Archer C4000, Time Machine, USB 3 disk: router constantly rebooting
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I have a C4000 that is about 8 months old. A few weeks ago, I plugged a USB 3 drive into the USB 3 port and set it up as a Time Machine backup destination. That has worked well. Until today. Today, whenever my mac initiates a backup, the router reboots. I can reproduce this every time. I've tried two different hard drive enclosures and different cables with the same result.
I believe the router is probably defective, but am wondering if I'm missing something. The fact that it worked for weeks and then stopped is curious.
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@bupkis I have the same issue. I'm frustrated.
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@bupkis Exactly the same issue. JUST took delivery of the router yesterday, and the WD Elements 10gig backup drive will get a few gigs thru the Time Machine backup before the entire router reboots. Firmware? Do I need to roll it back or something? Went with this router specifically due to good reviews and it's compatibility with Time Machine. Ultra frustrating.
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My hunch is that this problem results from changes in Catalina's handling of Time Machine disks that TP-Link's firmware hasn't been updated to handle. I say this because my wife's computer running High Sierra is able to backup to a USB 2 drive plugged into the other port on the router with no problems. And I'm able to backup with no problems to a USB 3 disk plugged into the USB 3 port but only when I use software called Arq that connects to the drive via SMB.
I recommend Arq for this purpose. Time Machine is always flakey on third-party routers and, if it's not reliable, it's not a good backup solution. Arq lacks the interface niceties but does basically the same thing Time Machine does and is proving to be very reliable so far (touch wood!).
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See this for anecdotal confirmation of my hunch:
https://www.jessesquires.com/blog/2020/01/10/time-machine-failing-on-macos-catalina/
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@bupkis To clarify, I'm on Mojave, and the backup will begin to run, then after a little while (no seeming rhyme or reason to when) the backup will fail, and the router will reboot completely. TP-Link, please update our firmware! It's almost like the connection to the WD Elements drive is timing out or logging it out automatically after some time, but that doesn't explain why the whole router reboots.
Additionally, I tried to roll back to an older firmware, but it won't allow me to. Is there a way to do it that anyone's aware of? I haven't searched on here for that process yet, so I may find it today.
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Hello, thanks for bringing this up.
This case might be escalated to the seniors and they will email you, if you are willing to do further analysis, please check your inbox.
Thanks for your cooperation and support. Good day.
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Does this have anything to do with formatting the disk on the mac pureley for time machine? I have a suspicion that though apple says to deselect "ignore ownership of this volume" (keeping intact owner permissions), I wonder if this makes this backup process fail as it comes to a point of determining write permission to the drive, right?
In my particular case, this drive will never be bootable; it will only contain time machine data (system files, applications, all other data files). Should I erase and reformat IGNORING ownership, so permissions aren't an issue?
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Hello, do you encounter the same issue as the others? Will the router reboot when you try to use the Time Machine?
If not exactly the same, please try to give us more details which will help to speed up the process.
BTW, you can try to reformat the drive as you suspected and see if it helps.
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Hi Kevin, yes, it's the same issue. The (initial) backup would start and run for a few minutes, but then will fail, and the router will reboot canceling the backup.
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