WRT600N Storage Link Does Not Work

Question

This is a great idea, but simply does not appear to work.
Situation: WinXP Pro box, Win Vista Premium box, assorted XP home laptops, etc. Want to store common files on the router's storage link for access from anywhere on the wired or wireless network.
Problem: Folders created on the linked USB hard drive were originally fully accessible by any computer on the network, but became somehow unreadable and unwriteable -- EVEN TO THE WRT WEB INTERFACE
Can't read files in these folders, can't write either, of course. Can't even use the WRT600's web interface to "delete" the folder. (returns a page not found error in IE7). "Edit" doesn't work either -- page loads for edits, but attempting to save changes gives a page not found or "cannot display the web page" error. This doesn't work in Firefox, either.
As I try to create a folder now via the web interface with firefox, I see that doesn't work either. It takes the name, refreshes the screen as if something's being created, but on return, nothing is there. Same now with IE7. Sigh, this just gets worse as I double-check and try to get this post properly prepared.
Just reset this thing, and it let me (via web interface) create and delete one folder, but then stopped working 30 seconds later.
I tested a USB stick and got similar terrible results.
I'm running the latest firmware *.35
This thing simply doesn't work. It's not even a good beta. I'll have to advise anyone considering a purchase of this router to forget it. What a frustrating waste of time and money.

Answer 1

Yes, I'm reluctant to also, like so many others, report that the WRT600N fails to perform without error in the handling of an attached usb harddrive.
It does not maintain a stable user priviledge base, even loosing administrator access privledges to the drive.
I have reformatted the drive using the WRT600N web interface. This made sure the harddrive was formated using the native drivers in the device (FAT32). I suspect that this device uses an internal linux variant and it's my understanding that NTFS formats (of which I think there are at least 4 versions) are not well supported under linux. This did not improve the reliability of the drive. I wonder if the priveledge table is not stored on the drive, but in some internal memory, and it's not stable.
Any suggestions?
Message Edited by sippnonacorona on 03-16-2008 01:12 PM
(Edited post for guideline compliance. Thanks!)
Message Edited by JOHNDOE_06 on 03-16-2008 01:17 PM