Why can't I access folders on my external hard drive when I am an admin user?

Early 2011 15" MacBook Pro
2GHz Intel Core i7
Lion
I have a 2TB external hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme that I use to save all of my files.  Both my user profile & my wife's are admin users, however she cannot access the external drive at all.  It has a red circle with a white line through it when you look at it on finder & none of the folders are listed to change permissions under her login.
When I go to finder under my login, I have selected Read & Write permission for "everyone", but she still cannot access the drive.  When I attempt to add permission for her user profile specifically, I am told "The name you entered isn't valid.  Please try again"
Help!

ld3mb wrote:
Thanks everyone. I suppose I'll just reformat for Apple. I need to use it for large files, and I suppose I could survive without editing ablities on Windows.
There's another alternative, format it as exFat, 4G limit does not apply and OSX + Windows will be able to read/write.

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