USB Disk via USB Hub or Ethernet NAS Connection More Reliable?

This is a rather techical question that calls for an opinion.
I want to centralize backups for my daughter, wife and myself. I'm going to add the latest model Airport Extreme Base Station as both an internet access point (from my cable modem) and as a wireless router to hard drive storage. I know there are cheaper (and probably faster) wireless routers; however, I've used various models of airport base stations over the years with my cable modem and they have all worked flawlessly and never need rebooting.
My two choices: 1) Connect a 4-port, powered USB hub to the usb connection on the Airport Extreme and use a pair of 3GB hard drives--one for primary backup and the second for the backup of the backup. 2) Use a QNAP TS110 or TS112 NAS device and connect it to the Base Station via gigabit ethernet. Then, an external USB drive would be connected to the QNAP NAS device. I've encountered QNAP NAS products in my work life and have been incredibly impressed with them--reliable, very low power requirements, reasonably easy setup via Web browser.
Choice 1 will be about $125 less expensive than Choice 2. I'll have to use the Linux Ext3 or 4 partition map for both drives under Choice 2 but the external USB volume can be formatted in Mac HFS+. Choice 2 will be theoretically faster because of the gigabit ethernet connection (probably irrelevant because of the slow wireless n throughput) but the QNAP device can be set to do automated backups to the USB drive that would be connected to it. That's nice.
My question: Based on what I've read over the years about connecting USB disks to an Airport Extreme base station, I have the opinion that an ethernet connection to an NAS device may be more reliable (ie, the client computers don't drop the connection to the hard drive as often). Maybe I'm wrong about that. I would like an opinion.
Also, I know how slow the real throughput will be as a result of clients connecting via wireless n. In real life, with decent quality connections, I'll be looking at 10MB to 12MB per second max. The first backups will take days; however, subsequent incremental backups will be much faster. I don't plan to use Time Machine, but rather to use Carbon Copy Cloner to make backups to read/write sparse disk image bundles (CCC won't do regular backups to networked drives). I tried Time Machine a while back but would rather have access to actual files as as a complete disk image that would be bootable when written back to a drive. Call me old-fashioned, but that's me. I also have two other bootable backups on 2.5" external drives--one that stays with me and another is always at my work place. Also, I'm not interested in a Time Capsule because I don't think their reliability is all that great (bad design with too much heat buildup).
Thanks for any insights you can offer.

I meant to say 3TB drives, not 3GB.

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Need help connecting to my usb disk via wan

Hey
Ive manage to connect to my usb disk in my own wifi network but when i try to connect to it through Safari using afp:// myip:chosenport it will not work, why doesnt it? I think ive checked all boxes in Airport ultility to make my disk avalible.
Could some friendly soul make a guide so i know if im doing anything wrong with my settings?

I see my usb-disk in the sidebar when i open Finder, if thats what u mean?
I should have the latest update with Mountain Lion so i suppose it would support it? And yes i am using an Airport Extreme router!
When i try to connect through Finder->Go to Server and-> writing my ip and connecting, the connection takes about 1 minute to say that the server is not avalible at the moment or something like that!

Home Hub 3: ethernet & wireless connections from i...

I have a perplexing problem whereby the functionality I get from my Home Hub 3 is different depending on whether my brand new iMac computer running MacOS 10.7.2 is connected wired (i.e. using ethernet) or via wireless.
The functionality difference has shown itself to me in the two scenarios below. It's a problem to me because the problems occur when the iMac is connected via ethernet and I want to use ethernet to connect my iMac. If the wireless connection to the iMac was as reliable as everything else on my network (mac laptops also running 10.7.2, windows 7 laptops, iphones, ipads etc) I would be content to use wireless. However, the iMac frequently drops the signal requiring a wireless on/off to get it back. I'm tending to hold the iMac responsible for this and await an Apple fix, although having changed the security setting on the Home Hub 3 to WPA2 only and set the channel to channel 4, the wireless dropouts are much less frequent, without these changes it drops the signal every few minutes. Any input on this would be gratefully received.
I want wired for connection reliability (and speed), but I have a two situations where I get more functionality out of my network if the iMac is connected via wireless. A classic case of being caught between two stools.
Scenario 1
I have a WD MyBook Live NAS drive attached to the Home Hob 3 via ethernet with the intention of using it as a Time Machine backup disc for the iMac and to be a shared drive for our macbook and windows laptops. All seems fine at first with the iMac connected via ethernet, the browser can see the NAS drive and set it up etc, but Time Machine will only see the WD MyBook Live if wireless is switched on.
Scenario 2
I have an HP 5510 wireless printer and set it up and HP software installed on the iMac. With the iMac connected to the Home Hub 3 via ethernet printing is fine, however, scanning doesn't work, the scanner and iMac cant see each other. With wireless scanning is fine as well as printing.
I haven't wanted to mess with it all any more, Ive spent hours going through the HP software, the WD software, the router as well as the network preferences on the iMac. It's not making make sense. Anybody who knows what's going on here would be a genius in my book!

Hi mja, Apologies but I'm not the expert you're looking for, but a couple of my experiences may be of interest. I've got a WD my book running as a networked back up drive. A while back there was an update for a "USB" connected hard drive (which mine is definitely not) - this confused my PC -- wouldn't let it close down amongst many other symptoms --with great difficuly managed to disable the driver and sanity was restored. The other problem involved a print server that has a static IP address -------- my HH3 sometimes gives that IP address to other items on my network --------- this stops the printer working. Apologies if this post is not formatted correctly, I'm using an iPad --- not by choice,, All the best Michael

Extra hard disk via USB time capsule (2TB) does not show in finder etc

I've found hunderds of questions that look alike but not one has solved it.
I have a Time Capsule with 2 TB hard disk. In all descriptions of the TC Apple states that an extra drive can be attached through the USB.
I did that. Wanting to create an extra network drive. I connected a (Apple formatted) WD Essential to the USB. With te newest airport configuration programm I do not see the hard drive. I do see it with version 5.6. BUT: I cannot see what is on it and so (not) select anything. I don't see it with the finder. I did do everything to make sharing possible. When connected directly to IMac it works fine. In airport I selected sharing etc etc. I don't want the disk to be used as a backup system (via Time Machine). Just an extra network disk. Please help.

I don't have a Time Capsule; I have an AirPort Extreme Base Station, which is similar except for not having the built-in storage. Since your question got moved from the initial category (where you posted it) to Time Capsule, maybe someone else who has a Time Capsule will pop by with some advice. If you don't get any more replies (other than from me), you may want to summarized what you learned so far, and post a new question (in this category). New questions often get more views and responses.
With a Time Capsule, you can share the built-in hard drive as general network storage (not just for Time Machine purposes), is that correct? Does that work for you? Can you set that up using the latest version of AirPort Utility?
If you set that up, I'm guessing it would appear in a Finder window in the same way. The Time Capsule appears in the Finder window sidebar, under SHARED. When you select it, the Time Machine's built-in shared volume appears to the right, and you can mount it using whatever security settings you used. If you have an external drive attached to the Time Capsule as well, and it is set up to be shared, it appears as a second shared volume. It is still just that one Time Capsule under SHARED in the Finder window's sidebar, but to the right, there are now two shared volumes. But I don't have a Time Capsule, so I'm not sure about that...
I don't know why the latest version of AirPort Utility does not see the external drive volume? If possible, I would try another USB storage device (even if it's a 4GB thumb drive), to confirm it does work, and it's not a hardware problem on the Time Capsule's USB port.
Also, if you have not tried so far, you may want to reset your Time Capsule (to give it a fresh start).
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3728
This also has some relevant information about attaching a USB drive.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2426

Airport Extreme is toast; how to read the network disk via USB?

My Airport Extreme Base Station is toast; light is green, but it won't respond to anything and the MacBook no longer sees it. Tried resetting it; this thing is done.
Well, as I was writing earlier, I have a hard drive connected to the Base Station I've been using for Time Machine backups. Seeing as now my Base Station is dead, I need to hook this hard drive up directly to the MacBook using USB or FireWire. Well, I've done that, and Time Machine has no clue how to access this drive. Using the "Browse Other Time Machine Volumes" does not bring up this drive.
I have some absolutely critical data I need to reach, and it's more than frustrating knowing it's on this hard drive, yet I'm completely unable to access it... I've been good and backed up my data in case of loss, only to have the backup seem to not work at the same time.

...is there a way I can force my MBP to only connect to the n base station ?
Don't use the 802.11b/g/n AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) to extend the 802.11b/g AEBS's network. Not only must this use 802.11g for the connection between the 2 AEBSs, but that connection uses WDS which cuts your wireless bandwidth in half. So the MacBook Pro may connect to the 802.11b/g/n AEBS with 802.11n but the data transfer speed is limited to 27 Mbps.
Instead connect the 2 AEBS's vie Ethernet and create a dual-band network. You will find threads describing this and it is also documented in Apple's documentation.

Fixed mount points for USB disks via HAL

I've been trying to figure this out on my own but I've been able to achieve my goal.
I want to setup my system so that it auto-mounts a specific hard drive and makes its contents available at a specific file system location.
I'd love to do that by identifying my hard drives by UUID or ID and assigning each one a different mount point.
I've tried the approach described in the ArchWiki:
File: /etc/hal/fdi/policy/20-$device_name.fdi
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<match key="volume.uuid" string="$device_uuid">
<merge key="volume.label" type="string">$device_name</merge>
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HAL#About_volumes_mount_points
and this one:
<device>
<match key="info.udi" string="/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/volume_uuid_E265_5E6A">
<merge key="volume.policy.desired_mount_point" type="string">ipod</merge>
<merge key="volume.policy.mount_option.iocharset=iso8859-15" type="bool">true</merge>
<merge key="volume.policy.mount_option.sync" type="bool">true</merge>
</match>
</device>
http://www.mythic-beasts.com/~mark/random/hal/
I restart HAL each time I change the configuration of the 20-$device_name.fdi or preferences.fdi (the second code example). Nothing at all can be found in /var/log/messages. It just silently refuses to mount the devices.
It works okay without these configurations and HAL auto-mount all these hard drives but only if I do not mess with the configs in /etc/hal/fdi/policy.
Can someone please explain what could be wrong here?

Dehir wrote:Im actually having similar difficulties. Have created etc/hal/fdi/policy/20-$device_name.fdi names for each device. But when im trying mount them from pcmanfm they get mounted every single time by random order, which is not that i want. Id prefer hal mounting over fstab but still want them to be mounted with specific names.
Yeah, that's the whole point - I want to have it done automatically with only one condition - fixed mount point names.

After upgrade to Lion, iMovie 11 won't recognize my ReadyNas disk. Anyone else experiencing application NAS connectivity issues after upgrading to Lion?

I have a ReadyNas NV+ which I use as NAS storage. I make a lot of home movies in iMovie 11 (mostly family movies of my daughter growing up) which fills up my local HDD fairly quickly. I setup iMovie 11 when I was using Snow Leopard to connect to my NAS as an additional disk in the event library and project. I would move events and projects after I finalized and shared them to the NAS disk in iMovie so it would both clear up space on my local HDD but still be available in the iMovie 11 application.
After I upgraded to Lion, I can no longer see the NAS disk in either the project library or event library. I'm concerned if I have created a condition where I won't be able to access the projects and events which I moved to the NAS disk when I upgraded to Lion. Has anyone else experienced this issue and has anyone else found a solution to this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Did that work for you? I was looking at that too, but was discouraged by having to use a sparsebundle given Snow Leopard had such great NAS support.
FYI to everyone else, I upgraded my ReadyNAS firmware to 4.1.8. NetGear indicated the following updates with the nre firmware, but it didn't fix this problem:
     New features and enhancements
     1. Added support for Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion”.
     2. Added warning when NFS access to home shares is enabled.
     3. Added a redirect for http://<host>/ip to https.
     4. Added enhancements to advanced AFP permission settings.
     5. Provide download links for exported users and groups instead of asking for email.
     6. Updated ReadyNAS Remote to the latest revision.
     Bug fixes
     1. Fixed javascript error in FrontView.
     2. Delay auto power-off if backup jobs are still queued.
     Limitations
     1. IE 6 no longer supported.
     2. Drives greater than 2TB are not supported.
I found this link which I thought had some useful information: http://carryflag.blogspot.com/2010/06/imovie-event-library-on-network-drive.html
Some people reported success with the terminal command:
     defaults write -app iMovie allowNV -bool true
But apparantly, after the Lion update, fewer people reported success with it. Still looking though... If anyone else has more symptoms to add, please let me know. I might try to use a sniffer program and see if I can pull a packet capture. That might reveal some info....
On another note, has anyone had any problems connecting to their Time Capsule in the same fashion? I had an idea of connecting a USB Raid Array to it and connecting through the TC, but wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts or experience with that.... Thanks.

Unable to copy to USB disk on AirPort Network??

I just set up my new AirPort Extreme & hooked up a printer & USB drive via a HUB connected to the AirPort Extreme. All works well, except when I try to copy files from my MacBook Pro to the USB drive, I get the message:
"You cannot copy some of these items to the destination because their names are too long or contain invalid characteres for the destination. Do you want to skp copying these items and continue copying the other items?"
I have no problem copying these files to a direct conncected drive.
Why am I getting this message & what do I do to be able to copy all my files?
Thanks
Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Protocol between an airdisk and a directly attached drive is not necessarily the same.
File names can make a difference, some characters are not supported, others might have unexpected effects ( a file called Freddy/1978.jpg could be seen as a path)
However it seems you disk might be being seen as only supporting short file names.
Try connecting your drive directly again, reformatting Mac OS extended (HFS+) and giving your drive a new simple name (ie AIRDISK1)

Airport Extreme - problem with usb printer and usb disk

I have Airport extreme with firmware 7.1. I try connect usb disk and usb printer with usb-hub to airport. I can't get disk or printer working. Also try connect only disk or printer without usb-hub to airport getting same problem. How I get disk and printer working with wireless network (windows pc computers)?
1)
My printer is HP PSC 1210 all-in-one ( http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=90764&lc=fi&cc=fi&dlc=fi&lang =fi&cc=fi&y=0&x=0 )
- printer seems working fine after installing bonjour printer installing wizard.
- I get error (in windows) when I try print document from word. Error only says "error printing" in status value.
- In airport utility all seems ok. Airport see usb printer "Hewlett-Packard psc 1200 series"
- printer protocol is RAW and driver manufacture HP (also try with microsoft driver)
2)
USB disk is Targa Databox II 250
- Airport utility says "Disk needs repair. Errors were found with a disk connected to your airport base station. please connect the usb disk to your mac or pc and use disk utility or another disk application to repair the disk"
- I have connected Targa usb disk to windows pc and run scandisk and defreg. No errors found in windows. Result..no help for airport

I have a similar problem to your second issue. Tried connecting a Netdisk to the USB port of the Airport Extreme and it also said there was a problem with the disk. Have performed a low level format on the disk and Airport Extreme still complained the disk had a problem.
After unplugging the disk, my route decided to stop allowing wireless connections even after rebooting. Ended up having to hard reset the Airport Extreme and reconfigure it with my old settings to work again.
FWIW, the first Airport Extreme I purchased today only worked on 802.11a and steadfastly refused to work on b/g so had to get a replacement. I suspect Apple's quality control is not quite as good as it used to be.

New Airport Extreme (802.11ac) Support for Encrypted USB Disk

The old Time Capsule and Airport Extreme apparently did not support a filevault2 encrypted USB disk for storing files like an NAS (not talking about a time machine backup). Does anyone know whether the newly released Airport or Time Capsule now supports the encrypted disk?

I do not think that USB encrypted disks are supported...and would be surprised if they were....but will know for sure late tomorrow.
Will update at that time if no one else has answered before that time.
The fact that Apple still has a USB 2.0 port on the new AirPort products might be a clue as well.

I have a set of 3 USB disk connected to my TC via a USB hud. I usually swithc the TC at night. When I restart the next day it stucks in amber state. when I disconnect the USB hub where my discs connects and restart, it start properly. Any hints?

I have a set of 3 USB disks connected to my Time capsule (TC) via a USB hub. I usually switch the TC at night. When I restart the next day it stucks in amber state. When I disconnect the USB hub where my discs connects and restart, the TC will start properly. Any hints?

LOL.. don't switch off the TC.. this is fairly typical behaviour..
Or try a different usb hub.. but you could well and truly run out of hubs before you fix the problem.
Are you running latest firmware for your TC?
What error message is coming up in the airport utility.. amber led is a fault indicator.. look up what the actual fault is and see if it is for instance overloading the usb. You are using a powered hub??
Get one bigger USB hard disk instead of 3 smaller ones.

Connecting PC to USB Disk Drive on USB Hub

I have set up a USB Hub on the Airport Extreme, the hub has a USB printer and a USB 250 GB Disk Drive.
The iMac has wireless access to both the printer (bonjour) and the disk drive, as well as shared files from the PC.
The PC has access to the internet, printer (through bonjour), but not the disk drive. I have been in the Airport Utility multiple times assigning access to the disk drive, by Disk Password, Base Station Password and by Account. But I always get the same error dialog box after attempting to connect.
Airport Disk Agent:
Unknown user, incorrect password or login is diabled. Please retype the login information or contact the disks administrator.
Since the PC is connected to the Airport Extreme by ethernet cable, the PC has full administrator privaledges.
Help!
iMac 20" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Personally, I would not launch into a rant against Nokia about this as you have now done unless you have some evidence that it is actually their fault.
I have only seen this problem with recent Nokia phones reported by just a couple of people and I have seen no evidence that it is strictly Nokia's fault - it may be so or it may not be. It does not seem to be widespread.
If you do a Google search for "Error 633 Modem in use" you will see that the problem is encountered, seemingly randomly, by some users with a wide variety if devices not just phones as modems but other modems as well and all from a wide variety of manufacturers, not just Nokia.
If you read through the thousands of Google links on the error 633 problem you will also see that there seems to be no well defined solution to it - seems to be encountered by small proportion of users of a device but not all so it would seem that there are usually local machine issues involved.
In the end, as I set out, if it is important to you that you have the modem working I have found that for me with an N8 (Anna) it all works fine with Win XP installed in a virtual machine on the Win 7 64 PC.

Several USB HD's to 802.11n via USB Hub AC Powered

I have a Western Digital Hard Drive connected to the USB
Port on the back of 802.11n and when I've tried to connect
a Lacie HD up to a AC Powered Hub
(that was connected up to the USB Port on the back of
802.11n)
I can't get the
Network to pick it up I've tried other HD's
Western Digital,Hitachi, etc.
and none of them will show up and my 802.11n will not
blink Green instead it stay's Amber ?
(When I go to the icon in my Menu Bar from Airport Disk
Utility it says there are no disks ?)
any suggestions,
I haven't tried to connect a hard drive via the Hub since
the last update to the 802.11n
The USB Hub is a Cyber Power paid $80.00 @ CompUSA
Message was edited by: macman60

Ok this is what I did and now I have 2 USB Hard Drives
Connected to the 802.11n
(1) USB 2.0 Lacie Porche Design 300gb
(2) USB 2.0 Western Digital 500gb
(3) USB Hub CyberPower (4-Port Hub) Self or AC
I have chosen AC Powered on the USB Hub
One thing I caught was that for some reason the
USB 2.0 Hub was plugged into a Extension Cord (HouseHold)
I unplugged it and put it into a Surge Protector
whether this had anything to do with the problems
before of not being able to add more USB Drives via
A USB Hub I don't know I believe the crucial Apple
Updates of late had the biggest solution to all
things working...!

Airport Extreme - Use a Printer and Ext. Harddisk via USB hub same time?

I would like to purchase a Wireless Router that would allow me to use a printer (Dell All in One 962) and an External Hard Disk (yet to buy)simultaneously. I liked the Netgear WNDR 3700 router, but it does not support printer sharing!
Would Airport Extreme Router allow me to use both at the same time via high speed USB hub? Are all USB printers and USB external hard disks compatible with this router - any compatibility guide available?
Message was edited by: JJacob

You won't know for sure until you try, but you can get some indication by trying the following "test".
Plug the Dell device into the USB port on the AirPort Extreme and make sure it is powered up.
Open System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock and then open Print & Fax. Click the + (plus) button at the bottom of the printer list box.
Does your printer name show up in the next box? If so, click on the printer name to highlight it, then click the Add button at the lower right to install the printer at that location.
Keep in mind that if your device is compatible, only the print function will work when your all-in-one is connected to the AirPort. Scan, copy, maintenance and other functions are not supported when the device is connected to the AirPort, so if you need these services, you'll have to connect the all-in-one directly to your computer when you need them.

I am trying to connect a Windows 7 / 64 bit to an Epson printer on my Mac. The printer is hooked into the Mac via USB; the Mac is networked to a Linksys wireless router with an ethernet cable, as is the Windows box. Any tips on how to do this?

I am trying to connect a Windows 7 / 64 bit to an Epson printer on my Mac. The printer is hooked into the Mac via USB; the Mac is networked to a Linksys wireless router with an ethernet cable, as is the Windows box. I installed the current Bonjour printer services software on the Windows machine, and separately installed the driver software for the Epson printer on the WIndows machine. Running the bonjour wizard, I get an alert saying 'I don't have sufficient access to my computer to connect to the selected printer'.
The printer has 'sharing' turned on from the Mac end; this works with a Powerbook via the wireless connection. Sharing is also turned on in the Windows printer control panel for this printer (under properties). The Mac is a G5 running 10.5.8. When I try to print a page from the Windows machine it gets hung in the print queue.
Any advice how to proceed would be appreciated!
thx,

I am trying to connect a Windows 7 / 64 bit to an Epson printer on my Mac. The printer is hooked into the Mac via USB; the Mac is networked to a Linksys wireless router with an ethernet cable, as is the Windows box. I installed the current Bonjour printer services software on the Windows machine, and separately installed the driver software for the Epson printer on the WIndows machine. Running the bonjour wizard, I get an alert saying 'I don't have sufficient access to my computer to connect to the selected printer'.
The printer has 'sharing' turned on from the Mac end; this works with a Powerbook via the wireless connection. Sharing is also turned on in the Windows printer control panel for this printer (under properties). The Mac is a G5 running 10.5.8. When I try to print a page from the Windows machine it gets hung in the print queue.
Any advice how to proceed would be appreciated!
thx,

USB Disk via USB Hub or Ethernet NAS Connection More Reliable?

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