Mac OS X Extended and it is now showing up properly in the router web interface. However I'm not able to see it on my Mac during TM setup or via SMB (same error as before). Any suggestions?

 

[bbunge]

Did you create a folder or directory on the drive?

Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk

 

[OwlBot3000]

Did you create a folder or directory on the drive?

Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk

Finally got it running. Set it up as a media server as a test instead of bothering with the Time Machine web interface options and was able to see and access the drive including TM setup from my Mac.

 

[ApexRon]

I have the same issue with an ASUS RT-AC86U and am working with the ASUS support group to try to resolve. I am using the latest Firmware Version:3.0.0.4.384_21045. When I implement Time Machine on the ASUS the system log gets flooded with socket errors.

It is my understanding the ASUS Time Machine uses AFP but the ASUS File Server uses SMB.

 

[ApexRon]

I just upgraded to:
Current Version : 3.0.0.4.384_32797-g907bbdf

Time Machine still broke.

 

[sfx2000]

Time Machine still broke.

Which figures - still have that old Airport? - 3rd party stuff eventually fails... Airports/TimeCapsules can keep things going - case in point - 3 devices over 13 months and 1TB on a 2TB TimeCapsule - all good..

Hook it up, turn off the WiFi, and set it up as a TimeMachine target...

 

[ApexRon]

Which figures - still have that old Airport? - 3rd party stuff eventually fails... Airports/TimeCapsules can keep things going - case in point - 3 devices over 13 months and 1TB on a 2TB TimeCapsule - all good..

Hook it up, turn off the WiFi, and set it up as a TimeMachine target...

Funny you should ask. The AirPort Extreme died at 9:34am Friday. So right now I have backup drive attached to Mac. I am hoping that delay with ASUS fix is so they can test with new MacOS.

 

[ApexRon]

ASUS has provided me with a beta version of firmware that resolves the Time Machine issue. Not sure of ASUS's timetable for releasing but it shouldn't be too much longer.

 

[Doug Nix]

Hey ApexRon, did you ever get that beta firmware, and if you did, did it fix the issue?

 

[ApexRon]

@Doug Nix
Nope. I got fed up with ASUS promises of firmware and switched to Merlin. Time Machine works now. In fact I recently used it to restore a database.

 

[Doug Nix]

@Doug Nix
Nope. I got fed up with ASUS promises of firmware and switched to Merlin. Time Machine works now. In fact, I recently used it to restore a database.

So are you saying that you can install Merlin firmware on the RT-AC68U router? DO I understand you correctly? I might be interested in learning how to do this too, as I have no confidence in ASUS' commitment to fixing this problem.

 

[ApexRon]

So are you saying that you can install Merlin firmware on the RT-AC68U router?

From the download page, there is one for a RT-AC68U. https://sourceforge.net/projects/asuswrt-merlin/files/RT-AC68U/
Will it resolve your Time Machine issue? Probably.

 

[Doug Nix]

From the download page, there is one for a RT-AC68U. https://sourceforge.net/projects/asuswrt-merlin/files/RT-AC68U/
Will it resolve your Time Machine issue? Probably.

All right. Time to figure out how to do this! Thanks, ApexRon!

 

[Doug Nix]

Done. I've started a new backup, so we'll soon see if the problem is resolved.

 

[L&LD]

Done. I've started a new backup, so we'll soon see if the problem is resolved.

Hopefully, you will have no issues with your backup.

However, if bugs or glitches do appear, and you did not do a full reset to factory defaults followed by a minimal and manual configuration to secure the router and connect to your ISP, then I suggest a full M&M Config which will bring your router into a good/known state.

Please see my signature for the link below.

 

[Doug Nix]

OK, well, the journey continues. My backup failed despite the new firmware and the M&M Config. It may be that I had a bad drive out of the box since the HDD I had plugged in bricked itself shortly after I started the backup. When the backup failed, I decided I needed to format the drive. I unmounted the drive using the router utility, then shut down the router and the drive, unplugged the drive, and plugged it into one of my desktops to do the format. The drive failed to mount, and despite using terminal and diskutil, I couldn't get it to mount. Happily, the drive manufacturer is sending me a brand new box, so we'll see how things go after that. I'll post an update when I know more. Thanks for the assist L&LD!