Issues with LS420D (Especially w/ External Hard Drive)

[jillsy]

I purchased a LinkStation LS420D (2 x 1-TB drives) and set it up in RAID 1. I have three other LinkStations (one HD-HLAN and two LS-XHL) that have worked fairly well, but this 420D has me ready to pull my hair out.

First, whenever I turn it off and back on, it disappears from my network. I have to unplug and replug the Ethernet cable to get it back. I've tried different cables and the drive is on a switch with other LinkStations that have no issues when powered off and on.

Next, the web interface doesn't find the latest firmware. It notified me of an update and I ran it. Upon restarting, the drive disappeared from the network. The LED was steady, so I unplugged/replugged the Ethernet cable and the drive was again recognized. The web interface claimed the Firmware was up to date, but NAS Navigator showed the version was 1.01 and I could see 1.31 was available on the support site. I downloaded that and ran the updater and that successfully updated the firmware and rebooted the drive. Oh, and until the successful firmware update, the web interface did not include Sleep Timer options. The drive went to sleep on schedule tonight, but it remains to be seen if it will wake and appear on the network properly in the morning.

Finally my biggest problem: I can't get the drive to format an external USB drive. I have tried two different drives and, no matter what options I choose (FAT32, XFS, EXT3), I receive the same message: "Format failed. Make sure that the drive is not configured as read-only. Try rebooting the LinkStation." Hence, I cannot use the external HD with the LinkStation 420D.

I have external drives connected to two of my other LinkStations and have had no issues with them. I took one of the drives the LS420D refused to format and connected it to one of my LS-XHL drives. That drive recognized the external drive and was able to format it in both XFS and EXT3. After each formatting, I removed the external drive from the LS-XHL and tried connecting it to the LS420D. However, the LS420D still saw the drive as unformatted and refused to format it.

What is the problem? The external USB drive is powered and is recognized and able to be formatted by other devices (PC and another LinkStation). Is this a firmware issue I can expect to be resolved, or will I live to live with a drive that doesn't do all it is advertised, and is supposed, to do?

[luger]

I don't know if this will help you with an external drive, but I have a LS421DE that, when I tried a rebuild, refused to format any disk I tried putting in it - apparently I had sullied the drives attaching them to the PC first. The solution took about five minutes, and fifteen minutes later my 3TB drive was XFS and ready to go. Worked on the second one too.

Level 2 had me "clean" the drive using the command prompt tool 'diskpart'. Find the instructions on sevenforums.com searching for 'clean and clean all with diskpart command'. Be QUITE careful you don't select a disk other than the one you want to clean. I originally used an external sata docking station to do the deed. I tried it in a USB 3.0 enclosure, and it worked there also.

Good luck.

[jillsy]

Thanks so much for your reply, luger. I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner; I forgot to enable email notification.

I will have to try your suggestion when I have some time. I had initially connected the drive to a PC, but I did a full NTFS format on it to remove any pre-installed software. The drive was NTFS formatted when purchased, so I can't imagine what difference formatting it via PC should make.

If your suggested procedure doesn't work, I'm hoping the issue is something that will be fixed with a firmware update. I really don't want to go through the RMA process. However, I believe this will be my last Buffalo product regardless of how this issue turns out in the end. I contacted Buffalo support via their web form and received no reply. I don't appreciate being ignored by a company whose product is not working as advertised. I will also be sharing my negative experience when I review this product at Newegg.

Thanks again for replying, especially since no one from Buffalo could be bothered.

[Buffalo Drut]

This appears to be a recurring problem for enough purchasers that the issue should be remedied by Buffalo. I have spent over 16 hours trying every suggestion online.

Nonetheless, I am ALSO trying to connect an external drive: 1TB Seagate FreeAgent

Sorry, luger's "clean" did not work. I appreciate the suggestion and found some nice tools on the net because of it. Thanks!

I "cleaned", installed, rebooted, formatted, re-re-re-formatted, re-cleaned, re-formatted ... tried every possible format type. I even used third-part FAT32 formatters as a last-ditch effort. The 420 does not recognize that the drive is formatted. In previous firmware versions it would claim the drive was successfully formatted, then nothing, no change ... 1.31 - 0.92 won't format the drive no matter what you do. The drive always appears as unformatted.

Worse yet, you have to reboot the 420 every time you do this. C'mon guys, this is not the '90s.

Anyone have any further suggestions?

[jillsy]

I really appreciate your input, Buffalo Drut. I have not yet had a chance to try luger's suggestions. I've pretty much resigned myself to just live with this issue and hope for an eventual firmware fix. The drive itself has worked pretty well as far as its primary function--to back up my important files.

[Buffalo Drut]

Well ... looks like 6 months later, there is no firmware fix. Yes, the other Buffalo products work fine with the drives, but the LS420 does not. The only solution is to RMA the unit and hope they will give you a hardware upgraded one. Otherwise, it's an insult to go through the motions again. Good luck moving that data and then starting from ground zero with formatting and configuring RAID ... and then it doesn't work.

Buffalo will not tell you whether the replacement unit can work with generic drives because it has repaired/updated hardware, so you take a risk returning yours for a clone.

Buffalo would have to admit that there is truly a hardware flaw in some version of the units and that you can rest assured the replacement unit will work (unless it's just a bad unit, perchance). If they did that ... I would buy more of their products because I would know that they cared about the customer to be frank about the flaw.

[therealdeal]

I loaded a WD 2TB portable into windows 10.  Ran DISKPART and cleaned it.
Unplugged, plugged back into windows 10.  Manage and initialized disk with GPT.
Disconnected and plugged into my LS420D.  Went to USB settings and was able to partition with EXT3 and set up a direct copy backup.

Good luck.