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How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?

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How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?
How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?
2013-06-09 09:53:21
Region : Argentina

Model : TD-W8968

Hardware Version : V2

Firmware Version :

ISP :

After playing around with my new TD-W8980 and reading and re-reading the User Guide I have almost got everything working to my expectations. :D

I have plugged a portable external Seagate 1.5Tb drive and a Seagate 4Tb external drive. I have access to these drives when I type "Run" and \\192.168.... and select one or the other from the presented options.

This fires up Windows Explorer with the selected drive, good. But how do I access BOTH drives at the same time to, copy files from one to the other, for instance? How do I access these drives from my WD TV Streaming Media Player?

Can I access the drives from Windows Explorer WITHOUT going through the "Run" scenario? When I click on "Network" in Windows Explorer the modem USB drives don't show.

Also, since I have your attention, :) Why does my iPad see BOTH the networks (2.4Mhz and 5Mhz) but my laptop and media player only see the 2.4Mhz SSID? The laptop is running Windows 8 and my desktop (wired) is running Windows 7.

I have gone from totally confused to bemused and partly confused. I like my new modem. :)

Thanks in anticipation :)
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#1
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6 Reply
Re:How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?
2013-06-09 13:32:48
Maybe you can enable Media Server on TD-W8980 and then try if your TV can assess the shared files.
The laptop may not support 5GHz, so it cannot detect the 5GHz wireless network of the modem. Since your Ipad support 2.4GHz and 5GHz, it can see both of the networks.
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#2
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Re:How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?
2013-06-09 15:57:06
Hi.
Just get a reply from my friend. He also has a TD-W8980 and he can access the USB drive by Internet Explorer through \\192.168.1.1. Maybe you can also give it a try.

When you only connect Seagate 4Tb external drive to the modem without Seagate 1.5Tb drive, can the modem recognize the 4TB drive?

If it can be recognized, since both of your drives can be detected by the modem, you can try to copy files from one to the other.
The way to see them will still be the same: type "Run" and \\192.168......, all the shared files appear in the same window, copy files from one folder to another folder, and files can also be copy from one drive to the other one.
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#3
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Re:How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?
2013-06-09 19:19:51
Thanks for the response alisa. Happily I am using Total Commander and have setup buttons to access both the drives on the modem in different panels of the program concurrently :) so copying from one drive to the other is no longer a problem.

I had NO problems accessing the drives before but only one at a time as Windows Explorer could only see one drive at a time. But with TC that is no longer a problem.

Without highjacking my own question, why is the copy from one drive to the other SO very slow?

The new modem has Gigabit ports and I was expecting MUCH faster access speeds that the old modem but the speed is the same :(

With the ports being ten times as fast I WAS expecting a VAST speed improvement.

On the old modem (TD-W8960) the access speed to my NAS was (top) 11.4mbytes/s and the speed with the new modem is exactly the same :( Copying from one drive to the other is like, 3mbytes/s. Way way slower....

The main reason I upgraded for hoping for way more speed :(
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#4
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Re:How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?
2013-06-10 14:36:59
Hi, louwin.
What is the model number of your NAS? Does it support 1000Mbps?
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#5
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Re:How to access external HDDs plugged into a TD-W8980 and dual band access?
2013-06-13 19:59:15
It is a Western Digital My Book Live 3Tb and, I'm sorry, but I don't know if it does?

I assumed it was the old modem limiting it's speed so expected the new Gigabit ports to drive it 10 times faster. The drive in the NAS is certainly capable of the speed :)
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#6
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Drive size
2014-09-08 03:17:30
I have that router, too. It only supports partitions up to 2TB. It is also limited to FAT32 and NTFS.
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#7
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