AX86U - Format 1 TB HDD

[ApexRon]

Asus AX86U Pro running Asuswrt-Merlin 3004.388.4
Attempting to successfully format a 1 TB HDD but running into many issues. Consequently, I am posting here to have someone advise me as to the proper way to accomplish task using GUI or SSH. I have tried both using many sets of directions as a result of Google searches. I even used the Wiki documentation for Merlin.

My goal is to share the HDD on my home network with Apple devices and a Raspberry Pi 4.

My last attempt was with GUI with a 'fdisk -l' resulting in:
Disk /dev/sda: 1000.2 GB, 1000204885504 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 ? 410 119791 958924038+ 70 Unknown
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/sda2 ? 121585 234786 909287957+ 43 Unknown
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/sda3 ? 14052 14052 5 72 Unknown
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary
/dev/sda4 164483 164486 25945 0 Empty
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary

Partition table entries are not in disk order

 

[ColinTaylor]

What issues are you having?

After plugging the drive into the router SSH into it and run amtm. Select the fd (Format disk) option.

 

[ApexRon]

AMTM is a well kept secret.
Okay, I now have:
/dev/sda1 on /tmp/mnt/ASUS type ext4 (rw,nodev,relatime)

However, neither my MacOS or Raspberry Pi can access. Both give a similar error of "mount error(2): No such file or directory". That said, when I look at the GUI for Network Place I see this:

It appears that the Volume ASUS does not have any R/W capability when in fact /tmp/mnt/ASUS shows drwxrwxrwx . The GUI want me to add a folder? Why? I want to share the complete volume.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I want to share the complete volume.

You can't if you want to have individual user access controls. You have to create different folders (or just one big folder) and assign permissions to each one.

If you want to share the entire volume including it's root directory it can only be done by allowing guest logins.

 

[ApexRon]

You can't if you want to have individual user access controls. You have to create different folders (or just one big folder) and assign permissions to each one.

If you want to share the entire volume including it's root directory it can only be done by allowing guest logins.

Colin, your the best.
I understand now. Though it’s been several years since I set up my Raspberry Pi’s shared HDD, I seem to recall I was able to share volume without having to have a guest ID.

My wife says enough for today, so I will test tomorrow and update. Ha!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Though it’s been several years since I set up my Raspberry Pi’s shared HDD, I seem to recall I was able to share volume without having to have a guest ID.

That would be the case in a "normal" Samba setup, but Asus' implementation is very simplistic and non-standard.

 

[ApexRon]

That would be the case in a "normal" Samba setup, but Asus' implementation is very simplistic and non-standard.

Yup, that would explain it. Years ago I tried their Time Machine implementation but it was unreliable.

 

[bennor]

AMTM is a well kept secret.
Okay, I now have:
/dev/sda1 on /tmp/mnt/ASUS type ext4 (rw,nodev,relatime)

However, neither my MacOS or Raspberry Pi can access. Both give a similar error of "mount error(2): No such file or directory". That said, when I look at the GUI for Network Place I see this:
View attachment 54245
It appears that the Volume ASUS does not have any R/W capability when in fact /tmp/mnt/ASUS shows drwxrwxrwx . The GUI want me to add a folder? Why? I want to share the complete volume.

What you are seeing appears to be expected behavior for the settings chosen. If you want other devices to access the drive and the Shared folder ("Asus") on it without having to enter a user name ("AsusAdmin") and that user name password (router access password) then set Allow Guest Login to On. You will get some warning messages but once you hit apply than anyone on the local network should have access to the Share and it's contents without having to provide login information.

But really though some would suggest using the Raspberry Pi 4 instead of the router if one wants to create an NAS. Plenty of DIY guides out there for the Raspberry Pi 4 for NAS use or media server use. Or just basic Samba configuration to share the drive from a Pi 4 to the whole local network.

In your example the mount point on the router should be something like: /mnt/[drive name]/[share name]
While accessing it from other devices on the local network would be something like: \\[router IP or router name]\[share name].

If you are not going to use allow guest mode then you have to provide a username and password along with the location when using SMB/CIFS. One may have to install Samaba/CIFS and possibly other modules/services (like NTFS if using NTFS) on the Raspberry Pi if it isn't already installed.

 

[ApexRon]

What you are seeing appears to be expected behavior for the settings chosen. If you want other devices to access the drive and the Shared folder ("Asus") on it without having to enter a user name ("AsusAdmin") and that user name password (router access password) then set Allow Guest Login to On. You will get some warning messages but once you hit apply than anyone on the local network should have access to the Share and it's contents without having to provide login information.

But really though some would suggest using the Raspberry Pi 4 instead of the router if one wants to create an NAS. Plenty of DIY guides out there for the Raspberry Pi 4 for NAS use or media server use. Or just basic Samba configuration to share the drive from a Pi 4 to the whole local network.

In your example the mount point on the router should be something like: /mnt/[drive name]/[share name]
While accessing it from other devices on the local network would be something like: \\[router IP or router name]\[share name].

If you are not going to use allow guest mode then you have to provide a username and password along with the location when using SMB/CIFS. One may have to install Samaba/CIFS and possibly other modules/services (like NTFS if using NTFS) on the Raspberry Pi if it isn't already installed.

I have been using my Raspberry Pi 4 as a NAS for several years now. I had a spare HDD and decided to use on the AX86U to backup a portion of my NAS periodically.
Enabling guest mode after using AMTM to format HDD on the AX86U solved the issue on my Apple devices. Struggling with Raspberry Pi right now but I found your:

/mnt/[drive name]/[share name]

format interesting and will have to try in the AM.

 

[bennor]

Struggling with Raspberry Pi right now but I found your:

format interesting and will have to try in the AM.

There are various DIY guides online one can review that give examples of how to mount a network Share from another device/NAS to a Raspberry Pi. For example:

Mapping a network drive to a Raspberry Pi (with automount) | Code Donut

Your Raspberry Pi microSD card can fill up quickly. Use this tutorial to learn how to mount a network share to increase your storage!

www.codedonut.com

The general process is to create a folder on the Raspberry Pi, then map the network Share from the router to that Pi folder using the mount command, then create an Fstab entry that automounts that network share to the Pi at boot/reboot. The key is to use the proper commands on the Pi. The two examples of the path I posted in my previous post won't work on the Raspberry Pi because they are not in the correct syntax for the mount command or fstab on the Raspberry Pi.

 

[ApexRon]

Resolved
Raspberry Pi commands that finally worked:
sudo mount -t cifs -o guest,vers=1.0 //192.168.64.1/asus /Asus
/etc/fstab = //192.168.64.1/asus /Asus cifs guest,vers=1.0 0 0