Updated ASUS RT-AC88U firmware - now can't read files on connected USB flash drive

[hdtvluvr]

Ok. Partial success. With the HD attached to the AE, she got the same error. She swapped the HD to a USB flash drive and was able to connect to the AE and see the USB flash drive. She then ejected the USB flash drive, reconnected the HD and tried to connect to the server and got the same error as she did before. The USB flash drive is probably about 16GB and the HD is 2 TB partitioned into 2 1 TB drives.

Not sure what to do now. She really needs the 2 TB connected.

 

[Katy]

can you tell me how you have AE hook up? Is it to modem or Asus router? It must be to Asus router.

 

[hdtvluvr]

It is connected to the Asus router.

After much research, I've determined why. The AE does not support APFS formatted drives. Since she is using one of the 1TB drives for a bootable backup (MacOS Catalina) it has to be APFS formatted.

I was hoping to have the HDD connected so that she didn't have to physically connect it to her computer (which she generally doesn't take the time to do and thus doesn't back up as often) and use it on the network. So now I'm trying to find a HDD enclosure with ethernet port or a go-between USB to ethernet adapter to connect the HDD to the Asus. I guess a NAS enclosure would allow the connectivity but I don't know if they allow APFS formatting and usage as a backup copy of an entire computer HD.

Any ideas?

For now, she has the USB flash drive plugged into the AE and is using that for her special file backups.

 

[Katy]

You can buy software that can convert the HHD format from APFS to other formats. I am assuming the USB drive is a different format than the HHD drive. This will be a cheaper option than buying a NAS. You will still have the same problem buying an ethernet port case for a HHD because of the format. Here are my details based on AirPort Extreme. When I got to edit the AirPort Extreme, I select the following below.
menu:
Base Station-This will have your AE name and password. check the box that says "Remember this password in my keychain"
Internet: Connect Using: Select "Static", IPv4 Address is the AE IP address given by Asus router, Subnet mask (255.XXX.XXX.XX) and router address (192.168.X.X) should be the same as Asus info. all other fields are blank. (XX are for demonstration)
Wireless Mode: select "Extend a wireless network", Wireless Network name will be your network wifi name, Security: Select WPA2 Personal, wireless password, select "remember this password in keychain
Network Mode: Select Off(Bridge Mode), everything else is blank.
Disks: select enable file sharing, Secure Shared disk: select "With a disk password, set password for disk, select "Remember this password in my keychain"

I hope this helps.

 

[hdtvluvr]

Thanks for all of your help. For now, the USB flash drive is working for backup of special files. I have a HDD that can be reformatted to something other than APFS that I'll give her next time we see her. Hoping its life will be longer than the flash drive - although she writes files to it a couple times a week so I don't know the lifespan of the flash drive.

She'll just have to connect the APFS drive to her computer for a complete backup. She has never had a HDD to fail so backing up isn't that important. I've had 2 failures and the first could have been far worst than it was because I was able to get some data recovered from the drive since I wasn't doing backups routinely. My lesson learned. Trying to prevent that for her.