Airport extreme and firewire hard drives

I am gathering from reading here that I will be unable to use my 2 firewire external hard drives with this or have I got that wrong?

there is no way to directly connect any FireWire drives.
I have read several of the posts on this topic, so my original idea to get a firewire-usb hub won't work.
Here is my objective:
1. Centralize files to share between my PowerBook G4 and my Dell laptop so that I don't get mixed up about what system has the most up-to-date files on it.
2. Create consistent backups of the files.
What I have is:
a. Airport Extreme to plug a shared drive into
b. 2 identical USB drives
c. 2 identical firewire drives
Since both my systems are laptops, setting up consistent backups has not been possible - external drives are usually disconnected.
Is there a way to utilize my firewire drives, or do I have to write it off as only sometimes useful as the PB G4 backup drive? There was a mention above to no "direct" way to link - how about indirect?
Thanks!
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

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Help With Airport Extreme and External Hard Drive

I just purchased the Airport Extreme and I couldn't have been happier. I have attached my western digital external hard drive, but I have run into a slight problem/dilemma which I'm hoping someone who is apple savvy can help me out.
I live in a house with a couple of other guys and so I put all of my movies and media onto the hard drive so we can stream it throughout the house, but how do I make sure that someone won't accidently delete the files (The copies on the hard drive are the only ones I have)? I have tried to right click "get info" and change the sharing & permissions properties on the folders that I don't want deleted, but it doesn't save the changes or even allow me to select another option other than Read & Write. I formated the hard drive with the disk utility before I connected it to the AirPort so I know that it has nothing to do with the format of the drive. I also tried to create different user accounts for each roomate so that they could view the files (Read Only) but I get an error message explaining that if I continue, the contents of the hard drive will not be accessible. I'm sure its something simple but I'm obviously missing it.
Thanks!

Airport Utility under Disks/File Sharing has guest access rights.

Airport Extreme and External Hard Drive. Backup over WAN?

Hi
I'm new to Mac's and just got a macbook air and a airport extreme. I connected my external hard (toshiba) drive to the AE and my computer will recognize it, but when I try to connect to it using Time Machine my external hard drive is not recognized as a device that I can backup to over my WAN. I'm not sure if this is possible, but I would like to be able to backup over the WAN if it is possible. Is it possible to backup using time machine over WAN using an AE and a non apple external hard drive?

Time Machine cannot backup to a hard drive unless it is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), also known as HFS+.
You have me scratching my head about backing up through the WAN port. Normally, the WAN port would be used for a connection from a modem.....or another router.
However, if you have the AirPort Extreme configured to connect to another router via Ethernet, and the AirPort Extreme is set to operate in Bridge Mode, then you don't have a WAN port, they are all LAN ports, so it would not matter which of the ports that you used.

Read/Write speeds with Airport Extreme and USB Hard Drives

Anybody know how fast the read/write speeds are with a USB hard drive and the Airport Extreme Base Station?
My Setup
I have a 17 MBP (2010) and a 13 MBP (2011) - no SSD's
MBP generally connect via 802.11n 5Ghz with a very strong signal
Gigabit connection on a Windows Desktop
I have a variety of external drives (7200, 5400, Drobo) at varying capacity (320GB, 2TB, 5.6TB)
Goals
Backup: Time machine
Backup: File copies of pictures and home videos (greater than 1GB files)
Backup: Crashplan
File sharing: Aperture libraries--not sure if that is possible or practical. That is something that I need to research further...but on the off chance people have experience with it.
Thanks!

ishjen wrote:
Anybody know how fast the read/write speeds are with a USB hard drive and the Airport Extreme Base Station?
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
Apple's AirPort base stations aren't known for fast file serving, but for most purposed they're fast enough.
I can't comment specifically on your Aperture plan, but with some software it's important to avoid simultaneous access by more than one user.

How do I connect airport extreme to seagate hard drive using windows

How do I connect airport extreme to seagate hard drive using windows?

First the AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) cannot share out an external HDD attached to its USB port unless it is formatted in either HFS+ or FAT16/32. It will not work if the HDD is formatted in either NTFS or ExFAT.
If the HDD is formatted properly, when you access the AEBS with the AirPort Utility, does the HDD show up properly on the Disks tab of the utility?
If it does, then you would access the HDD as any other network share, using the following format: //servername/sharename. In the case of the AirPort Disk (a HDD attached to the USB port of either an Extreme or Time Capsule), the "servername" would be the Extreme's Base Station Name, and the "sharename" would be the volumename of the HDD.

Airport Extreme + shared USB hard drive // Mac + PC Access

We are getting ready to purchase an Airport Extreme for our home network. Here's what we are working with:
1) Airport Extreme
2) MacBook
3) MacMini
4) PC
5) TBD USB hard drive that will be connected to AirPort Extreme *for use as shared hard drive*
From the Apple website, regarding the Airport Extreme "Hard Drive Sharing":
+How does it work? Just connect the external hard drive to the USB port on the back of your AirPort Extreme and — voilà — all the documents, videos, photos, and other files on the drive instantly become available to anyone on the secure network, Mac and PC users alike. It’s perfect for file sharing, collaborative projects, and more.+
Can anyone recommend a specific brand and model USB hard drive that they have experience with in this scenario that was/is used as a shared drive that is accessible from both Macs and PCs?
I ask this question because I have a WD external hard drive that did not play nice - it was either PC or Mac, not both.
Thanks

I have 1-4 and a Seagate FreeAgent Desk drive (not an endorsement, just answering your question), and can access the drive from all of 2-4. How you format the drive and/or what files you store on the drive will affect your ability to access/use those files on the drive from Mac/PC. For example, I can't use my iTunes library stored on the drive from the PC, as it's formatted for Mac. Honestly, I never have accessed the drive from my PC until you asked this question, but it worked!

AirPort Extreme with USB hard drive

Hi...I have an AirPort Extreme with a Maxtor OneTouch 250MB hard drive attached (via USB port). I have two computers which access the internet and the hard drive through the AirPort.
The first computer is a 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 (with 3GB of SDRAM). The second is a 2 GHz Intel Core2 Duo IMac (with 4GB of SDRAM).
Both computers have full signal strength via AirPort and both computers have no connection/speed issues with the internet. It's when trying to copy to/from the USB disk that there are problems. The older Mac, the G5, has no problems at all. Great copy speeds in both directions, I can even work off of files on the USB disk without a problem.
The iMac, though, has a problem writing to/from the external hard disk. It connects without a problem, but after that, things come to a standstill.
For example, I can copy a 25MB file from the AirDisk to the G5 in about 15 seconds. If I try to copy the same file to the iMac, it takes as long as 5 minutes. I've tried every setting I can in AirPort Utility, including trying each of the channels individually, and nothing helps. I've disconnected the G5 from the network and that didn't make a difference, either.
Other info...the AirPort firmware is updated to version 7.3.2 and both Macs are updated to System 10.5.4.
If anybody has any advice, I will be eternally grateful.

I have a very similar problem. I have a 2.8 GHz iMac with 2GB RAM and am using OS X v10.5.4, and an Airport Extreme (v7.3.2), both updated to latest firmware. I have a 500 GB TrekStor external HD connected to the AEBS via USB. The TrekStor HD was pre-formatted in FAT32 and is visible on my iMac's desktop and in Finder but I cannot transfer files to it or see files on it. When I drag and drop a file on the TrekStor, it sometimes seems to go well but then the file is not visible via Finder, and sometimes I get an "insufficient privileges" message. I repair permissions on the iMac's internal HD without any change. I am logged in as the admin. All assistance is much appreciated!

Airport Express and USB Hard drive and extremely slow performance

HI Guys,
I seem to having a lot of trouble with an Airport express and a Lacie 1TB drive. While I have solved several problems by updating firmware and enabling journalling on the Lacie, I am still having problems with extremely slow performance with my macbook, particularly using itunes and Firefox.
Any ideas and any further information needed?
Regards
BJDprivate

BjdPrivate wrote:
HI,
I formatted it using the Lacie setup program for Mac and later enabled it for journalling using Disk utility. This seemed to solve a lot of the recognition problems I was having, however the I-Tunes and firefox performance is still atrocious. If I do Need to completely reformat it using Disk Utility, will I lose my files on the disk now?
not if you move them to a temporary location before you start.
yes, you are better of formatting the drive with DU.

Airport extreme with USB hard drive permissions problem may be parallels

I cannot access my external hard drive because of some permission problem. I know because I can see this through the disk repair utility. I've attached my external hard drive to my airport extreme. It originally came up well and worked fine. Then it lost connection and now doesn't recognize my password. To confuse matters worse I have parallels installed. This might be where the password problem is as the mac wants to access as a guest and the parallels (windows MX) as my account name. It's all pretty complicated to explain. What I want to do now is just to forget the airport plan and reach my hard drive but it won't boot up even with airport off and a direct firewire connection. It does show up in disk repair utility but with permissions. How can I get to these permissions and drop them. What if they're windows permissions somehow? How can I get started.
Thanks

I have a very similar problem. I have a 2.8 GHz iMac with 2GB RAM and am using OS X v10.5.4, and an Airport Extreme (v7.3.2), both updated to latest firmware. I have a 500 GB TrekStor external HD connected to the AEBS via USB. The TrekStor HD was pre-formatted in FAT32 and is visible on my iMac's desktop and in Finder but I cannot transfer files to it or see files on it. When I drag and drop a file on the TrekStor, it sometimes seems to go well but then the file is not visible via Finder, and sometimes I get an "insufficient privileges" message. I repair permissions on the iMac's internal HD without any change. I am logged in as the admin. All assistance is much appreciated!

Airport Extreme and 500 Gig drive

I have 27 MacBook's in a mobile lab connected to a brand new Airport Extreme. The Airport Extreme serves up a 500 Gig drive that (during my tests) I can connect to flawlessly.
My laptops all have the user, "Student." In the dock on the Student account, I have a folder that is located on the AP Extreme hard drive that I want my students to access.
During my instruction to the students, I had them all click the folder in their docks so they could see the contents of said folder. There's only 6 sub folders, so it's not like a heavy load showing previews or anything.
20 computers connected to the disk successfully (there's no password to see the contents) and 7 didn't. The 7 that didn't asked for a password to the disk when there isn't one.
So I took one of the non-working computers from a student and tried to open a file in MS Word. I clicked on the base station in the list of available servers (on the left side of the open sheet). A message popped up on the screen that said I'd reached the maximum number of clients that can access that resource. ...so I opened up the Airport Utility and counted the computers connected to the base station. 27.
I've looked high and low for documentation from Apple that states that only 20 computers can use the "Air Disk" simultaneously. All of their documents say that 50 devices can connect to the base station wirelessly. Nothing about a lesser number connecting to the hard drive.
I really want to have made a mistake somewhere in my setup. Though it seems to be idiot proof.
Can anyone confirm or deny my findings? Or can someone point out some documentation that specifically says otherwise? And if so, how do I make this work?!
My intention was to keep the storage mobile with the lab and not have to put it on my server as the wired network is already substantially loaded down with other stuff. If I have to move it to my server, then that means quite a bit of work re-setting up all the laptops. It'd also chap my hide as the Airport Extreme advertises that it can handle 50.
Help!
-Graham
Message was edited by: gracoat

I did install the disk utility. How do I go about using the disk utility to set up the Hard Drive?
AirPort: How to mount an AirPort Extreme USB hard disk volume in Mac OS X and Windows
Should I install Bonjour for Windows? If so, where can I get it?
Only if you want to access a shared USB printer connected to the AirPort. You can get it here: Bonjour for Windows 1.0.4
Not sure what the drive is formatted in.
The AirPort Extreme (802.11n) supports USB storage devices that have a block size of 512 bytes, and are formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS-plus), FAT16, or FAT32. It will NOT work with NTFS-formatted volumes.
(ref: AirPort Extreme (802.11n): USB storage device supported formats and protocols

Airport Extreme with External Hard Drive on Windows 7

I just purchased an Airport Extreme in order to connect my collection of old hard drives so I can share the files with my Windows computer and Apple TV.
My main problem is accessing a single hard drive (exFAT, one partition -- couldn't format into FAT32) from my Windows 7 laptop. The Airport connects wirelessly to my Fios router with no problem.
Using the Airport Utility > Disks I can see the hard drive (although it only shows its physical name "SAMSUNG HM302JI" not the name I gave it when I formatted it, "Storage300GB"), however it doesn't show any files on the drive (and there are a few test files of all types: jpg, xlsx, a sub-folder, etc.). I can't see the drive via My Computer nor can I map the drive using the IP address (192.168.1.13). When I tried adding a USB hub (for adding the other hard drives once I get this one working) I see the same problem, just the name of the device but no folders.
Norton 360 can see the device, but Windows cannot. I've tried turning off Norton, but that hasn't helped.
I have searched the web and support communities high and low, and I have yet to find any help.
Any help would be appreciated!!

My main problem is accessing a single hard drive (exFAT, one partition -- couldn't format into FAT32) from my Windows 7 laptop. The Airport connects wirelessly to my Fios router with no problem.
The real main problem is that the USB port on the AirPort Extreme will not support exFAT or NTFS.
It will support HFS+ and FAT16/32.
Please see this Apple support document to confirm:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2426

Extreme and external hard drives - which one

Hi I am looking to attach a external hard drive to the airport extreme but I am not sure of the spec of hard drive that I would need or can you just hook up any type sata, ide,etc. there is no info in the setup guide.
Also I looked at a wireless hard drive does anyone have any idea's as to the best one to get ?
I have put a bid in on ebay for a dlink usb wireless router that CNET said you can use to link in a external hard dive so because I have a spare 70GB IDE hard drive and and enclosure for it from a previous project I was going to hook it all up and try and use what I had but I have no idea whether it will work. A wireless network enclosure is about £150 and then you need a hard drive to go in it so it would be in excess of £200.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Regards

As long as it offers USB you are ok - the kind of hard drive(s) inside is of secondary importance. I would however refrain from WLAN HDDs as you just add another element that can go wrong. USB is a hard wire and is robust. So if you can place your external HDD next to your AE, I would go for that. Works for me fine.
Martin

AirPort Extreme AC router hard drive access SLOW

Just bought a new AC AirPort Extreme router. I can stream 1080p movies from the Internet no problem, but read/write/delete from hard drive attached to the AirPort is SLOW.
45min to delete 4 files. (this is ridiculous)
up to five min to see contents of clicked folder. (sometimes it never shows you the contents)
from the same MBPro I can get 20Mbps downloads on the Internet, not a network issue.
I see the same slowness on a windows 7 machine connected to the AEP on a gigabit LAN connection.
On occasion the AEP just gives up and reboots while trying to accessing a hard drive. Otherwise rock solid performance.
I have 2 self powered USB HDD's (Western Digital, Toshiba) attached via powered USB hub (Belkin).
Hardware specs:
2010 MBP - CPU i7 2.66GHz - 8GB Ram - OS X 10.8.5
2013 AEP version 7.7.1
Toshiba USB HDD 750 GB (Mac OS Extended (Journaled))
Western Digital USB HDD 1 TB (Mac OS Extended (Journaled))
Why would it be so slow? (oddly, removing the Toshiba drive helps, but a little)

Please check out the following AirPort User Tip about what you can expect for storage throughput performance on the AirPort routers. Although this was written for the 802.11n models, it hold reasonablly well for the newest 802.11ac a well.
Another source is SmallNetBuilder. They recently tested storage performance on the 802.11ac Extreme and found it less than stellar (around 2.4 MBps) for Windows clients.

Airport Extreme Not Seeing Hard Drives

When I first installed Leopard, everything worked great, no issues with APEn connection or with my USB drive attached to it. Because transfer speeds are terribly slow to the hard drive (only 0.5-1 MBps when 802.11n should theoretically be getting me up to 16MBps - another issue entirely that I've yet to fix), I decided to unplug the network drive and simply plug it into my MBP to transfer things from it to a new hard drive I've got.
The problems only started the next day, when I went to plug the network drive back into the APEn, and it didn't show up. Figuring some settings just got a little mixed up, I went into Airport Utility, and saw that the APEn no longer even recognizes that the drive is plugged into it, it doesn't show up in the list of drives at all.
I figured it was a drive issue, so I plugged it back into my MBP, repaired the drive so it came out clean, and tried again, but still nothing showing on the APEn (even though the drive was spinning away as usual).
I then figured it must be a USB problem on the APEn, but when I plugged in my printer as a test, it worked flawlessly. My last idea was a problem with the USB cable itself, but the cable works fine using the drive with my laptop, so that's a no go too.
I keep the other drive at work during the week, but I want to bring it home tomorrow to test it out, see if it's the APEn or the drive that isn't playing nice. However, just to be sure, I tested 2 different USB flash drives, neither of which was reported as seen by the APEn.
Is anybody else seeing this problem, where the APEn simply isn't even recognizing hard drives plugged into it?

I admit... this one has me baffled... Like I have done numerous times, I restarted the base station with the hard drive plugged in, and all the sudden it showed up! I didn't have to touch the firmware as others recommended, it simply just started to work again.
The only thing that I can think of is that when I'd restarted in the past, it must have always been the choice of the APEn, when it had crashed for one reason or another, never me telling it to restart on my own with nothing otherwise going wrong (It even took my MBP down with it with kernel panics 4 times in one night... yet only when using torrents, though I'd never had any issues previously).
Even my speed issue was fixed, giving me up to 3 MBps by my calculations... for about 30 seconds... For some reason as soon as I hit a corrupted part of one file (transferring from APEn HD to MBP), it brought down the entire network, being unable to copy that single file. Now after restarting everything, I'm back to getting wimpy sub-1 MBps speeds... On that front, or on keeping this whole affair from starting over, has anybody got any recommendations for good "housekeeping"?

Airport Extreme Shared USB Hard Drive Performance Issues

I just picked up a new Air Extreme and attached a new Western Digital Passport via USB powered hub (have printer as well). All is working well, however, I am finding performance (especially copying files from my computer to the network HD) to be quite slow. For example, I was trying to copy a 3GB folder with about 1000 files and the copy dialog indicates that it will take about 30 hours. I was able to copy directly to the HD when plugged into computer's USB in a matter of minutes. When I try to download same folder from the net drive to my laptop, it takes about 1 hour. Note: I have Comcast Cable hi-speed so not sure how much is related to this knowing that they do have different download/upload speeds.
I would appreciate any feedback, tips and advice on optimizing performance of my USB drive when shared over the network. Thanks.

How do you have your hard drive formatted? If you are using a Western Digital Passport, you will want to create a separate Mac partition so that you can copy very large files (+4GB). By default, I believe it is FAT32. I had to do this (Mac partition) with my back up drive because I have VMWare Fusion images that easily exceed this.
The new network drive I attached is also a Western Digital, but I didn't reformat it (yet) as I knew I wasn't going to have large files, but I am wondering if maybe I should do this. Unfortunately, then my Windows machines would not be able to read it easily.

Airport extreme and firewire hard drives

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