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NAS:  Buffalo LinkStation 210 LS210D0301





Plugged to home theater Actiontec WCB3000N, LinkStation 210 was found at 192.168.1.11, responds to pings,
but iPhone fing found no open ports...?

LinkStation responds only to pings or not at all

25 May 2023
Network-attached storage is not a tricky concept, but major BS accompanies it.
Contrary to braying about various RAID strategies,
most frequent failures IME can be blamed on proprietary firmware and obscure filesystem formats.
This relative reliability disparity should be increasingly true with Solid State Drives in SANs.
Ideally, NAS would support exFAT drives DLNA and SMB.  Those are supported by Linux, Windows and MacOS.
Supporting more simply complicates demonstrably fragile NAS firmware.  If/when NAS devices fail,
exFAT drives could be extricated and externally attached to PCs by USB adapters.
Practically, Synology's Linux-based DiskStation Manager appears to be such a superior NAS OS
that its extra complexity seemingly does not impacts its robustness. Meanwhile...

NAS Navigator 2 discovered the LinkStation:

Floundered around in NAS Navigator, not finding any explanation for Emergency Mode
until a brief pop-up mentioned firmware update.
Firmware update documentation was aware of "EM Mode";
those instructions include, without explaining how to detect time out:
  • Do not turn the unit or the hub off until the update is finished.
  • The update will take several minutes.
    If it times out after 10 minutes or more, reboot the LinkStation and try again.
    Note: If your LinkStation is in EM mode, reboot it and try again.
Fortunately, firmware did update, eventually, without timing out:


Sometime in the last 6 years, a Windows 10 update disabled SMB discovery;  nice going, M$ jerks...

Verify Windows PC workgroup name:

After far more flailing around, this worked: 
C:\Users\bleke>net use \\192.168.1.11
The password or user name is invalid for \\192.168.1.11.

Enter the user name for '192.168.1.11': bleke
Enter the password for 192.168.1.11:
The command completed successfully.


C:\Users\bleke>net view \\192.168.1.11
Shared resources at \\192.168.1.11

LinkStation

Share name  Type  Used as  Comment

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i9100       Disk           Inspiron 9100
iMac        Disk
info        Disk           LinkStation Utilities
MacBook     Disk
NewGate     Disk           Full Disk Backup
share       Disk           LinkStation folder
XPS13       Disk
The command completed successfully.

Start the "Function Discovery Provider Host" and "Function Discovery Resource Publication" services,
 and then set them to Automatic (Delayed Start).
When you open Explorer Network, enable network discovery when you're prompted.
Used this to configure services:


... and finally:

Do these:

enable or disable SMBv2 in Windows 11/10

How to detect, enable and disable SMBv1, SMBv2, and SMBv3 in Windows

The SMB protocol: All you need to know

Beyond the Edge: How to Secure SMB Traffic in Windows

26 May 2023 - yes, the next day

ping 192.168.1.11 and LS210D15D share link fail.
Unplugging and replugging LinkStation RJ45 ethernet cable recovers it.

LinkStation Emergency Mode

  • EMERGENCY MODE FOR LINKSTATION
  • Recovering from EM Mode – Buffalo LinkStation Live HS-DHGL NAS
  • Help and Advice: A Buffalo LinkStation in Emergency Mode

    ... and perhaps best from Buffalo:  I can not access LinkStation; "EM"
  • Cause: It is in the EM mode (emergency mode) because of the damage in the firmware.
  • Countermeasure: Update the firmware

    Consensus is that LinkStation has firmware (in flash?) for responding to NAS Navigator application
    and loading NAS firmware to the hard drive, but eventually fails to read that firmware correctly, so either:
  • hard drive is failing
  • firmware writes over its filesystem image

    If the latter, that may be a result of e.g. failing power supply (filter capacitor?) causing code to space shot.
    Today's failure to respond until ethernet was disconnected and reconnected suggests code issues.
    In either case (crap hardware or firmware), LinkStation is IMO a poor choice for robust NAS, and
    wants a more optimistic and persistent user to continue struggling with it.

    NAS options for SMB and exFAT
  • Synology exFAT Access "free of charge by updating DSM to version 7.0 or above." (e.g. on DS920+)
  • purchase an exFAT driver license for QNAP
  • SAMBA (e.g. on raspberry pi 4)
    • maintained by blekenbleu