Linksys NSLU2 NAS device

[neuroking]

So I'm reviewing this Network attached storage device (would be nice to keep all your mp3s and videos available all the time to every comp, right?)

I run into this problem, not being able to copy files at a certain level, and contact customer support. Here ya go...

Ryan F.(14014): Hi, my name is Ryan F.(14014). How may I help you?
Brandon: Hi. I have teh NSLU2 NAS productand a number of files have set their read-only attribute, and i cannot remove this. It is keeping me from copying or deleting files
Brandon: I know how to deselect read-only, but when I do, it jsut reverts back on its own
Ryan F.(14014): You mean the folder or share is not going to read/write but read only?
Brandon: Yes
Brandon: (you are correct - I want all these files read/write)
Ryan F.(14014): Okay. What else have you tried already?
Brandon: I've tried reformatting, and manually deselecting read-only in windows, and checking for any newer firmware.
Ryan F.(14014): Yes. So what is the firmware you have to the NSLU2?
Brandon: 2.3r63. My machine is a self built WinXP Pro SP2 PC.
Brandon: I have 2 HDDs attached to teh NSLU2, both 250GB, both FAT32
Brandon: Oops, I mean NTFS, not fat32
Ryan F.(14014): Okay. For the new firmware, Disk 1 will support EXT3, FAT32 and NTFS but FAT32 and NTFS is only read only. In order for the HDD to be in read/write the format of the HDD must be in EXT3.
Brandon: Is there going to be an update to support writing to disk 1 anytime soon? That wasn't reflected in teh product documentation when i bought it, and it basically halves the usefulness of teh thing.
Ryan F.(14014): Linksys has not yet given us any information regarding a new firmware release for the NSLU2 that will support read and write for the FAT32 or NTFS. I apologize if you were misinformed by the firmware release note. It is currently being updated for the release note.
Brandon: Wait a sec... thsee files were copied to disk one while it was attached to teh NSLU2. It can't be read-only
Brandon: That disk was a clean disk when i attached it, and I have not changed which port it was installed on.
Ryan F.(14014): But is it on EXT3 format?
Brandon: No, NTFS. Always has been.
Ryan F.(14014): Okay. Actually the NSLU2 will detect that HDD to be not formatted. If it is formatted it means the HDD is on EXT3 format now.
Brandon: When i get info inwindows on the mapped drive, it says it ius NTFS. The linksys control panel says ntfs/fat32
Brandon: From the device Home page: Ready (FAT/NTFS), 17160MB (0% Free)
Brandon: And it is reporting teh wrong amount of space used. Windows reports 179GB used, the status page says 17GB used...
Ryan F.(14014): Yes. But like I said in order to read and write the HDD should be in EXT3. If it is on NTFS or FAT32 then the HDD will only be a ready only hard drive.
Brandon: But there's 179GB worth of data that was written to the drive...
Brandon: While it was in NTFS and Disk 1
Ryan F.(14014): Okay. To save the 179 GB of data then the only way is use another hard drive then format it to EXT3 from the NSLU2, plug it to the Disk 1 slot and transfer the 179 GB to disk 1.
Brandon: I got it, I'm jsut saying something is really screwed up here. I just disconnected Drive 2 in Windows (unmounted it), and now I can delete fiels from disk one but not folders
Brandon: Still can't copy files, though
Brandon: Oh wait, i can copy files to disk one, jsut small ones, though
Brandon: can you see why I'm confused?
Ryan F.(14014): You can copy small file - how big is it? Big files of how big can't be copied to the EXT3 HDD?
Brandon: I have both drives mounted now. I jsut tried throwing a small 250 byte text file over ot both drives... works fine. Both drives are ntfs.
Brandon: 130kb file is okay
Brandon: 1MB file okay... I think it has to do with how deep int eh file tree i was copying
Brandon: 8MB file okay... okay, yeah That must have been it. Whatever teh case, looks like ven your documentation is wrong :)
Ryan F.(14014): Disk 1 and Disk are NTFS?
Brandon: Yes
Ryan F.(14014): Like I said earlier the release note is currently being updated as customers are misinformed by the use of the firmware of the NSLU2.
Ryan F.(14014): Disk 1 must be in EXT3 format first.
Brandon: Disk 1 is not, nor has it even been, in ext3 format. Want me to try pugging it directly into my comp to confirm? The NSLU2 home page says it is fat/ntfs format
Ryan F.(14014): Then the HDDs will only be in ready only for the NSLU2.
Brandon: Looks like the issue is that the folder I was copying into was deep in the directory tree, and had alot of files at one level (it was my MP3 folder).
Brandon: But I'm writing to them both right now...
Brandon: USB Port 1: Ready (FAT/NTFS), 17160MB (0% Free)
USB Port 2: Ready (FAT/NTFS), 238414MB (22% Free)

Ryan F.(14014): You can copy from disk 2 to disk 1 but only a small file right?
Brandon: No, it had to do with where teh file was being copied to - 5 levels down, right after a directory with a couple thousand files. So far everything up to 10MB either from one disk tot he other or fromt eh comp to either disk is okay.
Brandon: Wow, sorry about the crappy typing lol
Ryan F.(14014): No problem.
Ryan F.(14014): If you place them 3 folders up will they be copied?
Brandon: yeah, it's just a matter of copying past that folder all the mp3s are in.
Brandon: Weird, it's not even that, it's jsut certain folders in there... I can copy here:
Brandon: Y:\Backup\Music Backup\u2
Brandon: But not here:
Brandon: Y:\Backup\Music Backup\And One
Ryan F.(14014): It isn't corrupt is it?
Brandon: I can copy to any folder above music backup
Brandon: no, checked that
Ryan F.(14014): Okay.
Brandon: i can't delete that And One folder... but... another oddity, I can use Eraser (security erasing program that overwrites teh data multiple times) to get rid of it.
Brandon: Anyhow, I think i'm back to a managable situation again (somehow), but it might be worth telling someone there that even that updated documentation isn't correct. You can right and read from both drives, even if theya re both NTFS.
Brandon: I am 100% sure. At least from a Windows machine...

It went on a bit longer, but Linksys obviously doesn't know what's going on. Not the tech support guy's fault, too.

[seans]

Give me a call I can help you understand this product a wee bit better than the linksys fool. I've have one of these for a year.

[neuroking]

I'm getting totally inconsistent performance. For some reason yesterday I couldn't transfer files over 100MB off of it (I get about 1/4 copied then the network volume is no longer available, but I can still browse it). I'm thinking of biting the bullet and reformatting both drives to ext3 like they suggest. What do you suggest? Any backup program you recommend? I've been using Acronis, which is really nice, but somewhat limited. Liking the differential and incremental backup ability.

[Ioman]

I am not a fan of Linksys at all, I think they make junk. I stopped buying their products years ago.

[seans]

EXT3 is the right format for the drives, the little thing has a fairly powerful build of linux inside and it really likes native file systems. The support for FAT and NTFS is more for quick access of thumbdrives or whatever. I've been using mine for over a year with zero issues using the native format.

*little note, I have two, one is a bookend since it's so easy to hack I had it doing all kinds of things it was not designed to do and I ended up bricking it good. Its ablity to add other services like DNS and FTP for the hacker set is a very huge value add.

[Robert White]

I also had trouble with the NSLU2. I used Genie Backup to do a full backup, ran an differential backup (no trouble but there were only a few file changes) but late ran another differential backup that failed.

I had a long live chat with Linksys tech support - unlightening but not helpful. They appeared clueless as to the archive bit issue.

I am pretty new to this network storage area. I use a workstation running Windows XP SP2 and drives formatted to NTFC. If I use the NSLU2 with drives attached to it that are formatted as EXT3, (1) can I backup a file from an NTFC drive to the EXT3 drive? and (2) can I change the read-only attribute bit on the EXT3 drive?

Many thanks for the help.

Bob