Win7 does not display acceptable backup location

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In reference to “Build a complete Windows 7 safety net. Win7′s backup system has three major parts. [Newsletter Comp Version]” by Fred Langa, Windows Secrets Newsletter • Issue 288 • 2011-05-12

My directly attached to my PC via USB (not used on my network) LaCie USB NAS 500 GB External Hard Drive never shows up, like it should from what the newsletter says:

“Windows places the word Recommended next to the location it thinks is best, but you’re free to select other locations. For more information, see Microsoft’s Win7 Help & How-to page, “Where should I save my backup?” On the system shown in Figure 3, Win7 offers to save backups to a D drive, a DVD burner, or an external 1-TB drive.”

Lacie could not offer any assistance other than to contact Microsoft. Below are screenshots that show the Edmini drive is listed in my network and in the network adapters but is not listed in the Computer Management – Storage – Disk Management.

28557-computer-mgt-extl-drive-not-listed

28558-Network-adapters-Ethernet-Disk-mini-USB-network-interface-2

28559-network-shows-edmini-usb-external-storage-drive

Thanks for helping!

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Hi murphys-law,

Welcome to the Lounge,

Only Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate support backup to a network location. What version are you using?

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Thank you for the welcome and the article. I’m still at square one. 🙂

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Thank you for the welcome and the article. I’m still at square one. 🙂

Hi,

Looks like your disk intalls itself as a “network device”, as your images show, even when connected through USB, if that is the way you connected to create the images on your first post. So I would be inclined to believe that my first reply is still valid – your Windows Home Premium won’t be able to backup to that network device.

This may be a long shot and I doubt that it will work, but you could try to map your network drive and see if windows can be fooled. Otherwise it seems you will require at least Windows 7 Professional to be able to use that drive for backups.

An alternative would be to use Macrium Reflect free to backup your disk. It will allow you to create full images of your disk and it’s a backup method many Lounge members use as a favorite.

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Murphy, Welcome to the Lounge. New posters are always a welcome sight.

I wonder if a 3rd party app such as Acronis True Image Home or Macrium Reflect would see the drive to allow storage on that drive. It is strange that Win 7 sees it in the network, but not as an acceptable backup site.

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Here you have a nice description of Windows backup and the features supported in each Windows 7 edition: http://www.winsupersite.com/article/win7/windows-7-feature-focus-backup-and-restore

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It’s a nice article. So is “Build a complete Windows 7 safety net“ [/B]by Fred Langa in the newsletter. That’s how I came up with this question in the first place.

So, should I give up? I manually back up important files but I’d like to be in the 21st century and automate it! 🙂[/FONT]

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I just woke up and missed that. Rui is correct. this may be the problem.

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I’m using Win 7 Home Premium. According to the article and the referenced reply: “You can save a backup to an internal or external hard disk or other storage device, a recordable optical disk (typically a writeable CD or DVD), or a network share. (Network backup is not available in Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, or Home Premium, however.)”

My external hard drive is directly connected via USB to the PC I want to back up, so I’m not trying to back up to my network. So, it should show up, right?

I tried Acronis a few years ago and didn’t like it, but don’t remember why. Is there any other way to have it show up without installing third party s/w?

Thank you again.

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I’m going to try Macrium Reflect. I’ll let you know how it goes, ruirib. I gave myself the right user ID. This a.m. my computer can’t find the USB external hard drive at all. Time to reboot again.

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Update. I mapped the network drive but it still does not show up. I’m downloading Macrium Reflect now. Thanks!

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Update. I mapped the network drive but it still does not show up. I’m downloading Macrium Reflect now. Thanks!

I thought so. It would be too easy a way to circumvent the Windows lower versions feature limitations.

I think Macrium Reflect will solve your problem.

Regards

Rui

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Ultimate does not recognize a backup HD connected to a Netgear600 router. reinstalling the backup and repair from the Win 7 disk does not restore the ability to backup using Win 7 Ult. So many boards have posted the same issue of the years with Win7 backups to anything other than direct USB connections to HD. It’s a shame since I have to physcially connect my laptop directly to the HD with USB cable rather than use the wireless router. Even Win 7 backup will not worked hardwired through the router. Seems Win 7 Explorer is unable to use a mapped drive as a backup through the router. Tried loggin in to router, setting router with a direct passthrough, and erased the HD completely so that Win 7 would not find any of the backups made by direct USB cable. Still undecided what to do as Netgear, MS, and the HD manufacturer have no comments.

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Ultimate does not recognize a backup HD connected to a Netgear600 router. reinstalling the backup and repair from the Win 7 disk does not restore the ability to backup using Win 7 Ult. So many boards have posted the same issue of the years with Win7 backups to anything other than direct USB connections to HD. It’s a shame since I have to physcially connect my laptop directly to the HD with USB cable rather than use the wireless router. Even Win 7 backup will not worked hardwired through the router. Seems Win 7 Explorer is unable to use a mapped drive as a backup through the router. Tried loggin in to router, setting router with a direct passthrough, and erased the HD completely so that Win 7 would not find any of the backups made by direct USB cable. Still undecided what to do as Netgear, MS, and the HD manufacturer have no comments.

I think you will be better served by a third party app. We often recommend Macrium Reflect free, on the Lounge and I think your issue will be solved. As Ted stated, though, unless you have a gigabit network, backing up to the NAS can be a long running operation.

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wvlord, welcome to the Lounge as a poster. It’s always nice to see new posters in the Lounge.

Unless you have a gigabite system, the NAS storage route would likely be much slower than the direct connected USB HD option. You might find you would like the dirsct connect better anyway after trying the other. Are there setup options in the Netgear set up for a NAS storage device?

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…My directly attached to my PC via USB (not used on my network) LaCie USB NAS 500 GB External Hard Drive never shows up, like it should from what the newsletter says…Below are screenshots that show the Edmini drive is listed in my network and in the network adapters but is not listed in the Computer Management – Storage – Disk Management…

I did a little research on the Edmini, and found the following in a technical review:[INDENT]
“This is really a little, special-purpose Linux box…It has a factory-installed version of Twonky…To use the USB2 interface to computer, you install a driver then connect the device to a USB2 port on your PC. The device does not mount as a Mass Storage Device (the normal device class for a USB2 disk drive); instead the LaCie driver emulates a network adapter and the disk can be found in your network neighborhood.” (See “A Product With Problems”)

[/INDENT]
In other words, your PC doesn’t (and can’t) see this device as a standard external storage device, even if connected via USB. BTW, the same review compared the USB transfer rate to the Gigabit Ethernet transfer rate, and found the USB connection to be slower and less stable (apparently the USB driver’s network controller emulation is less than stellar). YMMV, but you should get better performance and reliability just connecting this device to your router (or, if you don’t use a network, directly to a free ethernet port on your PC).

I suspect that the suggestions to use software that can use a network drive as a backup target will work. Whether you really need image backups is another matter–see my related post “What kind of backup do you really want?” for a discussion of your options (though you’ll still be limited in your choice of backup tools to those that support network drives as the backup target location–just remember that’s not the same as being able to back up a network drive, though generally the two capabilities go together).

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I did a little research on the Edmini, and found the following in a technical review:[INDENT]
“This is really a little, special-purpose Linux box…It has a factory-installed version of Twonky…To use the USB2 interface to computer, you install a driver then connect the device to a USB2 port on your PC. The device does not mount as a Mass Storage Device (the normal device class for a USB2 disk drive); instead the LaCie driver emulates a network adapter and the disk can be found in your network neighborhood.” (See “A Product With Problems”)

[/INDENT]
In other words, your PC doesn’t (and can’t) see this device as a standard external storage device, even if connected via USB. BTW, the same review compared the USB transfer rate to the Gigabit Ethernet transfer rate, and found the USB connection to be slower and less stable (apparently the USB driver’s network controller emulation is less than stellar). YMMV, but you should get better performance and reliability just connecting this device to your router (or, if you don’t use a network, directly to a free ethernet port on your PC).

I suspect that the suggestions to use software that can use a network drive as a backup target will work. Whether you really need image backups is another matter–see my related post “What kind of backup do you really want?” for a discussion of your options (though you’ll still be limited in your choice of backup tools to those that support network drives as the backup target location–just remember that’s not the same as being able to back up a network drive, though generally the two capabilities go together).

Bethel95, thank you for this. It explains why Macrium Reflect free doesn’t see the LaCie Edmini, either. Thanks everyone for your help. I know this isn’t what people here want to hear but I’m jumping ship. I still have a netbook and I may keep my current (4 year old!) PC for something, so I’ll come back with questions if I have any, but I bought a new computer during this tax free weekend. Also, I have offsite backup on a friend’s server, so that should be enough.

I appreciate the time and advice from all of you.

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There is another type of NAS that will work. NetworkDeviceAttachedStorage (NDAS) originated with Ximeta (which still does the drivers). NDAS makes it appears to Windows (and I verified that Windows 7 Home Premium does see the drive as local (via 802g wireless). NDAS is also supposedly (never felt the need to test performance, for casual home use) faster than other varieties of NAS.

One caveat under Win7 Home Premium is that the most recent driver (3.72) may causes hangs (pointer frozen, no response to keyboard or pointing device) at the logon screen. Boot to SafeMode, access Services, and set NDAS Service to “Automatic (Delayed Start)”.

NDAS has been around quite awhile, but under different brands. After XiMeta, Klegg briefly offered NDAS, and now ioCell does. The ioCell NetDisk enclosure accepts SATA drives, and comes with external cables for eSATA, Gigabit and USB. I put a WD Caviar Green 750 GB into the enclosure (which was a little easier than the old Ximeta enclosures, and the cooling design seems better).

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