I have a Archer C8 and it should be about the same.

First be sure you use format the drive as FAT32 and not the Apple format.

Not sure if an encrypted drive would work.

Some drives need more power than the router can supply so you may need an external power source.

You also have to set up file sharing on the router. See http://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-756.html for more info.

On an Apple PC, enter in the command line of an internet browser (Chrome, Safari,...) SMB//192.168.0.1. Accept the pop-up. You should be able to see and access the files in Finder.

If you share with W indows 10 PC, press the windows key and 'R', you will get a window, and then enter \\192.168.0.1. You should be able to see and access the files in file explorer.

Note that you may need to set some of the file sharing options to "on" in your PC System Preferences.

The router USB drive does not show up as a drive in Time Machine on my IMAC. I use different portable USB drives plugged into my PC USB ports for Time Machine.

I first used a USB stick to get it working before using my larger 1 TB drive. I can share the drive between my IMAC and a Windows 10 PC.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your answer.

Formatting the Harddrive did the trick and now it works :)

The only problem now is, that I want my macbook to connect automatically upon start up, but I can't manage to get it to work.

I think the problem is that it tries to connect to the server before it has established wifi connection to the router.

Do you have a solution for this, and do you know why the server doesn't appear as a mounted drive on the desktop?

You may need to create a network file share. Not sure how to do this in Apple OS but there are tutorials online. Since the USB external hard drive is behind the router I don't think the OS will see it as a USB device.

You aren't expecting to also use this external USB drive with Time Machine are you because Time Machine will not use FAT 32.

I leave my IMAC up all the time so it is a non-issue as the drive is connected all the time. I do not know a way to make it auto connect. I did make a bookmark in my browser to make it easy to connect after re-booting.
As a work around, I guess you could try adding a browser to your system startup ( https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-add-startup-items-to-mac-2260903) which has the link to the USB drive as its home start page, The browser could be different than the one you normally use. After the USB drive connects, you can end/stop the extra browser. Not perfect but would get it done.

I just found an interesting site that may be helpful.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/automatically-connect-to-network-drive-on-startup-wake-up-and-other-ups.1629722/

I learned you can use command "k" also instead of the browser web page. The script that is shown may be a solution.

From that web page

Paste this into the Applescript Editor app and save it as an application, then add it to your login items. This will launch the script at login and delay 30 seconds before mounting the NAS drive. You can test it in Applescript Editor first to see if you need to extend the 30 seconds.

Also, manually mount the drive and select it in Finder then do a command-i and look at the path to make sure it matches the section in quotes.

This should get you the delay you want at startup.

As far as making sure the drive stays mounted, that is a bit more complex. OS X has a utility called autofs that can be used to monitor networked drive and remount them. I am only slightly familiar with it... so you will need to research how to cobble together that piece yourself.

[COLOR=#152C4E]Code:

delay 30tell application "Finder" try mount volume "smb://Network/NAS/Media" end tryend tell


Hope this works for you.