Formatting of drive connected to PC

Can a hard drive on a Windows PC be both read AND written to from a Mac in a network? Is the format of the drive connected to a PC a consideration for the Mac that is communicating to it across a network? It would seem that the PC would be doing the actual direct communication to the drive and therefore, the format would be compatible with the PC connected directly to it, not the Mac that is sending the file across the network.
In other words...
It would seem that the hard drive would be formatted for the computer connected directly to it, not the computer accessing it across the network. Is that true?

Hi there. You are actually correct on the last one. You just have to make sure to format the drive on the windows computer. Make sure that the windows pc and mac are on the same network or workgroup. On the mac, to access the files on the drive connected to the windows pc you can do this: you click GO on your mac and type: smb://ipaddressofthewindowspc.
Try to check these link as well: http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx?vw=1&docid=b19080bd22144ae29959e930bd85c7a1_17432.xml&pid=80&...
http://osxdaily.com/2010/09/20/map-a-network-drive-on-a-mac/

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Can't access a USB Drive connected to Time Capsule from a Windows PC. Apple Care can't/won't assist. HELP!!!

Trying to get my Windows 7 PC to access the USB Drive that is connected to my Time Capsule. I have a Fat32 Formatted USB drive connected to a 2TB Time Capsule and I'm trying to get access to that drive from a Windows 7 PC. I've attempted to map the network drive (based on some 3-4 year old articles I could find online) but any time I access a file from the PC, the Time Capsule "freaks out" and disconnects all connections to it which forces me to unplug it to restart the Tim Capsule. I'm at a loss now as to what to do.
Spent a few hours talking to Apple about this and much more. Apple Care can't or won't help with this particular problem (the guy I talked to, as nice and helpful as he wanted to be, had no experience supporting their hardware in a Windows environment).
Someone has to know how to fix this so, PLEASE, help if you can!

First off, Archon23, what you want to achieve is possible. I have access to both my Time Capsule (TC) and the USB drive connected to it, from a Win. 7 and Win. XP machine.
Here is what I see from the Windows side of things:
     From My Computer - TC USB Drive (Y)
     From Windows HomeNet - Time Capsule:
Now getting there is the trick.
One caveat before proceeding: I am not well versed in Windows Networks, Windows Sharing and Firewall settings so some of the following may not be elegant, may not be absolutely required, and may not be the best way of getting there. But it is what I did to see both the TC drive and it's attached USB drive on the Windows side of my network..
1.) First, I added Airport Utility to the Inbound rules of Win 7 Firewall
While poking around my Network Sharing and Firewall settings trying to figure this out, I got a Pop-up recommending I do that. AND I did that. Oh, and while you are at it, make sure you have a Home network established.
2.) Next, on a hunch, I installed a USB Wi-Fi Adapter (under $20) to my Win PC, enabled that Wi-Fi connection and disabled my Ethernet connection. I was getting no where on this matter with my Ethernet connection to a DSL Gateway. But with a Wi-Fi connection to my AirPort Express Base Station, I made progress.
3.) Finally, while poking around my Network Sharing Center some more, one by one I started the various network device Setup Wizards in there, and Trouble Shooters, to find the elusive TC/USB devices in question...AND voila, it worked.   And it's stable, been this way for going on two weeks now.
Good luck.

Format an Ethernet Connected External Drive from PC to Mac System

Hi there, apologies for my ignorance however after suffering Windows PCs for 35 years I have finally changed over to 2 iMacs and loving it.
I have a new model WD 1 TB (MsDOS formatted) external drive attached to my router via ethernet.
My iMac (imac7,1 a running OS X 10.5.2) recognises the external drive as a "PC Server" fine and I can access it from Finder and copy files to it.
Unfortuneately NEITHER Disk Utility nor Timemachine recognises its existance.
I believe I may have to format the drive for the Mac system. However how can I do this if Disk Utility does not recognise it as a drive? Is there some utility available that allows me to format an Ethernet attached PC drive to the Mac system.
Thanking you in advance

Time Machine can't use a NAS drive even if it's formatted with a GUID partition map scheme and HFS+ Journaled. Apple dropped support for network drives before they released Leopard last year.
Apple does support their own Time Capsule device and network backups to Leopard Server running Time Machine Server.
There's not much point in formatting the drive at all if you ever plan to be able to connect to it with a PC.

How can I format or erase an external drive connected to a wireless router

I am working with a mac mini running OS X 10.7.4. The mini is connected to the internet via a linksys router. I have an external drive connected to the router. The router is listed under the shared list in Sidebar. If I select the router in the sidebar the external drive is displayed as a folder. Is there a way to have this external drive treated as a drive and not a folder? I would like to be able to erase/format the drive from my mini. I know that I can connect the external drive to the mini and perform the erase but I would like to know if there is a way to do it through the router.
thanks for the help

It is not usually possible to do this with router connected
hard drives. Routers with this capability basically have
its own OS, usually some minimilistic form of Linux or
propriotary RTOS, that actually interface to the drives
and runs the file server. This in itself prevents any
"outsider" from formating the attached drives. Much in the
same way that you cannot use Disk Utility on one Mac
to format a network connected volume on another Mac.

IPod not recognized by iTunes, Windows Vista prompts to format iPod drive

Hello,
I have IPod 80GB which I rarely use. Yesterday when I wanted to use it, I went to add a few new audios to it, connected to my computer and launched iTunes. I added the folder which contained audios to iPod, synced it and wanted to disconnect, but iTunes took excepionally long to finish.
When I clicked on 'eject' icon, I go a message saying 'some files are being accessed' or something like that. I waited for 5-10 minutes but it won't finish up, so I unplugged my iPod as I had to leave.
Later when I wanted to play, I noticed I had no audios in iPod at all.
Later when I got home, connected it again to computer, launched iTunes, but iTunes won't show iPod. A few minutes later, windows (Vista) prompted a message saying that it needs to format N: drive (which was iPod).
I tried diagnostics on tis site, restarted/reset iPod etc, but it didn't solve the problem. I removed and reinstalled iTunes as per instructions, still no use.
Then I called Apple support Canada and the guy on the phone said I need to pay to get support. He said he'd send me some documents via email which would solve the problem and hen I wouldn't have to pay. I gave him my email address, but so far I have recieved no emails from him. I have checked my spam and junk folders, just in case, but nothing there.
Anyhow, this issue came up all of a sudden, there has been no physical damage to iPod, I barely use it. maybe for few minutes here and there a month. I have had numerous problems in the past every time a new iTunes update come, it always creates problems. Last year I spent many hours after iTunes update make iPod unrecognizable so I had to go back to older version, then upgrade etc. I don't remember how I solved the issue, but it took a while and it turned out to be something of iTunes version issue.
I wonder if this is another of such issue. I hope its not a hardware issue with iPod. I'd appreciate any help.
Thanks

I just got Vista too and it does recognize my ipod, but itunes can't find a lot of my songs on the computer. I tried to uninstall itunes and reinstall it thinking that it would seach for new music when I installed it again but nothing new happened when I did that.

Existing files on drive connected to latest Airport Extreme do not show up, however files copied over the air to the drive do. Any ideas?

I have the latest Airport Extreme with a Seagate drive connected. I copied files to the drive while it was connected to my MacBook Pro. The files do not show up when connected to the AE, but they appear when connected to the Macbook, Files copied over the network to the drive appear. The drive is formatted HFS+.

After playing with this for the last few days, I found a solution. Under the "Disks" tab in Airport Utility, the "Secure Shared Disks" drop down needs to be set to "With device password". Mine was set to "With acounts", which even after correct authentication, none of the files would appear.
Another interesting note: The files that I could see, the ones I copied over the network, do not appear now. I can copy over new files, and they show up, but the ones copied prior to changing the "Secure Shared Disks" option, do not.

Best practices with external drives connected to Time Capsule?

I'm enjoying my new MBP but the storage limitations are a challenge with twenty+ years of data. I know it's not technically sanctioned by Apple but in another forum I found a discussion about successfully connecting an external drive to the Time Capsule. I tried this for a few months and had some problems, so I wonder if anyone here might have some insight into which of my drives would be best to use in this way and what, if anything, I must do to bless it for the task.
The drive most highly recommended in the forums at the time is the WD My Book. After buying it I learned that is Windows users install a package and update the driver for use with Time Machine, which Mac users are not able to do. The driver is available on the web but it's said to cause problems with Mountain Lion, which I can confirm. It's USB 3.0 and powered, though, which my two alternatives are not. It's also 2 TB and presently in two partitions. I also have a Seagate Free Agent GoFlex 500 which gets extremely hot with any use and an Iomega eGo Helium 500 I've been using for backups. Both are USB 2.0.
My goal is to put my iTunes Library and Time Capsule on the net (running 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz, averages 50Mbs). When I did this for a few months with the WD both its shares frequently dropped off my Desktop, as if powered down or something. Also there were the issues with Time Machine many others are having. Right now our video collection sits on the Time Capsule. Would it make sense to move our video to the WD and run iTunes and Time Machine on it? If so, do you have any tips for formatting, petitioning, or drivers (or anything else) to help this run smoothly? The WD works fine when hard-wired and the TC, too is fine without the WD at the party.
With apologies for the tome.

kevlee64 wrote:
Thanks, but the drive is connected directly to the back of the Time Capsule by an ethernet cable.
Ah, that's a different colored horse.
You have a NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive, not a USB external drive connected to the USB port.
Many of those need software/firmware updates to work with Lion. Check with Iomega.

How do I delete files from HFS+-formatted network drive

Relevant system components:
Very recent iterations of a MBA and MBP both running 10.7.4
Cisco Linksys e4200v1 wireless router, FWver1.0.04
Seagate 1.5 Tb FA GoFlex external drive
Full-size, single partition reformated by DiskUtility to HFS+ (Mac extended volume, Journaled)
Connected by USB to storage port on e4200
Storage set to share at root with either Anon r&w access or admin level user acct.
Demonstrated read and write access
I have set up an external drive as above. The drive is to be used to archive large amounts of uncommonly used data (not a backup) and then is backed up to crashplan+ off-site.
The drive came formatted as FAT32 (I believe.) As we still have one PC and all individual files are smaller than 4Gb, I set up the archive drive as formated out of the box.
Data was written to the drive without issue, backed upi off-site with no issue and accessed a couple times.
The issue came when recently upgraded some itunes albums. These albums had been previously removed from the library and from the computer and stored in the archive drive. These albums were upgraded and redownloaded from apple generating a copy of the album data, but in a superior format (no-drm, greater sampling rate.) This made the archived files obsolete and generated a risk of mixing versions. I decided to delete the obsolete files from archive.
When I attempted to do this by selecting, right-clicking and chosing "move to trash" I was prompted that this was not a "undo-able" action, suggesting that while I was selecting "move to trash," the action would not generate a copy in the trash. Next I was prompted to enter my user and PW. The only user and PW combo that would not cause the dialog to "shake it's head" at me, was my computer user-specific password. The network or drive associated user and PW combos would not take. When I entered my computer user and PW, it was accepted, but a dialog labeled "Trash" popped up with small font, reading "The operation can't be completed because you don't have permission to access some of the items."
Trying to delete only a random selection of one or two files would not work.
I checked the drive permissions and was only able to see "You have custom access." This is not modifiable. I attempted to alter my access permissions from the router, but made no headway. Again, I could read and write, as the router setup suggests, but not "modify," to use a windows term.
Assuming, with little data, that the FAT32 was perhaps at issue I unmounted the network drive, connected it by USB and reformated as above. After formating, I tried the same procedure with no change in outcome.
I am nearly 100% sure that when the drive was connected by usb, I could delete to my heart's content, but not when it is connected via network.
I will note that the drive is accessed by first connecting to the router, which the mac sees as a "PC." This access can be controlled, but can be set to anon.
When I connect I see two identically named folders. One is a sharepoint folder and one is a volume. They access the same data. Deleting thorugh either route has identical outcomes.
As I am a complete newb to Macs, I am really not sure where I should even begin to look for access. Should I bind my router access to my user acct? Is this even doable? Can I reset permissions to this folder through the terminal? Is this really a Cisco or Seagate issue?
Any knowledgable advice is appretiated. I can do the speculating.

Ugh.
This is not an Apple issue. This is a permission issue associated directly with the router. No settings on the mac need to be touched to solve this issue.
In this specific case, it was required that I enter into the router storage settings (192.168.0.1,) disable all anon access, save settings, log in as admin (or just r&w) PRIOR TO deleting the files, then delete the files.
I was trying to enter login info AFTER trying to delete the files. Obviously, that didn't work.
Anyway. I hope this might help someone.

XP sp3 cannot see usb hard drive connected to airport extreme 802.11n

I have a sata drive that the airport utility recognizes. I attempted to follow the instructions from post HT1331 but no luck yet. I also reformatted the drive from ntfs to fat32 using vista but with the same result.
I found another post while writing this one which solved my problem. It turns out how I formatted the drive wasn't usable by AEBS.
Connecting Large USB Hard Drives to Airport Extreme
I needed to format the drive using the instructions found below.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm
After doing this and plugging in the drive I was able to use the drive intended. Since I had started the post I figured I would list the solution.
Cheers!

I don't think two problem are related. Now, for PC, try to disable the firewall software if you ave one. Some firewall can block it, like for ex PC Tools firewall, or ZonaAlarm. Some of them you can configure to work with disk agent.

Time Machine fails with drive connected to Airport Extreme

First of all, I've had myriad problems with Time Machine, even when it was connected directly to my MBP. But after the recent updates, I installed them and hoped it would work wirelessly. I re-formatted my 120GB OWC drive (my MBP has 30GB available of 120GB). I have already been down the road of making sure I've formatted the drive correctly.
I excluded my system folder, my entourage identity, downloads, and my Parallels Windows XP file from the backup. I connected the drive to my Airport Extreme (not the gigabit version) and started the backup. Basically, it gets about 5 GB into the backup, moving very slowly, and then fails, saying that it couldn't locate the drive. And that part is true--I can't seem to locate the drive on my network anymore either. And eventually, after another hour or so, my Airport Extreme drops as well, and isn't even available. Even when I unplug the AE, and plug it back in, it still doesn't show up...but after about an hour or so...it pops back up and is available, working fine. My iPhone sees the same problem with AE dropping and then coming back. When the wireless service drops, I can plug an ethernet cable into the AE and I can access the internet fine, so it's not the cable modem (Time Warner).
Is anyone else seeing this problem? I'm no guru and appreciate that Macs just seem to work correctly. But Time Machine is making me pull my hair out. It's been an unmitigated disaster from start to finish.
Appreciate any help!

This is probably the most sensible post I've read on the issue. I've spent the last 2 days trying to get my 500GB LaCie Quadra hard drive to work with my Airport Extreme (the square one, yes .
I've formatted it correctly with the Disk Utility (multiple times!).
Airport Utility sees it just fine. I can back up to it when it is connected directly to my MacBook via USB.
But when the drive is connected via USB to the Airport Extreme, Time Machine doesn't see it -- unless I turn on file sharing with guest access read and write. That seems less-than-secure to me even if my network is protected.
Without guest access the drive appears in the shared section of the Finder, but I can't connect to it. I've tried all three combinations under "Secure Shared Disks" but none of them work.
Seems like its just too flaky to use an external disk connected to the Airport Extreme.
Happy to be pointed in the right direction... are there specific file permissions I should be setting my external drive to?
Thanks,
Rich

Can't Delete Files on USB Drive Connected to Airport Extreme

I'm trying to delete some files on a USB drive connected to my Airport Extreme, but I keep getting a error message that I don't have sufficient privileges to do so. I've tried super deletion applications like FileXaminer, without any success. What other methods are there?

Thanks for the info.
Were you using the drive for Time Machine backups, by chance? Time Machine backups are stored in a different format when the disk is connected directly to a computer. So, you won't be able to continue to use the old backups when the drive location is changed.
You might want to check the drive by connecting directly to your Mac and running Disk Utility to "Verify Disk" and "Repair Disk" if indicated.
Even if the drive has it's own power supply, a powered USB hub is usually needed on the AirPort Extreme because the power at the USB port is quite limited.
Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

Can Time Machine backup USB Drive connected to Airport Extreme Base Station

I need a new N based wireless router. I would prefer to get just the $179 Base Station and not the $299 Time Capsule. I already have a nice external USB 500GB drive that I would connect to the AEBS. So, once I have this new wireless router/base station installed at home and I have the external USB drive connected to it, can my new Macbook Air with a USB connected 400GB drive be used to backup what is on the Macbook Air and also backup the 500GB USB drive info that is connected to the extreme base station?
Thanks
tj

I found this when searching Apple's web site but it is old, October 2007, and said it could not be done. Has this changed since then?
Here is what I found.
Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Disks
* Last Modified on: October 26, 2007
* Article: 306833
Time Machine in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard can be used to back up to many kinds of Mac OS Extended-formatted drives, but it does not support AirPort Extreme's AirPort Disk feature.
Time Machine can back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, or to a Leopard Server volume, or an Xsan storage device.

How to share external USB drive connected to airport time capsule

I have a 4TB Seagate USB Hard Drive connected to my Airport Time Capsule. The Time Capsule connected to a newer iMac running Maverick.
I use the Time Capsule for Time Machines Backups and as a Router, as it was designed for.
I want to use the external Seagate drive to share content with other devices (Mac, IOS, Windows) on my home network
Problem: I cannot figure out how to SHARE the external Seagate drive so that any other devices can see it.
Steps tried: Go to System Preferences, Sharing, and I am unable to add this Seagate drive to list of sharable objects. It is grayed out.

the drive is formatted as AppleShare. Is that a potential problem?
No, that is the correct setting if you want to share out the drive.
Finally, when I run Disk Utility I don't see the Seagate drive (nor the Time Capsule) at all.
Remember that the Time Capsule is a network drive. Any other drive connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule is also a network drive.
Disk Utility cannot be used on a network drive. It only works on a drive that is directly attached to a Mac. If you need to partition the USB drive or something similar, you will need to connect it directly to your Mac for the operation.
Otherwise, everything looks correct in AirPort Utility.

How do I access external hard drive connected to AirPort Extreme via iPad

Hello,
How do I access external hard drive connected to AirPort Extreme via iPad / windows laptop.
I donot have a Mac and I use windows laptop.

For your iPad, you will need an app, like FileBrowser, to access the external drive.
For your Windows laptop, you would access the drive like any other network share. The basic format is: \\<servername>\<sharename>, where, in this case, the servername is the base station name and the sharename is the name of the external drive.

External drive connected to FW800 ExpressCard - bootable?

I have a 2.0 GHz Core [1] Duo MacBook Pro with no built-in Firewire 800, and wish to use an external boot drive at faster-than-FW400 speeds. Trying eSATA seems to be an endless nightmare right now, but what about FW800? If I connected a FireWire 800 ExpressCard, could I connect my external boot drive to that?
The card I was looking at is the Apiotek EC-0002B, but I have no problem using a different brand if that card is not bootable and another is. The drive enclosure would be one of the quad-format SATA boxes from OWC.

Hmm. Well, Apiotek is an unreachable Taiwanese company, Apple seems to think that an ExpressCard that requires no drivers would be bootable, and OWC thinks no ExpressCard is bootable. And I don't really feel like dropping $70 shipped/taxed on an experiment.
Is there anybody on this forum who's tried booting a MacBook Pro from a drive connected through some ExpressCard interface? There has to be someone. It seems like such a straightforward thing to try, but a forum search for "expresscard AND bootable" suggests otherwise. Odd.
This makes me pine for my dear departed G4. If I wanted to add a new, fully functional interface, I slapped in a card. Ah, the days when expandable Macs didn't start at $2500.
Sonnet sells a FW800 card that looks to be the same card with their branding on it. Maybe I'll call them on Monday.

Formatting of drive connected to PC

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