BlackArmor NAS Network Storage Server

[Furcheezi]

Hi Everyone,

I purchased a BlackArmor 220 4TB NAS a few months ago and finally have it working with my Mac OS X Lion installation after the firmware update that took forever for Seagate to release.  Despite the fact that I got it working, it's still completely useless as it simply WILL NOT complete a Time Machine backup with my Mac that has Lion installed.  My Snow Leopard Mac works just fine, however.  Here is my setup:

1.  Mac Mini (2009 Intel Core 2 Duo) with OS X 10.7.1 installed

2.  BlackArmor 220 4TB NAS with latest firmware installed

3.  Mac Mini connected to network via Linksys Wi-Fi router

4.  BlackArmos NAS plugged into Wi-Fi router via ethernet cable

Aside from being INSANELY slow, it doesn't actually ever complete a backup for me.  After literally 3 weeks of trying to backup 1.5TB of data, the Time Machine progress bar now completes but the disk space amounts in the progress window keep growing.  For example, it will start out saying it has 140.3MB to back up.  It then gets to 140.3MB of 140.3MB with the estimated time left being pegged at 5 seconds but both amounts will continue to grow.  It will start to display after a while (for example) 200MB of 200MB, 236.4MB of 236.4MB, and so on forever and ever without actually ever completing a single backup.  I just have this 'InProgress' file on the NAS and it's useless and I can't use it to restore backups or anything.  I have tried the following that I found online that are supposed to address the exact issue I am seeing:

1.  Repair disk permissions everywhere with Apple Disk Utility

2.  Repair disks with Apple Disk Utility

3.  Completely disabling Spotlight via Terminal commands

None of the above have made a lick of difference at all.  What I have no tried yet:

1.  Hook the Mac Mini up to the router via ehternet cable and disable Wi-Fi to force it to use the wired connection

2.  Hook the Mac Mini directly up to the NAS itself and do a local backup (is this even possible???)

Has anyone experienced anything like this before and if so, how did you resolve it?  Does hooking it up via ethernet even make a difference in terms of speed/reliability, etc?

I saw a lot of advice saying to just format everything and start over but I am very apprehensive to do that when it has taken 3 weeks just to get this far and I don't want to spend another 3 weeks for the same darn result.  Currently experiencing a high level of buyer's remorse with this so I am hoping someone can give me some advice to make this (so far) useless piece work as advertised.  Any input would be highly appreciated.

Thanks everyone!

[ Edited to comply with forum rules ]

[AskTheLeaf]

The best troubleshooting step to try at this point would be to see how the Time Machine backup performs if you do connect the Mac Mini by ethernet cable instead of the wifi.

Let me know how that works out.

[Furcheezi]

Thanks for your reply and input! 

I actually tried the ethernet cable idea last night to no avail.  Backups just go on forever filling the HDs in the NAS with gosh-knows-what as it has written more data to it that I even have on my computer!  Also I keep getting these intermittent error messages that the backup disk can't be found and then on the next run, without changing anything at all, it finds it but it keeps doing this endless backup of mystery data forever. 

I'm about to just format everything and start over but honestly, it doesn't even seem like that's going to help from what I've seen thus far.  I am now REALLY regretting buying this product at this point.  I would have bought the proper Apple Time Capsule if they actually made one with a capacity greater than 3TB.  I would be completely open to using different backup software other than Time Machine with the BlackArmor if it was guaranteed to work, but that doesn't seem to be an option either. 

Kind of seems like Seagate should have just left Mac users out on this one...

[Furcheezi]

Update on this (in case anyone is reading this)...

I bit the bullet and reformatted everything and started ove from scratch with the NAS.  For some reason I now have 2 shares that mount whenever my system connects to the NAS.  The original (called TimeMachine) still mounts and seems to be the operational one.  But there is this other called 'TimeMachine-Backup' that now mounts as well as doesn't even connect to the NAS when I try to use it.  I definitely did not create this and have NO CLUE where it even came from.  But anyway...

Using the NAS with a system connected via ethernet rather than wi-fi is definitely faster (although still painfully slow, IMHO) however it has not resolved the issues I am seeing with backups that go on forever backing up more data than even exists on the source computer.  I think I've had it with this device.  As soon as Apple puts out a Time Capsule that is 4TB, I am buying that and launching this thing out a window.  This thing has given me nothing but headaches from day one.  I purchased it over 3 months ago and STILL don't have a functioning backup.  Completely unacceptable.

Sorry Seagate.  I have a lot of products on yours that I am happy with, but this NAS is a giant FAIL.

[lecanda]

I bought a NAS 220 and have an Imac (2005) . I did connect via an ethernet switch and this has been the most painful experience.

Even after I updated the firmware and then had to find out hours later that there was also a new version of the BlackArmor Discovery

... I mounted the volume and did mark it as media service...

BUT the speed is so so slow... havent even tried to backup via Time Machine, just wanted to send my iphoto across and cant

seem to do it... it always stops at about 15Gigs....

This is the most frustrating ever. I cant believe the money I paid and the amount of time Ive wasted on this product.

Absolute rubish.

[JapanMCJ]

Lecanda.

I noticed you said you connected via a switch. Did you try a direct connection from the MAC to the NAS?

I had insanely slow backups with my NAS 220 on both my Mac and Windows machine. I had a gigE switch between the computers and the NAS. It turns out the NAS does not work well with this particular switch. That seems crazy to me since networking via Ethernet between different vendors has not been an issue in over a decade. Nonetheless, I replaced the switch and the speed is now awesome. This all happened 7 or 8 months ago so I don't remember the details but I think the switch I removed was a ZoneNet (which works everywhere else in my network and with many other vendors' equipment).

I still feel this is an issue with BA that needs to be addressed.