Can't maintain connection to my NAS

I have a Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ connected directly to my Airport Extreme router. I am connected wirelessly to the network with a MacBook Pro.

From my MBP I can open folders on the NAS OK, and access them via Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and iTunes...for a while. After several minutes both programs show the files being tracked by the respective program as no longer existing. 9/10 times I can simply go into finder and reopen the NAS folder and all is good. On occasion that won't work. I either have to close the program or reboot.

I don't ever have this issue with my PC that is connected via Ethernet.

Curious if anyone can fathom a guess what may be causing the drops on my MBP?

Thanks!

OK a few things to look at:

1. level the playing field, connect the MBP by ethernet and see if the problem persists
2. Log into the control panel of the NAS and ensure that any powerdown/sleep/wake on lan setting is either off or has a 30/60 minute value.
3. Use Airport Utility to configure your Extreme to always allocate the same IP address to the NAS drive

1) Done, waiting to see what happens
2) NAS is not set to sleep...not even sure how to do this. Recall that this never happens from a PC connection
3) I see no way to allocate any addresses. Plus, it always remains in place on the sidebar so it's still visible on the network. Can't imagine the IP address is changing...

Not suggesting the IP would change I just know, from experience that home NAS drives like consistency. I would reserve the IP for your NAS drive and your MBP.
Here's how - Add a DHCP Reservation to your Airport Extreme : Here, File File! Support

Well, it seems that connected via Ethernet the drives did not drop like before. Not definitive but it may now seem to be related to the wireless connection. Any clues how to fix the wireless side?

Thanks!

I'd allocate the same IP to the MBP as mentioned above and I'd use a tool like iStumbler to monitor and sweep the local wireless traffic and change the channel your using for your network.

If you're getting strong interference it can disrupt your connection. Not necessarily enough to completely quash your connection but enough to upset any connections.

A persistent IP and a channel furthest away from interference should help the connection stability.

Also, you don't mention your OS version but ensure you're fully up to date

Now it seems that I DID drop the connection when wired. Took longer but that may have been a coincidence. As for allocating IPs...that's way beyond my skill set.

I doubt it's beyond your skills

Just follow the instructions in the link above.


But, on the back of that, now we've established it happens on both wired and wireless I'd suggest we need to look at which protocol the NAS is using to share its files.

Which version of OSX are you using?

Latest version...Lion

Still a problem. I'm considering changing my main PC to a mac but this issue is a show stopper and will keep me on Windows until I get this fixed.

There seem to be a few issues with the Netgear ReadyNAS dropping connections. Mac and Windows.

But here's a thread from the Netgear forums. The script and ensuring that the firmware and Raidr software are upto date seems to be working for some

http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=60497

I'm a mac dummy...how do I execute that script? I assume that it would have to be automated to run on startup? If so how?

thanks

(By the way, one of those posts in that thread is mine...)

lrd said:

I'm a mac dummy...how do I execute that script? I assume that it would have to be automated to run on startup? If so how?

thanks

(By the way, one of those posts in that thread is mine...)

Click to expand...

In the Applescript editor, once you've run it and made sure it mounts the disk as expected you can save it as an Application.

Then go to System Preferences - Accounts - login items and click the plus to add a item, browse to where you saved your script application.

Didn't work
Network file error

What didn't work exactly? Changing to AFP? Modifying the script? running the script? Adding it to startup?

Having a bit of search around the Netgear ReadyNAS seems to have connection issues Windows and Mac - though you're only experiencing Mac issues, I appreciate that.

I'd suggest following the advice given on the Netgear forum (updating the Netgear software on your Mac and the firmware on your NAS). Change to AFP in the NAS config panel then using the suggested script. Though obviously the share name needs updating.

Failing that a DM to 'killerbob' on the Netgear forum may help as he has many posts on there regarding your model of NAS drive and uses it on a Mac

I didn't have AFP set on my NAS so I enabled it, then ran the script. First it says drive can't be found then Drive access permission error.

Can you post the script as you have it now?

mrplow said:

Can you post the script as you have it now?

Click to expand...

mount volume "afp://BMK-rnp (AFP)._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Photos"
mount volume "afp://BMK-rnp (AFP)._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Media"

That's definitely the name of your NAS on the network?

While connected to the NAS right click on the Photos folder and choose Get Info. The server line will give you the full path to the NAS. This is what needs to go after the "afp://

If you've allocated an IP address as per my early post this is how the script would look:

If the IP was 192.168.0.80

tell application "Finder"
try
tell me to mount volume "afp://192.168.0.80/Photos"
end try
end tell

Click to expand...

If you have a username and password or Guest account on the NAS you need to add those into the script. But try that script first then we can tweak it once you have a working connection.

Thanks...I tried to tell folks I had no clue what I was doing. I'm a PC guy by heart, haven't figured out a lot of this stuff in OSX yet