Latest model Airport Extreme: LAN NAS vs usb drive

new model AEBS: LAN NAS drive Vs usb connection.
Is there an actual (vs theoretical) speed advantage in using a NAS drive connected to one of the LAN ports, vs just connecting via the usb on the latest AEBS? I read the usb performance is much better on the new model: 192 Mbps read and 172 write via usb as per cnet test:
http://reviews.cnet.com/wireless-access-points/apple-airport-extreme-base/4505-3 265_7-34837270-2.html?tag=mncol;rvwBody

Scott Revlin wrote:
I'm trying to run a home media server wirelessly due to space constraints on my MacBook. I recently bought a 1TB USB drive and plugged it into my new Airport Extreme, but the download/upload speeds are not great. Would I be better served (pun intended) by a NAS drive connected via ethernet to the Airport? What kind of speed improvement would I see, if any?
here's what Tesserax posted recently:
Possibly.
+Use the following guidelines for typical throughput performance of an AirPort Disk depending on how the network client is connected to the AirPort Extreme:+
+o 5 GHz 802.11n: 2 MB/s (write) / 3.5 MB/s (read)+
+o Gigabit Ethernet: 3 MB/s (write) / 6 MB/s (read)+

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Airport Extreme will not show USB drive installed Solved!

Airport Extreme will not show USB drive installed Solved... At least for me!
Here's what I had to do to make it work with the newest 7.3.1 firmware.
Ready for this? No Joke Really!
1. Connect your USB drive to the Airport Extreme.
2. Turn it on.
3. Open the Airport Utility.
4. Go to Manual Setup.
5. Choose Disks and File Sharing.
Yep, we are going to set file sharing before we even see the disk we want to share!
You (I) had to set File Sharing on and Share Disks over Ethernet checked as well as set the Work Group (In my case). THEN restart the Airport Extreme.
After it re-started... My USB Drive was now present and ready for use.
I also dis-allowed Guest access. I re-started ALL computers in my network, both Windows and MAC. The USB drive held and works GREAT!
I know... Most of you thought this was a joke, It's not!
I tried everything to get the USB drive to work and failed every time just like most other people. Doing it this way worked like a charm.
Go Figure huh!
Hope this helps someone with this issue.
Message was edited by: DonaldH

How was the usb hard drive formatted? Was it NTFS, FAT32, or HFS+?

AirPort Extreme Does Not See USB Drive

I've had no luck getting my AirPort Extreme (802.11n) to see a USB hard drive. Using a WD MyBook, there's simply no response from the AirPort. Is there some trick to getting the AirPort to see the drive? Clearly this product isn't working as described! There's no mention in any of the marketing materials of needing to do anything but plug in the drive to the USB port.

This whole 'mount USB drive' feature appears to be VERY problematic. I cannot get the drive attached to my Airport Extreme to be visible to the iBook which runs its net connection thru the AE unit.
Has anyone submitted a bug to developer.apple.com?
If you have not - it is possible to acquire a free developer's account - just fill out the forms - and then you can add your voice to the chorus of bugs posted - which is WAY more likely to get attention by Apple engineers than just posting on this forum.
If anyone has any news about how to systematically solve this problem, please let me know.
Thanks!
Lance Drake
G5 DP 2GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8) G4 iBook Airport Extreme Iomega USB 160GB drive

Airport Extreme doesn't recognize USB Drive

I have a USB external drive that is working fine when attached to my iMac but my airport extreme doesn't see it at all. I have tried resetting the power to both devices.
AEBS version 7.2.1
Does the drive have to be formated a certain way for it to work? Right now it is "Mac OS Extended" I have also had it formatted as OS Extended (Journaled). Neither are working.
Message was edited by: illy5603
Message was edited by: illy5603

Oh well... No dice huh? I just noticed that the Airport Extreme locks up every time I use my sonicwall global VPN client as well per this thread.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5347398
Looks like will have to return this and try the linksys offering.

Airport Extreme, Apple TV and USB Drive Speed?

I've just purchased a new airport extreme and 1.5 TB external hard disk. I figured out how to mount the disk and share it over my home network. I also designated a folder on the disk as my iTunes music folder (I purchased the airport and HD for the express purpose of achieving this set up, because I've accumulated so much media through iTunes that my MacBook Pro's internal disk has long since been full and I've been storing TV shows, movies, etc. on an external drive). The set up works -- BUT it is SLOW, especially when my Apple TV is syncing with iTunes.
Is there an optimal way to set up these connections so that syncing is not so slow?
Any help would be much appreciated!

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions ...
*"internal disk has long since been full"*
Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon on your Desktop, then click: Get Info. In the Get Info window, click the discovery triangle so it's facing down. You will see; Capacity and Available Make sure you have 10% available disk space, 15% is better. Insufficient available space, can cause performance issues, system corruption, and possible loss of data.
Carolyn

I have an older model airport extreme (shaped like a hershey kiss)

I have an older model airport extreme (shaped like a hershey kiss) and when I try to set it up it says this: This version of AirPort Utility doesn’t support this base station. Go to AirPort Service and Support for more information. What do I do?

Download and install AirPort Utility for Windows.
If the PC is running......
XP SP2 or Vista, use AirPort Utility 5.4.2 for Windows - Support - Apple
XP SP3 or VIsta SP2, use AirPort Utility 5.5.3 for Windows - Support - Apple
Windows 7 or higher, use AirPort Utility 5.6.1 for Windows - Support - Apple

Airport Extreme doesn't recognize USB disk

I have a USB external hard drive that I've used for a number of years plugged directly into my Mac mini. I'm trying to move it to the Airport Extreme as a shared hard drive, but the device is not recognizing it. It won't show up in my Finder sidebar, nor will it appear in Airport Utility in the list of disks.
For contrast, I've got another drive that shows up fine whenever I plug it in.
Things I've tried:
- A USB hub plugged into the Airport Extreme. If I plug both disks into the hub, the second one works just fine, while the first still won't appear in the Finder, and in Airport Utility it is displayed as a "0MB" capacity drive with no volumes. If I don't plug in the second disk, I don't think the first disk shows up at all.
- Different USB cable. Same result.
- Reformat the drive (via Disk Utility, as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"). Same result.
- Rollback the firmware. Currently at 7.6. I tried 7.5.2 and 7.4.1. Same result.
Any ideas?

Some older drives just won't work at a network USB location....probably a firmware limitation on the drive electronics.
Check to see if the firmware on the hard drive can be updated.
If you have checked your powered USB hub to verify that all ports are functional, and checked USB cables, I think you have to conclude that you....like me in the past....have found a drive just won't work where you want it to.

Regarding the product time capsule...is the modem the same as airport extreme and is the disk drive always running? I'm worried about it lasting for at least five years.

Regarding the product Time Capsule... is the modem the same as the Airport extreme and is the disk drive always running??? I'm worried about it lasting at least five years.

John,
I'd pay good money to bet it wouldn't last 5 years... I don't rate the in built power supply and as for "server grade hard disk" - Hmmmm..... The failure rate of all HD's on the market after 3 year is 60%.
Regards,
Shawn

Is it possible to use time capsule or airport extreme as a wireless hard drive for iphone?

Is it possible to use time capsule or airport extreme as a wireless hard drive for iphone.
I would like to strem movies from the hard drive to iphone.
I have already seen the Goflex Stellite, which works this way.
Is there any other device that could do this?

I did a typo. My current computer is a 2010 1/2 iMac. The stand alone monitors are still out of my price range so I'm looking for other options. By buying an external hard drive and a broken iMac, I'm still ahead. Still, if I understand you right, the 27" 2010 and earlier iMacs would be possiblities.
Are there adapters that would allow me to run a 2011 and newer iMac as an external monitor from my 2010 1/2. There are so many adapters out there these days.

Airport Extreme and connecting a hard drive

Hello All,
Thank you ahead of time for your help! I have a couple of questions regarding the set up of my airport extreme and an external hard drive.
What I want to accomplish is using the airport extreme to ONLY share a hard drive for backup and sharing other files through out the house. My housemates already have the internet going through their router, so there is for the airport extreme. Can a macbook pro (13in intel) receive two wireless signals, one that is the internet and the other from my airport extreme (that shares my hard drive)? If so, how is this done?
Any assistance would be more that appreciated!!
Thanks!!

Hello njoza. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
The simplest way to accomplish this would be to connect the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn) to the Internet router by Ethernet; reconfigure the AEBSn as a bridge, and disable its wireless radios.
In this configuration, you can still share out the hard drive and only need to connect to the Internet router's wireless network for both drive & Internet access.

Airport Extreme loses connection to USB disk

Recently I upgraded my Airport extreme to 7.4.2 software. Since that time AE I keep losing connection to the disk when copying large files or after browsing on it for a while.
The drive is simply gone (no share advertised)
The only way to get it accessible again is by resetting the AE (soft reset via airport utility)
Is there a way to revert to the previous software (there appears to be no newer SW or fix at the moment)?
My config is as follows:
Airport Extreme 802.1n operating a 5GHz wireless N network, 1TB Seagate (Seagate FreeAgent 102D) external USB drive attached to it (formatted with MAC filesystem)
on the ethernet port is a linksys router acting as a Wireless G Accesspoint (for my wife's Windows laptop)

Toryn Farr wrote:
I've been having exactly the same problem. The Macs on my LAN will all continue to have Internet access. On any of them, the base station still shows up in a Finder window under "shared"... but if I click on it, it will think for a moment and then say "Connection Failed" where it normally says "Connected As: USER NAME". And then none of my computers can access the shared volumes until I reboot the router.
I'm having exactly this same problem.
Not sure where the problem comes from, but here is my environment:
Airport Express (older model) Version 6.3 as WDS remote
Airport Extreme (version 7.4.2) as WDS base station
Powerbook G4 (1.33 Ghz)
PowerMac G4 (Mirror Drive Door)
iTunes 9.0
I've had problems with my Hard Disk access from the Airport Extreme. I have Time Machine running automatically from two different machines to the same plugged in HD on the Airport Extreme. I get messages indicating that the backup can't be mounted. Once that occurs, I have to reboot the Airport.
Just like Toryn says, once you get Connection Failed, you must reboot the router.

Shared Printer Airport Extreme & LAN

I have a USB Canon i965 connected via USB to my imacG4. This is on a LAN that also has the Airport Extreme base station connected to it. Also on the LAN is a windowsXP machine.
Connected to the Airport is an imacG5.
I have successfully shared the printer with the XP machine using Bonjour for windows. The imacG5 (using the wireless connection)can see the G4 (verify the address etc during printer setup)but I have been unable to print from the imacG5 it says printing then "Job Stopped".
Does bonjour work with wireless connections or am I trying to do something that's impossible ?
iMacG5.1 Mac OS X (10.4.8) imacG4

I do have a router, the airport is plugged into the router.
My husband set it up but he's not a Mac person, he thinks I need to use something other than Bonjour to get the printing to work, but I can't find any alterntive ways to set up the printer. Here's the latest error essage from the logs
No log handling enabled - turning on stderr logging
snmpget: Timeout
snmpget: Timeout
2006-12-17 10:01:14.880 PrinterProxy[1265] CFLog (0): CFMessagePort: bootstrap_register(): failed 1103 (0x44f), port = 0x2d03, name = 'com.apple.print.PrinterProxy.ServiceProvider'
See /usr/include/servers/bootstrap_defs.h for the error codes.
2006-12-17 10:01:14.881 PrinterProxy[1265] CFLog (99): CFMessagePortCreateLocal(): failed to name Mach port (com.apple.print.PrinterProxy.ServiceProvider)

Differences between earlier and latest gen Airport Extremes

I bought my first Airport Extreme a few years back. About a year ago or so, it started running quite hot...figured it was because I added more ethernet cables for wired connections to the back of it. I used to only need to reset the router once a week or so to maintain optimal performance for both wired and wireless connections. (We do quite a bit of large LAN data transfers.)
Anyhow, now we find ourselves needing to reset it about once every day or two to keep things running quickly. We have 40down/4up internet speeds yet it struggles to keep things moving for some reason. So we've been debating whether or it's time for a new Airport Extreme or not. If it is...are there any notable differences between units over the years (leaving Airport Express out of the equation)?

You should not have to reset your Extreme at all. They normally run for months on end.
Several years ago there was a firmware update for the original, "round" AirPort Extreme that resulted in the need to periodically reset it as you describe, which was resolved by reverting to an older firmware version. Shortly thereafter Apple introduced the 802.11n Extremes, and subsequently the simultaneous dual band base stations. All Apple base stations are now simultaneous dual band models. If yours predates that model then an upgrade is justified.
40 Mbps download speed is nothing special. Even the earliest model AEBSs would not have presented a limitation.
A current production AirPort Express now has many of the advantages of the current production Extreme. The essential differences are: three LAN ports vs. only one on the Express, Gigabit Ethernet for the Extreme only, the ability to connect a USB hard disk drive (the Express's is for printers only), and the Express's AirPlay audio output. That's pretty much it.

Airport Extreme and NAS (Network Attached Storage)

I am using a brand new AirPort Extreme (ver. 7.4.2) connected to a Motorola cable modem, with two different MacBooks running Snow Leopard, two AirPort Express units for distributing music wirelessly around the house, and an HP multifunction printer connected to the Extreme via USB, all of which works fine.
But I recently purchased a 1TB Iomega Home Media network attached storage device (NAS), which is connected to the Extreme via ethernet cable, and I can't get the Extreme or either MacBook to recognize the NAS drive. The NAS doesn't "mount" on the desktop like a USB external drive would. It doesn't appear under "Shared" in Finder. It doesn't appear in AirPort Utility under "AirPort disks". Oddly enough the only place where the NAS does appear is in iTunes under "Shared"!
I know that the NAS device is functioning properly because my IT guy tested it at the office, connected to his PC, and it worked fine. The NAS came with Iomega "Home Storage Manager" software, which I installed but it's pretty useless because it also can't "find" the NAS and only offers to re-scan for it.
Much to my surprise there is very little information about troubleshooting NAS storage with the Extreme, either on the Support forums or in the "Apple Airport Networks" document published by Apple in early 2009.
I would greatly appreciate any guidance!
Thanks in advance,
MG

Thanks to both of you for your input. The Iomega NAS (Home Media Network Hard Drive is the model) comes ready out of the box for use with either PC or Mac.
Actually I resolved the problem by going to Iomega's tech support page. I needed to download an updated version of the Home Storage Manager software as well as 2 firmware updates to the NAS drive itself; so that it would be compatible with Snow Leopard. That was the issue. Now it appears to be working just fine.
Thanks again & happy holidays.
-MG

Airport Extreme 11n (5Ghz) compatible USB adapters ?

Hi anyone,
does anyone have experiences with USB wlan adapters which are compatible with the airport extreme 11n (5Ghz) mode ?
I've got the first version of airport extreme (non-gigabit).
Thank you in advance,
Axel.

Hm, this is starting to go into a direction I don't really like.
I also bought latest Airport Express 11n, which I have not used so far, while looking into this issue with AEBS. While writing previous post regarding Airport Extreme, I figured that I can use the Express to check is the 11n on AEBS working.
I connected it in, setup and went for "extend wireless network" option. And lo-and-behold, 11n wireless network was visible in the drop-down.
So the 11n on Aiport Extreme is working fine. The issue seems to be with the laptop itself.
This MBP should have 11n enabled by default. I checked in Network Utility as described in Apple Store page about 11n enabler, and I do see this for en1 network interface:
Model: Wireless Network Adapter (802.11 a/b/g/n)
So, it should mean I'm all set and ready. And that might mean that airport card in my MBP is faulty. :((
Anyone has ideas what to try, apart from going for replacement?

Latest model Airport Extreme: LAN NAS vs usb drive

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