Connectng WD drive to Benkin Home Base

[zach]

I am unable to onnect a WD Elements external HD with USB connection to a
Belkin Home Base, which is a wirelessy contraprion with USB inputs, to which
one ought to be able to connect annything with a USB plug, making it
accessible by all boxes connected (wirelessy) to the router. The home base
has a control application, showing what apparatus is available from it. It
shows the printer, which is connected to it, which is perfectly accessible
by all connected PCs, but it doesn't show the HD, which is correctly plugged
into it. When the HD is connected to a PC it works alright, so there is
nothing wrong, so it seems, with the HD, and the Home Base can deal with the
formatting of the HD. Does anyone know about this issue, and the solution to
the problem?

Thanks,
Zach.

 

[GMAN]

I am unable to onnect a WD Elements external HD with USB connection to a
Belkin Home Base, which is a wirelessy contraprion with USB inputs, to which
one ought to be able to connect annything with a USB plug, making it
accessible by all boxes connected (wirelessy) to the router. The home base
has a control application, showing what apparatus is available from it. It
shows the printer, which is connected to it, which is perfectly accessible
by all connected PCs, but it doesn't show the HD, which is correctly plugged
into it. When the HD is connected to a PC it works alright, so there is
nothing wrong, so it seems, with the HD, and the Home Base can deal with the
formatting of the HD. Does anyone know about this issue, and the solution to
the problem?

Thanks,
Zach.

I was thinking along the lines of maybe it doesnt support NTFS but after
reading the online manual here ,
http://cache-www.belkin.com/support/dl/f5l049_8820-00256_homebase_us.pdf

It claims Fat 16/32/NTFS support.


I would suggest updating the HomeBase to the newest firmware.

 

[zach]

I was thinking along the lines of maybe it doesnt support NTFS but after
reading the online manual here ,
http://cache-www.belkin.com/support/dl/f5l049_8820-00256_homebase_us.pdf

It claims Fat 16/32/NTFS support.


I would suggest updating the HomeBase to the newest firmware.

Yes, the two bits of hardware calim to be compatible.
I bought both yesterday, so replacing the Home Base is not an option.
I am puzzled.

Zach.

 

[Pen]

I am unable to onnect a WD Elements external HD with USB
connection to a Belkin Home Base, which is a wirelessy
contraprion with USB inputs, to which one ought to be able
to connect annything with a USB plug, making it accessible
by all boxes connected (wirelessy) to the router. The home
base has a control application, showing what apparatus is
available from it. It shows the printer, which is connected
to it, which is perfectly accessible by all connected PCs,
but it doesn't show the HD, which is correctly plugged into
it. When the HD is connected to a PC it works alright, so
there is nothing wrong, so it seems, with the HD, and the
Home Base can deal with the formatting of the HD. Does
anyone know about this issue, and the solution to the problem?

Thanks,
Zach.

You could have a look at this review where several user
talk about dealing with issues with the Home Base, Their
comments might be helpful to you.

 

[Pen]

You could have a look at this review where several user
talk about dealing with issues with the Home Base, Their
comments might be helpful to you.

Here's the url I forgot the first try.

You could have a look at this review where several user
talk about dealing with issues with the Home Base, Their
comments might be helpful to you.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/other/other-reviews/30993-belkin-home-base-reviewed

 

[zach]

Here's the url I forgot the first try.

You could have a look at this review where several user
talk about dealing with issues with the Home Base, Their
comments might be helpful to you.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/other/other-reviews/30993-belkin-home-base-reviewed

Hi,

Thank you for the reference to the HB discussion. I read through the posts
and was a little surprised by the negative comments. Before buying the HB I
enquired at a very large hardware store. The buyer there said that Belkin
was the only one he would touch. When I installed the HB I was amazed by
the simplicity with which the HB hooked up to my wireless router/modem. The
printer, connected to the HB, was recognized via my Vista laptop
immediately, not so via a Windows 7 one, which problem was solved by
throwing out the HP driver software and using the Windows supplied driver
instead. The HD simply won't connect to neither of the two boxes. So I was
hoping to come across someone who had cracked the problem and could pass on
his experience to me.

Zach.

 

[Paul]

Hi,

Thank you for the reference to the HB discussion. I read through the
posts and was a little surprised by the negative comments. Before buying
the HB I enquired at a very large hardware store. The buyer there said
that Belkin was the only one he would touch. When I installed the HB I
was amazed by the simplicity with which the HB hooked up to my wireless
router/modem. The printer, connected to the HB, was recognized via my
Vista laptop immediately, not so via a Windows 7 one, which problem was
solved by throwing out the HP driver software and using the Windows
supplied driver instead. The HD simply won't connect to neither of the
two boxes. So I was hoping to come across someone who had cracked the
problem and could pass on his experience to me.

Zach.

Did you read the article itself ?

"If you plan to share only storage on your network, you don’t really need to
install any software. By default, all four USB ports on the Home Base are
configured in “NAS” mode. Storage devices plugged into any ports will appear
in Windows explorer as shown in Figure 3 or in the Mac OS finder."

"Once you land on the Home Base management page, there’s really not much
to configure... About the only settings you need to concern yourself with
are... the configuration of the individual USB ports."

Why not check this, and see if the boxes are ticked or not ? Notice how
in this picture, port 3 has had the NAS feature turned off.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/imag...kin_homebase/belkin_home_base_port config.jpg

Paul

 

[zach]

Did you read the article itself ?

"If you plan to share only storage on your network, you don’t really
need to
install any software. By default, all four USB ports on the Home Base
are
configured in “NAS” mode. Storage devices plugged into any ports will
appear
in Windows explorer as shown in Figure 3 or in the Mac OS finder."

"Once you land on the Home Base management page, there’s really not
much
to configure... About the only settings you need to concern yourself
with
are... the configuration of the individual USB ports."

Why not check this, and see if the boxes are ticked or not ? Notice how
in this picture, port 3 has had the NAS feature turned off.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/imag...kin_homebase/belkin_home_base_port config.jpg

Paul

Yes, I read all through the posts albeit that I missed the significance of
the remark about the USB ports. Nevertheless, in the configuration they are
all ticked. For a moment I thought "Bingo, the answer", but no, they are
ticked.

Zach.

 

[zach]

Did you read the article itself ?

"If you plan to share only storage on your network, you don’t really
need to
install any software. By default, all four USB ports on the Home Base
are
configured in “NAS” mode. Storage devices plugged into any ports will
appear
in Windows explorer as shown in Figure 3 or in the Mac OS finder."

"Once you land on the Home Base management page, there’s really not
much
to configure... About the only settings you need to concern yourself
with
are... the configuration of the individual USB ports."

Why not check this, and see if the boxes are ticked or not ? Notice how
in this picture, port 3 has had the NAS feature turned off.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/imag...kin_homebase/belkin_home_base_port config.jpg

Paul

Hi Paul,

In spite of my earlier response to your above suggestion, I went back to the
configuration and unticked the port to which the HD is connected. Although
the NAS-setting seemed to be correct, in fact, unticking the port in
question made the HD appear in the Control utility!

Thank you so much!

Zach.

 

[Paul]

Hi Paul,

In spite of my earlier response to your above suggestion, I went back to
the configuration and unticked the port to which the HD is connected.
Although the NAS-setting seemed to be correct, in fact, unticking the
port in question made the HD appear in the Control utility!

Thank you so much!

Zach.

That's the kind of weirdness, that makes hi-tech so much fun

Enjoy,
Paul

 

[zach]

That's the kind of weirdness, that makes hi-tech so much fun

Enjoy,
Paul

Oh oh, the saga continues. I contacted Belkin and spoke to a complete moron,
tried to get an email to support, but got stuck in having to select options
from lists, that neither contain the product I bought nor the problem I
have. So it would seem that Belkin needs to get its act together.

I am going to include a complete problem statement here, hoping someone can
help.

Product : Belkin Home Base F5L 049 V1 (referred to as HB below)

The HB connects to a wireless network (Sitecom Router 300N) OK
There are no problems with the wireless network at all.

The network communicates with two Laptops:
1. A Dell Laptop Vostro 1500 with a Windows 7 OS (referred to as Dell below)
2. A Samsung mini laptop N150-JAO1NL with a Windows Vista OS (referred to as
Samsung below)

The HB is connected to:
1. A C46800 HP printer (referred to as printer below)
2. A Western Digital Elements Hard Drive 1.5 TB. (referred to as HD below)

Concerning printer:
The printer via Dell worked without a problem.
The printer via Samsung required the HP driver to be uninstalled and the
Microsoft supplied driver to be used.
Both Dell and Samsung can now use the printer via the HB.
So problems there solved.

Concerning HD:
• The HD is INVISIBLE on the control software of both Dell and Samsung, when
connected via a HB port set to NAS.
• The HD is VISIBLE on the control software of both Dell and Samsung, when
connected via a HB port NAS SWITCHED OFF.

With HB port NAS switched off
HD is visible in the control software of both Dell and Samsung.
• Samsung can see the drive in the Explorer (explorer.exe of Microsoft) and
can read and write to the HD after connection is established.
• Dell can ostensibly connect to HD, but when attempts are made to view the
HD via the Explorer, there is a hang-up. The hang-up can only be dislodged
by switching off the connection of Dell with HB.

---- end of statement ----

 

[J G Miller]

That's the kind of weirdness, that makes hi-tech so much fun

Perhaps you could explain what is meant by "NAS mode" and when
this should or should not be used?

Thanks in advance.

 

[zach]

Perhaps you could explain what is meant by "NAS mode" and when
this should or should not be used?

Thanks in advance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage

 

[J G Miller]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage

That tells me what Network attached storage is, not what
"NAS mode" on the Belkin Home Base means.

 

[Paul]

That tells me what Network attached storage is, not what
"NAS mode" on the Belkin Home Base means.

I expect the intention was, that storage be automatically added
to the Home Base, as soon as a drive is connected. Access
would be shared in NAS mode, so multiple computers could be
writing at the same time.

The box apparently also has some kind of exclusive access option,
where the connected device is connected to one computer,
on demand from that computer. I'm guessing that would be the
"non-NAS option". Maybe that can also be done to drives.

I didn't really read the manual - I was more interested in
how many setup dialog box options there were, and whether
any of them could get flipped by accident. I figured toggling
a box like that, is worth a quick check, no matter how the
box actually works.

Paul

 

[zach]

I expect the intention was, that storage be automatically added
to the Home Base, as soon as a drive is connected. Access
would be shared in NAS mode, so multiple computers could be
writing at the same time.

The box apparently also has some kind of exclusive access option,
where the connected device is connected to one computer,
on demand from that computer. I'm guessing that would be the
"non-NAS option". Maybe that can also be done to drives.

I didn't really read the manual - I was more interested in
how many setup dialog box options there were, and whether
any of them could get flipped by accident. I figured toggling
a box like that, is worth a quick check, no matter how the
box actually works.

Paul

Hi,

I have discovered what was wrong: a simple setting.

After wasting money and time talking to a bunch of lunatics at Belkin, I am
referring to the questions they asked and the advice they gave me, the
problem was a simple setting, that could have been put right in a minute's
time spent checking out the settings in the configuration file of the Home
Base. It is incomprehensible that a firm like BELKIN would pay this amount
of negative attention to their Service, which together with Price and
Quality are the three pillars of entrepreneurial success.

Zach

 

[GMAN]

Yes, the two bits of hardware calim to be compatible.
I bought both yesterday, so replacing the Home Base is not an option.
I am puzzled.

Zach.

But just buying the Homebase yesterday does not mean it has the newest
firmware. It could be 6 month old firmware.

 

[GMAN]

Hi Paul,

In spite of my earlier response to your above suggestion, I went back to the
configuration and unticked the port to which the HD is connected. Although
the NAS-setting seemed to be correct, in fact, unticking the port in
question made the HD appear in the Control utility!

Thank you so much!

Zach.

Still make sure the firmware is the latest, it may have been fixed in the
newest version.

 

[zach]

Still make sure the firmware is the latest, it may have been fixed in the
newest version.

Although at first problems seemed solved, they have reappeared relentlessly,
and I have returned the Home Base to the retailer. Belkin, with help desk
personnel that have to look up in Google, what you mean by "Explorer", do
not seem to be credible suppliers. I have abandoned the idea of a Belkin
wireless centre for printing and data back-up. It seemed such a good idea

Zach.

 

[BritSparks]

Hi,

I am having similar problems with my HomeBase. I have 3 x 1Tb Seagate external USB2.0 NTFS drives (FreeAgent) connected. The aim is to have my digital TV, LG set-top box, Apple TV, PC and Laptop all access the files and capacity offered by the NAS option.

They work fine in 'single user network USB' mode, but are very flaky / non-existant in 'NAS, multi-user' mode. There are times when the HomeBase is restarted and recognises one or more of the drives in NAS mode, but mostly they are not recognised. On the back of the unit, you can see the LED next to the USB port leading to the drives initially stay lit, but then flashes for 10-15 seconds and then goes out.

As I want the hard disks available to multiple devices I need to use the NAS setting.

Did anyone have a solution to the problem? Unfortunately Belkin technical support have not been very useful yet...

Thanks

Mark

Concerning HD:
• The HD is INVISIBLE on the control software of both Dell and Samsung, when
connected via a HB port set to NAS.
• The HD is VISIBLE on the control software of both Dell and Samsung, when
connected via a HB port NAS SWITCHED OFF.

With HB port NAS switched off
HD is visible in the control software of both Dell and Samsung.
• Samsung can see the drive in the Explorer (explorer.exe of Microsoft) and
can read and write to the HD after connection is established.
• Dell can ostensibly connect to HD, but when attempts are made to view the
HD via the Explorer, there is a hang-up. The hang-up can only be dislodged
by switching off the connection of Dell with HB.