Kronalias
14-08-2007, 20:56
ASUS WL-HDD FAT32 WITH STANDARD FIRMWARE
This guide allows you to set up a FAT32 partition which can be accessed from either the WL HDD or from Windows.
1. What you need (or at least, what I needed!)
V1.2.3.9 English firmware on the WL-HDD. This was downloaded from here:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx
( Select Product => Wireless)
Select Series => AP/Router
Select Models => WL-HDD2.5 ).
You may find the ‘ASUS WL-HDD2.5 wireless hard disk drive box utility program in English. Version 1.3.6.2’ from the same site useful.
My PC is running XP.
I’m using a 40Gb 2.5” disk.
You’ll need to be able to access the disk on both the WL-HDD and a PC – the easiest way is to use a USB enclosure for accessing from the PC.
You also need gparted. I don’t run Linux, so the easiest way to use this is to get the live CD from here:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
2. Doing it.
Delete all the partitions on the disk. You need to do this to force the WL-HDD to format the disk. In Windows click:
Start => Settings => Control Panel => Administrative Tools => Computer Management => Disk Management, find your disk, right click on each partition and select Delete Partition (or Delete Logical Drive and then Delete Partition). Do this until all of the disk space is designated unallocated.
Put the disk in the WL-HDD. Power up and connect to it with the Web Manager interface, or the utility. Click Settings and type admin, admin or whatever your User Name and Password are.
You will now have a message:
Thanks for purchasing the ASUS WLHDD. Your disk is not formatted, do you like to format it first?
Click OK and then the Storage Setting – Disk Tool window pops up. This should have a Device Type of IDE, and the Disk Space(MB) and Disk Space of Partition 1(MB) should be the same (in my case 38026, so much for 40Gigs being 40*1024*1024…
Click Apply, and then OK to the message ‘Making file system will destroy all the data on the disk, are you sure?’
Wait a few minutes while the format happens, and then click Save&Restartat the prompt.
Right, here comes the magic bit. The WL-HDD has put two partitions on the disk, one called configuration and the other called part1. Neither partition is available from Windows. The part1 partition is where we would normally put data, and what we are now going to do is shrink part1 to its minimum size, and add another logical partition (which is going to be FAT32).
Power down the WL-HDD and pop the disk into a USB enclosure, attach it to a PC and boot from the gparted live CD.
#### This bit is from memory – I wasn’t capable enough to capture it! ####
Right, now you’re in the gparted live cd.
What I have showing is:
/dev/sdb/ linux-swap 62.72MB
/dev/sdb2 extended 37.20GB
/dev/sdb5 ext3 37.20GB
Click the /dev.sdb5 and Resize to its minimum size.
For me this is 646 MB
Click to Resize to this (minimum size, for me 646MB).
You (or rather me, in the case of my 40Gb disk) then have:
Unallocated 36.57GB
Click New, use all the space (in my case 3744MB), Create as Logical Partition, set Filesystem as FAT32 and click Apply.
Sit back for a while.
#### Back to normal! ####
Exit gparted and reboot the PC into Windows. Leave the disk in the USB port.
After the boot you should see the FAT32 partition in Windows. You may not recognize it – it’ll just show up as another drive letter. If you’re wary then just click:
Start => Settings => Control Panel => Administraive Tools => Computer Management => Disk Management and you should see your disk as a new drive letter.
You should now load anything you like onto the disk. This is the fastest way to do it, presuming your disk is attached as USB2.0 (on the ASUS thingy it’s USB1, which is *way* slower). I loaded about 35GB between the start and end of dinner with friends – I guess this was about 90 minutes, but I could be wrong…
That’s the disk loaded, bung it back it the WL-HDD enclosure and, quite frankly, that’s that.
Sort of, but how do you access it?
Well, do you remember how you could see:
configuration on WLHDD (Wl-hdd) – the CONFIGURATION.html and SHUTDOWN.html files?
and
part1 on WLHDD (Wl-hdd) – the partition where you normally loaded stuff?
Go to your Network Places and have a look! You’ve now got:
part2 on WLHDD (Wl-hdd)
or if you’re really challenged then got to this place:
\\WL-HDD\part2
This partition (part2) is where you should put data which you may possibly need later from Windows. If you ever need it then just take the disk out, bung it in a USB enclosure and stuff it in a Windows XP USB hole, and viola, Bob's your close relative!
Best of luck, from Kronalias
PS If you’re interested, you might visit http://beebotron.timeforabrew.com It’s a different sort of site (nothing naughty!).
This guide allows you to set up a FAT32 partition which can be accessed from either the WL HDD or from Windows.
1. What you need (or at least, what I needed!)
V1.2.3.9 English firmware on the WL-HDD. This was downloaded from here:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx
( Select Product => Wireless)
Select Series => AP/Router
Select Models => WL-HDD2.5 ).
You may find the ‘ASUS WL-HDD2.5 wireless hard disk drive box utility program in English. Version 1.3.6.2’ from the same site useful.
My PC is running XP.
I’m using a 40Gb 2.5” disk.
You’ll need to be able to access the disk on both the WL-HDD and a PC – the easiest way is to use a USB enclosure for accessing from the PC.
You also need gparted. I don’t run Linux, so the easiest way to use this is to get the live CD from here:
http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
2. Doing it.
Delete all the partitions on the disk. You need to do this to force the WL-HDD to format the disk. In Windows click:
Start => Settings => Control Panel => Administrative Tools => Computer Management => Disk Management, find your disk, right click on each partition and select Delete Partition (or Delete Logical Drive and then Delete Partition). Do this until all of the disk space is designated unallocated.
Put the disk in the WL-HDD. Power up and connect to it with the Web Manager interface, or the utility. Click Settings and type admin, admin or whatever your User Name and Password are.
You will now have a message:
Thanks for purchasing the ASUS WLHDD. Your disk is not formatted, do you like to format it first?
Click OK and then the Storage Setting – Disk Tool window pops up. This should have a Device Type of IDE, and the Disk Space(MB) and Disk Space of Partition 1(MB) should be the same (in my case 38026, so much for 40Gigs being 40*1024*1024…
Click Apply, and then OK to the message ‘Making file system will destroy all the data on the disk, are you sure?’
Wait a few minutes while the format happens, and then click Save&Restartat the prompt.
Right, here comes the magic bit. The WL-HDD has put two partitions on the disk, one called configuration and the other called part1. Neither partition is available from Windows. The part1 partition is where we would normally put data, and what we are now going to do is shrink part1 to its minimum size, and add another logical partition (which is going to be FAT32).
Power down the WL-HDD and pop the disk into a USB enclosure, attach it to a PC and boot from the gparted live CD.
#### This bit is from memory – I wasn’t capable enough to capture it! ####
Right, now you’re in the gparted live cd.
What I have showing is:
/dev/sdb/ linux-swap 62.72MB
/dev/sdb2 extended 37.20GB
/dev/sdb5 ext3 37.20GB
Click the /dev.sdb5 and Resize to its minimum size.
For me this is 646 MB
Click to Resize to this (minimum size, for me 646MB).
You (or rather me, in the case of my 40Gb disk) then have:
Unallocated 36.57GB
Click New, use all the space (in my case 3744MB), Create as Logical Partition, set Filesystem as FAT32 and click Apply.
Sit back for a while.
#### Back to normal! ####
Exit gparted and reboot the PC into Windows. Leave the disk in the USB port.
After the boot you should see the FAT32 partition in Windows. You may not recognize it – it’ll just show up as another drive letter. If you’re wary then just click:
Start => Settings => Control Panel => Administraive Tools => Computer Management => Disk Management and you should see your disk as a new drive letter.
You should now load anything you like onto the disk. This is the fastest way to do it, presuming your disk is attached as USB2.0 (on the ASUS thingy it’s USB1, which is *way* slower). I loaded about 35GB between the start and end of dinner with friends – I guess this was about 90 minutes, but I could be wrong…
That’s the disk loaded, bung it back it the WL-HDD enclosure and, quite frankly, that’s that.
Sort of, but how do you access it?
Well, do you remember how you could see:
configuration on WLHDD (Wl-hdd) – the CONFIGURATION.html and SHUTDOWN.html files?
and
part1 on WLHDD (Wl-hdd) – the partition where you normally loaded stuff?
Go to your Network Places and have a look! You’ve now got:
part2 on WLHDD (Wl-hdd)
or if you’re really challenged then got to this place:
\\WL-HDD\part2
This partition (part2) is where you should put data which you may possibly need later from Windows. If you ever need it then just take the disk out, bung it in a USB enclosure and stuff it in a Windows XP USB hole, and viola, Bob's your close relative!
Best of luck, from Kronalias
PS If you’re interested, you might visit http://beebotron.timeforabrew.com It’s a different sort of site (nothing naughty!).