Orcon Genius as a File Server

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon Genius as a File Server

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kiwiscoota

237 posts

Master Geek

#516567 4-Sep-2011 20:31

kiwiscoota:
hbngan:
---- edit----

4. usb drive is 2 TB seagate powered from Noel leemings as I have heard the orcon genius is struggling to power an usb powered hard drive

Thanks for that...

That could well be the reason why my Maxtor drive did not work when I tried it... I'll try again with an external power source and if that still doesn't work, I'll try again with an alternative external powered drive.

cheers
Robert

An update on my earlier post, I've just successfully connected my Western Digital 1.5 TB external powered drive, I just plugged it in, and without any configuration it appeared in Finder and I was able to play video files (Finder is the Mac equivalent of Windows Explorer).

This seems to confirm the Orcon Genius doesn't have enough power to supply a USB powered drive.

cheers
Robert

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gehenna

8453 posts

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#516575 4-Sep-2011 21:15

freitasm: I've read in another topic here on Geekzone there's a 100GB drive limit? Is that the case? Perhaps partition the drive and see if you can access the 100GB partition?

Nope that's not the case. It recognised my 2TB NTFS drive just fine. It's just the performance is not worth even bothering with.

rossnixon

36 posts

Geek

#517780 6-Sep-2011 21:30

Do USB HDD drives on the Genius spin down if they are not accessed in a while?

gehenna

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#517784 6-Sep-2011 21:34

No idea, i'm back to using a dedicated file server PC over ethernet.

BurtLand

1 post

Wannabe Geek

#518937 9-Sep-2011 11:27

Connected 500G WD MyBook to Genius - its powered externally. Get about 32% utilisation of the 54Mbps wireless so 17Mbps for file transfer. Video plays seemlessly. QOS settings might affect this - havent tried.

Installation happened when it should with no problems. G.992.5 (ADSL2+) connection but bandwidth poor at 5900/688kbps, get 5/0.5Mbps on speedtest.net. Pretty crap considering its running on ORCON+ and this technology is capable of 24/1.4Mbps.

Phone works better than standard, answer phone goes as well - not sure how to access this though. Big lack of documentation on Orcon's part to get all this running.

So altogether rather good when considering price - bandwidth the MAJOR disappointment - old TELSTRACLEAR was better.

kiwiscoota

237 posts

Master Geek

#518949 9-Sep-2011 12:02

BurtLand:

....edit.....
Installation happened when it should with no problems. G.992.5 (ADSL2+) connection but bandwidth poor at 5900/688kbps, get 5/0.5Mbps on speedtest.net. Pretty crap considering its running on ORCON+ and this technology is capable of 24/1.4Mbps.

Phone works better than standard, answer phone goes as well - not sure how to access this though. Big lack of documentation on Orcon's part to get all this running.

So altogether rather good when considering price - bandwidth the MAJOR disappointment - old TELSTRACLEAR was better.

My speed using Speedtest.net (and over-riding the server so I could use a server closer) seems slightly better at 7500/720 versus TelecomNZ which was usually around 5900/500.

I've not had time to work out the phone message bank yet, but I do miss the lack of missed call function on my old Panasonic DECT phone.

I'd have to say that other than some appalling initial sign-up problems, I'm very happy with the install / commissioning and usage.

hbngan

89 posts

Master Geek

ID Verified

#519090 9-Sep-2011 17:49

I just tested using speednet, I am getting 14.7/720 from Wgtn

regarding the voicemail set up, yes no instructions from orcon, after ringing support and waiting for 1/2 an hour, they set up a pin number and it worked

however I dont use as I have just linked the genius to my existing panasonic cordless phone, the caller ID and missed called functionality is working on it....

hattrick123

71 posts

Master Geek

#555885 9-Dec-2011 13:05

Hi there

Just trying to get to the bottom of the Orcon Genius issue regarding setting up a wireless server.

From what I can tell from this foum is that:

There is not enough power coming from the router to support a usb powered harddrive. Therefore the HD needs its own source.

There is a question mark over the Hard drive size that can work with the router.

Now my situation, I have a 500GB, USB powered HD.

When I go into set up the wireless server I can actually see the HD and all the folders in it.

My main problem is that I cannot name the server path! It is greyed out.

Has anyone had anything similar? Appreciate any advice.

I am just trying to work out if it is due to the HD being USB powered.

Cheers

hattrick123

71 posts

Master Geek

#555939 9-Dec-2011 14:34

There is a similar post here
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=82&topicid=87990%20
on the subject

with Comments such as

4) Using Genius as an external harddrive - the format required is FAT32 with a limit of 100GB

My 500gig drive is formatted Fat32 (for ease of use across platforms) with no partitions... The only limitation is it won't accept file sizes of more than 4 gigs or thereabouts. I'm really hoping that it will work with the Genius so I can turn off the old PC used as a file server. Will try it when Genius arrives and report back :)

kiwiscoota

237 posts

Master Geek

#555954 9-Dec-2011 15:12

You don't say which operating system you are using, but:-

on my Mac it just appears as "boblite" in Finder and can be accessed as a normal drive without having do anything to set it up.

on my Windoze XP machine, I clicked on my network places and there it was with the description

"modem USB storage on File Server (Boblite)"

on the Win XP machine if I right click on the drive & go to properties it reveals the path as //BOBLITE/modem usb storage, as with my Mac, I did not need to do anything to set it up.

The drive I experimented with is USB 500 gig drive with external power supply, I've previously tried several USB powered drives without success.

hattrick123

71 posts

Master Geek

#556185 10-Dec-2011 00:07

Thanks kiwiscoota

I am using windows 7, which I am new to but I got it sorted, easy as.

Went into control panel - network and sharing centre - Double click on your Router(This will be the name of your SSiD) and it's there Boblite under computer.

Maybe it was there all along. oh well oops on my part.

Anyhow for the record its a usb powered HD, 500GB HD that I bought in DickSmiths

Cheers

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