Synology RT2600ac Time Machine Back-ups can only be read over network, can't when connecting USB external drive to computer

[Rizvi1]

I got a Synology RT2600ac this year replacing an Airport Extreme. I have a USB external hard drive connected directly to the router so I can do continuous over-the-air back-ups from my MacBook Pro via Time Machine.

I am able to browse through the back-up contents of the backup directly from the Network:

But if I disconnect that USB External drive from the router and connect directly to the computer via a USB cable, I can't browse the contents. I get a notice saying the drive needs to be initialized:

Is there no way for the RT2600ac to make back-ups that I can view by directly connecting to the USB external drive as well?

 

[cmaier]

I got a Synology RT2600ac this year replacing an Airport Extreme. I have a USB external hard drive connected directly to the router so I can do continuous over-the-air back-ups from my MacBook Pro via Time Machine.

I am able to browse through the back-up contents of the backup directly from the Network:
View attachment 940248
View attachment 940249

But if I disconnect that USB External drive from the router and connect directly to the computer via a USB cable, I can't browse the contents. I get a notice saying the drive needs to be initialized:

View attachment 940250
View attachment 940251

Is there no way for the RT2600ac to make back-ups that I can view by directly connecting to the USB external drive as well?

The drive is probably formatted using EXT4, in which case you canNOT plug directly into your mac.

If you pre-format the drive by connecting to your mac and formatting from there as HFS, it should work (of course you’ll lose whatever is on the drive when you format). I haven’t actually tried that with my rt2600ac, but I believe the router does support HFS.

 

[Rizvi1]

Thanks for the response. I'll try that out tonight. I'm making a new backup now on a different drive before I wipe out the old drive, do proper formatting, and then reattach to the router.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Be careful with the formatting and starting over. Last time I checked, yes, HFS+ was supported via USB...but I had some issues with it, and eventually scrapped the idea. To be fair, that was quite a few years back, could be solid now. But to be safe, keep another backup source going until you very sure all is well.

 

[Rizvi1]

Be careful with the formatting and starting over. Last time I checked, yes, HFS+ was supported via USB...but I had some issues with it, and eventually scrapped the idea. To be fair, that was quite a few years back, could be solid now. But to be safe, keep another backup source going until you very sure all is well.

Late reply but just wanted to let you know I'm all good. Thank you!