120 JULY2020|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 389
WhateveryourPC,hardware, software,officeapplication
or macroissues,SimonHandbyisheretohelp
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I’vegottwoNASdrivesconnectedtomy
wirednetwork:aSeagateCentralanda
Kimax.IamusingaWindows 10 PCanda
TP-LinkN600router.Everytimewehavea
power cut, both drives become inaccessible.
Ithink that what happens is that the
NAS drives are being given anewIP
address, whichcauses my computer to
rejig the drive letters it’s assigning to
them. If I’mluckyIjust have to rename
each drive,but otherwise Ihavetotry to
re-map the drives, which gives limited
success. Ican’t change the drives’ IP
addresses in Windows, either.
The strange thing is that my Panasonic
Blu-rayrecorder can find these changed
settings and access the drives without a
problem(albeit alittleslowly). Is there a
waytolockthe IP address settings so that
theyremain in place after apower cut?
DaveWilliams
It sounds as though you’ve mapped your
NAS drives using their IP addresses, and
that these might be swapping after a
power cut. Youprobably configured
aserver name when you set each
device up: if you map network drives
using this, it shouldn’t matter if their
IP addresses change.
Youcan discover your NAS drives’
server name from their web admin
interface.Failing that, open the Start
menu on your PC, typeCMDand run
Command Prompt. Typenbtstat-A
XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX,replacing the Xs
with the IP address of each NAS.
Youmay need to scroll up in the
output to see asmall table; the server
name should appear as one or more
entries marked ‘Unique’. Once you
have both server names, remove
your old drive mappings and re-create
them using the format \\SERVER_
NAME\SHARE_NAME.
Whether or not that’s the issue,it
won’t hurt to move your NAS drives
to static IP addresses. The first step is
to find the MACaddress forbothofyour
NAS devices. These will probably be written
on the serial number sticker on the back,
usually in the format XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX.
Powercutsupset my NASdrives
If you don’t see them, you’ll need to enter
the web admin interface of each, look forthe
LAN or network interface properties and
notedown the MACaddress.
Several of TP-Link’s routers are classed as
N600 –this refers to their theoretical wireless
throughput –sowecan’t be sure which you
have.The next steps should be similar on
each, however.Use abrowser to access the
router’s web interface and log in. Click DHCP
in the left-hand menu, then if necessary edit
the End IP Address down from 192.168.1.254
to 192.168.1.240 and click Save.
Ignore the prompt to reboot the router
and click Address Reservation in the left-hand
menu. Click AddNew...and enter the first
NAS’s MACaddress in the topfield, then the
IP address you want to assign in the field
below.This should be in the range 192.168.1.241
to 192.168.1.254, which is now outside the
scope used forautomatic addresses.
Save the reservation and add asecond
one forthe second NAS (using adifferent IP
address in the 241-254 range). Click System
Tools in the left-hand pane,click Reboot and
restart the router.Now reboot both NAS
drives and theyshould be allocated the fixed
IP addresses you specified.
⬆Set the server name forthe NAS, and use this –not the IP address –when mapping drives
⬆Use NBTSTAT to findthe NetBIOS name of anetwork device
