Solved Windows reporting incorrect drive size attached to NAS adapter

[Perry1986]

I am new here and wasn't sure where I should post this as I can see it applying to multiple categories.

I have two NAS storage adapters, both are CiragoLink+NUS2000 Devices. Each unit accommodates 4 USB hard drives up to 2 terabytes per attached drive. On both devices I have attached Western Digital external USB hard drives ranging in size from 500GB's to 1.5TB's.

The issue I am having is; if I "Map a Network Drive" to create a shared directory on any of the drives attached to the NAS adapters, Windows reports both the total disk size and free space available incorrectly. e.g. all of the attached drives show up in Windows explorer as having 55MB's of 62MB's available, when in fact it should report several hundred gigs available out of around 1 terabyte.

So not sure if this is a Windows' issue, an issue with the NAS adapter or if it's user error. Just an FYI, I get the same results on any PC, Windows XP or 7 when trying to connect to any of the drives.

Because of this issue, Windows' thinks the drive(s) is almost full and will not let me copy data to them.

Can anyone help me understand what is going on here? Thanks for the help.

 

[Faladu]

Welcome to Sevens Perry!

Your best bet for this specialty hardware is to call the company that makes it.

I had some ideas, but then looked up the piece of hardware, that's your BEST option for timely manner troubleshooting.

Web site:

CiragoLink+ « Cirago

There is a firmware update to v2.30 for a NU2000 there, also.

 

[Perry1986]

Welcome to Sevens Perry!

Your best bet for this specialty hardware is to call the company that makes it.

I had some ideas, but then looked up the piece of hardware, that's your BEST option for timely manner troubleshooting.

Web site:

CiragoLink+ « Cirago

Thanks for the response Faladu. I tried contacting customer support via email and phone several days ago and have yet to receive a response. Was hoping someone else has had a similar issue that they were able to get resolved. What were your original thoughts?

 

[Faladu]

Not a NAS user ever here...

Thought it was odd that USB drives would be used with NAS anything, but I was thinking of the ones with direct slots you just put internal drives in.

I looked up that adaptor, I use a USB hub (with it's own power source) for usb external drives, but only to one PC, and then other method for sharing if networked, like home group could be tried for sharing, but that's not helping if using non-Windows devices.

I would keep calling tech support until you get someone, and look for OTHER phone numbers to reach them, so bogus sometimes, one # will get actual person, other gets a voice mail [other company].

In the meantime though I would upgrade the firmware and try again, if not done already.

That part is not likely one that Windows normally recognizes, so it could be a driver issue.

If you plug one of the drives into your PC's USB port (any) what size shows up?

 

[Perry1986]

I see, yeah I will continue to try and contact them, hopefully I will hear something. As far as the firmware goes, both devices came with the most current version. Thanks for the help.

 

[Faladu]

In case you missed it, I added a comment:

That part is not likely one that Windows normally recognizes, so it could be a driver issue.

If you plug one of the drives into your PC's USB port (any) what size shows up?

If it gives the right size on all your drives that way, then yeah you need to discuss this with them, for sure, unless you need to just add the drivers off their web site to run the NAS adaptors.

 

[Perry1986]

In case you missed it, I added a comment:

That part is not likely one that Windows normally recognizes, so it could be a driver issue.

If you plug one of the drives into your PC's USB port (any) what size shows up?

If it gives the right size on all your drives that way, then yeah you need to discuss this with them, for sure, unless you need to just add the drivers off their web site to run the NAS adaptors.

I was using all of these drives previously with my computer as you suggest before getting the two NAS adapters and the size always showed up correctly on all drives. Another thought I had, all drives are NTFS formatted. To directly access and control the NAS adapters you login through a webpage since they just plug directly into a router/switch via Ethernet. But I have noticed that in the login page there is an option to format the drives to NTFS, FAT32, etc. So I wonder if I formatted the drives with the NAS adapter if they would be recognized correctly by Windows? Just a thought, that's probably not the case though.

 

[Faladu]

The NAS itself thinks they are sub 100gig drives though based on what you said.

If empty drive, sure I'd try formatting one that way, quick format is a matter of seconds, any how.

FAT-32 btw can't handle over 4gig size files, just beware, that and no file policy protections available.

 

[Perry1986]

Glad you mentioned that, I should have mentioned this in the original post but through NAS login page I am able to see the status of all connected drives and they all show up correctly. The NAS unit itself does recognize that each drive is well over 100 gigs and shows the correct free space available and total capcity.

Man, if I didn't have so much data on the drives currently I would take one and let the NAS format it just to see if that solves it. I do have a separate 3TB drive that I just recently got, doesn't have too much on it yet, I could clear it off and test using it. The only problem with that is, the NAS units only support 2TB's per USB slot so it is not recognized at all. Maybe I could setup a new, smaller partition on that drive and then maybe it would recognize it.

 

[Faladu]

So the NAS hub sees them right....

How are those attached to a PC to network them?

I would skip the 3TB drive then since it's not usable with that device limitation.

 

[Perry1986]

That's correct, the NAS sees them correctly through the login webpage but Windows does not. The NAS units don't connect to a computer, they connect directly to my switch/router via a cat5 cable. Then on another PC connected to the same switch/router you are able to navigate to the NAS units in the "My Network Places" and map different directories you want to share.

 

[Faladu]

uh oh.....

More cooks on the same pot.

CAT 5e cable? [matter of transfer rate] Just took A+ exam, nm.

So the Router likely isn't a weak link, I would hope as far as storage sizes.

So any OTHER PC connected to that switch/router is unable to see ANY of the drives as regular size....

Other than drivers, kinda stumped, unless networked folders have a size limit, seems odd.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Given the symptoms I'd say there is something wrong with the NAS adapter, seems like a protocol issue. Might want to check the manual. It says it supports Samba, SMB, RAW (print server), UPnP, WebDAV (remote access), while by default windows tends to use SMB but should support Samba as well, the manual tells how to connect to it with Samba protocol.

Not an heavy NAS user either, but had some "bruises" with them.

 

[Perry1986]

uh oh.....

More cooks on the same pot.

CAT 5e cable? [matter of transfer rate] Just took A+ exam, nm.

So the Router likely isn't a weak link, I would hope as far as storage sizes.

So any OTHER PC connected to that switch/router is unable to see ANY of the drives as regular size....

Other than drivers, kinda stumped, unless networked folders have a size limit, seems odd.

Yep, I am using CAT 5e everywhere, so that shouldn't be a problem. The switch is a Netgear ProSafe 24 port, Model 23 JFS524 and I haven't had any issues with it. Any computer that I try to map any of these drives to show the sizes of the drives incorrectly, all of my PC's show the drives at 55mb's of 62mb's.

So I really don't know where the real issue is, at first it would seem to be caused by the NAS but I have two of the exact same NAS units and they both act the same, unless I am using them incorrectly. Don't know if its Windows' though either, I have 3 Windows 7 machines and they all show the drives incorrectly as well as my 2 Windows XP machines. I am stumped as well.

 

[Perry1986]

Given the symptoms I'd say there is something wrong with the NAS adapter, seems like a protocol issue. Might want to check the manual. It says it supports Samba, SMB, RAW (print server), UPnP, WebDAV (remote access), while by default windows tends to use SMB.

Not an heavy NAS user either, but had some "bruises" with them.

Thanks for the input. I would tend to agree with you at first but I don't know, I have two of the NAS units and they both act the same with all of my PC's. As far as I can tell, according to the manuals I am using them correctly.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Try switching to Samba (as described in the manual) or changing SMB version.
Since the manual taks about XP and not Vista or even 7 it might also be a SMB version issue, read this to do something about it.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Also did you try what is said in their faq?

NUS2000 does not show all contents using UPnP.
Uncheck the Media Server check box and click Apply. Check the Enable box and click apply once more. The NUS2000 will then update its UPnP list and properly show all currently connected content through UPnP.

 

[Perry1986]

Also did you try what is said in their faq?

NUS2000 does not show all contents using UPnP.
Uncheck the Media Server check box and click Apply. Check the Enable box and click apply once more. The NUS2000 will then update its UPnP list and properly show all currently connected content through UPnP.

I did see that, I'll have to double check that out again. As I am writing this Cirago customer support just emailed me back and this is what they said, so I will have to try that:

Greetings,
Please login to the NUS configure , in setup go to FILE SERVER, make your user have only one drive assigned ( not the ROOT as ‘/’).

Now when you map a network drive, enter ‘ \\NUS2000\*****’ the *** are the user name.
This way when you call up properties you will see right size.

 

[Perry1986]

From Cirago Customer Support:

Greetings,
Please login to the NUS configure , in setup go to FILE SERVER, make your user have only one drive assigned ( not the ROOT as ‘/’).

Now when you map a network drive, enter ‘ \\NUS2000\*****’ the *** are the user name.
This way when you call up properties you will see right size.

The comment above from Cirago customer support fixes the problem. Apparently for every share directory you want you have to have a new username and password created. Everything works great now