Broken HFS on USB drive after router reboot

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Broken HFS on USB drive after router reboot

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
Broken HFS on USB drive after router reboot
Broken HFS on USB drive after router reboot
2021-04-14 19:16:54 - last edited 2022-06-23 10:01:08
Model: Archer AX6000  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version: 1.2.1 Build 20210205 rel.12759

Hello,

 

I have Archer AX6000 with enabled Time machine and with connected my 2TB WD external hardrive. Disk is formated ad HFS and connected to router via USB-C connector.

Time machine backups works well until router is rebooted. Does not matter if it is via web UI or incidentely by power outage.

 

Mostly any time filestem is marked as broken and time machine stopped. Also I'm not able to fix it via disk-utils, it always fails with File system verify or repair failed. : (-69845)

 

 

I had same issue also with previous firmware and backup HDD is fine - It's connected now directly to my macbook because I need backups.

This is very bad behaviour which I'll not expect from this expensive router.

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#1
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4 Reply
Re:Broken HFS on USB drive after router reboot
2021-04-16 06:00:02

@LesTR 

 

Thanks for reporting the issue to the community. We will have a specialist to look into this further, they may likely to contact you via email, please check and confirm.

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#2
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Re:Broken HFS on USB drive after router reboot
2021-12-14 18:55:12

@LesTR I've identified the problem and notified TP-Link tech support. The problem is that by default, if formatting HFS+ extended (both case and non case sensitive) it also formats journaling. The router cannot handle the journal, and overwrites it corrupting the filesystem. To fix, disable the journal. On your mac after formatting, mount the drive and get a command line (open terminal). Assume that your drive is named NameOfYourDisk. nter the following command at the prompt:

diskutil disableJournal /Volumes/NameOfYourDisk

 

Eject the drive and then attach it to the router - that should do the trick. Obviously, test this yourself on something that does not have important data as formatting will wipe it.

And equally important - without the journal, a power outage or reboot while the disk is being written has a chance of causing filesystem damage that you will need to connect to the mac to fix. 

 

Typical disclaimer applies: I'm not a TP-Link employee, and your milage may vary, but it's working for me.

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#3
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Re:Broken HFS on USB drive after router reboot
2021-12-16 22:29:08

Thank You @ffr2822! I'll give it a try, hopefully it can fix this annoying bug 

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#4
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Re:Broken HFS on USB drive after router reboot
2022-05-29 09:48:53 - last edited 2022-05-29 09:50:04

Hello everyone,

 

I just want to put my updates on this topic.

 

I have tried disable journal as @ffr2822 suggested and it looks good for start, I was able to reboot my router and backup still works. But after some time this issue come back after power outage (there was no running backup at that time as I wasn't home with my laptop).

 

Right now I'm testing another setup. Basically I just change filesystem on external drive from hfs to exfat. With this setup I don't expect Time machine will works but it does! Speed is pretty same, right now I already reboot my router (without clicking to unplug disk) 5x times and everything is still ok. I also expect more higher change to recover exfat in case of failure as it is more simplest fs and more tools exists.

 

Let's see after some time.

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#5
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