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New Airport extreme with USB disk

post #1 of 38
2/7/07 at 2:32pm
Thread Starter 
Just installed my new "n" airport and it is working well except for my Buffalo 500G USB drive. It does not show up in the Airport Utility menu. When I power up the drive I get a red light indication, if I move it back to a direct connect USB port all works fine. Seems like the airport and the drive are not connecting properly. Any one else have success with a USB drive on the n airport??
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post #2 of 38
2/7/07 at 3:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquia33 View Post

Just installed my new "n" airport and it is working well except for my Buffalo 500G USB drive. It does not show up in the Airport Utility menu. When I power up the drive I get a red light indication, if I move it back to a direct connect USB port all works fine. Seems like the airport and the drive are not connecting properly. Any one else have success with a USB drive on the n airport??

I had the same problem with a 500GB Lacie drive. I returned my AE(n), as Apple could not give me any indication when they would be issuing a fix.
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post #3 of 38
2/7/07 at 5:40pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by audiopollution View Post

I had the same problem with a 500GB Lacie drive. I returned my AE(n), as Apple could not give me any indication when they would be issuing a fix.

After all the renaming suggested on apple site and other forum. I was getting a little frustrated so I tried reseating the USB connection very firmly and it came up after a few highly technical "jiggles".

Perhaps all the plugging and replugging fixed the problem and the renaming as suggested was secondary to a poor USB connection from the ABS n
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post #4 of 38
2/7/07 at 6:57pm
i am awaiting shipment of new base station and was planning on getting a usb drive also. now i am worried about which one to get. i was planning on a lacie but you seem to have had problems. did you resolve it. also what is speed of accessing usb on wireless network. any help would be appreciated.
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post #5 of 38
2/7/07 at 7:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gdog View Post

i was planning on a lacie but you seem to have had problems. did you resolve it.

Yes, I resolved it by returing the base station, using the drive directly connected to my MBP, and plugging the Linksys router back in.
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post #6 of 38
2/7/07 at 7:53pm
thats not the resolving i was hoping for
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post #7 of 38
2/8/07 at 7:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by gdog View Post

thats not the resolving i was hoping for

Suggestion... I would seriously wait on buying the NEW Apple Airport Extreme N router. They are having compatibility issues with "devices." I spoked to a an Apple engineer and he acknowledged some issues they were having.

Look... it's a new product using a specification that hasn't been released yet. I am confident that all vendors including Apple will get it right once the dust settles. There is no reason to blame other vendor "devices" because they don't play well with Apple.
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post #8 of 38
2/8/07 at 5:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gdog View Post

thats not the resolving i was hoping for

I've been having problems with my USB drives over the new AXn router also. Both are Seagate drives (one is 500GB, one is 400GB) installed in generic FireWire/USB 2.0 enclosures - they show up on the desktop, and then they vanish. After they vanish, the Airport Disk Utility still sees them, but gives a nonsensical error message when you try to remount. Restarting everything sometimes fixes the problem, and sometimes doesn't, and sometimes it just fixes itself. All very irksome.

I saw a thing on the Apple support site about what I thought was an unrelated problem: iTunes sees my Airport Express routers that are connected to speakers, but won't connect to them. (another problem that just suddenly started manifesting out of the blue). Apple recommends setting IPv6 to "off" in the Network Preferences on the computer (the default setting for IPv6 is "Automatic.")

I did that and it solved the iTunes issue - currently the Airport Disk's are showing on the desktop - too soon to tell if the IPv6 change might've fixed that problem too. I'll report back. One way or another, someone (i.e. Apple) had better come up with a fix for the disk problem, because the Airport Disk feature is the only reason I bought the router!
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post #9 of 38
2/8/07 at 6:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquia33 View Post

Just installed my new "n" airport and it is working well except for my Buffalo 500G USB drive. It does not show up in the Airport Utility menu. When I power up the drive I get a red light indication, if I move it back to a direct connect USB port all works fine. Seems like the airport and the drive are not connecting properly. Any one else have success with a USB drive on the n airport??

Make sure the drive has a one-word name with no spaces, symbols, or letters with umlauts or tildas. God knows why that should matter, but it does.
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post #10 of 38
2/8/07 at 6:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by alphadork View Post

Make sure the drive has a one-word name with no spaces, symbols, or letters with umlauts or tildas. God knows why that should matter, but it does.

While I was trying to solve my issues with the AE(n) I did the following:

1) Used multiple USB cables.
2) Turned off journaling.
3) Renamed the drive to 'Music' from 'Music Archive'.
4) Rebuilt the directories using DiskWarrior 4.
5) Screamed a lot.

None of the above worked. From my phone calls to Apple, they were aware of the issue but had no timeline for a firmware update for the router.
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post #11 of 38
2/9/07 at 12:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by audiopollution View Post

While I was trying to solve my issues with the AE(n) I did the following:

1) Used multiple USB cables.
2) Turned off journaling.
3) Renamed the drive to 'Music' from 'Music Archive'.
4) Rebuilt the directories using DiskWarrior 4.
5) Screamed a lot.

None of the above worked. From my phone calls to Apple, they were aware of the issue but had no timeline for a firmware update for the router.

I guess I'm still a little dim, here, but I am still not sure I understand what problem this thread is seeking to solve.

I just got my new extreme bs today but am awaiting the arrival of an n-empowered mac to fire it up. I certainly hope I can use my LaCie drive with it, but am delghted by the footprint.

Anyone yet set up a working network?
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"Run faster. History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe. Education helps but it is never enough. You must also run." Leto Atreides II
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post #12 of 38
2/20/07 at 6:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cubit View Post

I guess I'm still a little dim, here, but I am still not sure I understand what problem this thread is seeking to solve.

I just got my new extreme bs today but am awaiting the arrival of an n-empowered mac to fire it up. I certainly hope I can use my LaCie drive with it, but am delghted by the footprint.

Anyone yet set up a working network?

I've got it working great now - my problem seems to have been a faulty USB hub. I bought a new hub, and everything's been hunky dorry every since - I have the n router with three shared disks attached, 2 airport expresses attached to speakers in other parts of the house, and another attached to a printer in a closet. Everything works on every computer in the house. Yay!
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post #13 of 38
2/20/07 at 7:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by alphadork View Post

I've got it working great now - my problem seems to have been a faulty USB hub. I bought a new hub, and everything's been hunky dorry every since - I have the n router with three shared disks attached, 2 airport expresses attached to speakers in other parts of the house, and another attached to a printer in a closet. Everything works on every computer in the house. Yay!

Can you comment on whether the network operates at full speed with the two airport expresses connected? I also have two and am hesitant to get an extreme if having the two 802.11g devices will slow everything down.
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post #14 of 38
3/10/07 at 9:27pm
To those with those Buffalo 500 Gig external drives, try this:

1) Connect to the Airport Extreme router. Wait until you see the red activity light (which will stay there for a while).
2) Run the Airport Utility. Choose manual setup.
3) Using the Airport Utility, reboot the router.

I did this as a last resort and that got the drive online. It seems that the Airport router have some difficulties detecting and adding it when you connect it initially.
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post #15 of 38
4/11/07 at 8:45pm
Update:

AE router lost the signal, so I had to reboot. For some reason, the buffalo drive hung.

Since I have other drives, I plugged in my 80 Gig and my flash drives and AE is able to see them. I also plugged the Buffalo drive to my Macbook and it is able to see the drive.

So I shutdown the Buffalo drive for a half hour, then power it back up. Worked now.

Something goofy with the drive, so I probably get a external drive for the router. Needless to say, I won't recommend the Buffalo drive for use with the new AE.
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post #16 of 38
4/11/07 at 11:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rilindo View Post

Update:

AE router lost the signal, so I had to reboot. For some reason, the buffalo drive hung.

Since I have other drives, I plugged in my 80 Gig and my flash drives and AE is able to see them. I also plugged the Buffalo drive to my Macbook and it is able to see the drive.

So I shutdown the Buffalo drive for a half hour, then power it back up. Worked now.

Something goofy with the drive, so I probably get a external drive for the router. Needless to say, I won't recommend the Buffalo drive for use with the new AE.

FWIW, been using AEBS with a 250 gig Wetern Digital HD attached to it for about 6 weeks. The drive and system have worked flawlessly from day 1.
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post #17 of 38
4/11/07 at 11:44pm
I'm sorry to hear all you guys are having problems as well.

Even when you do get the USB drive 'working', you'll find that when you go back to the data on the drive it's hosed. I had originally thought that this was only when you saved files directly to the drive but it turns out that it also happens when you save a local copy and then drag the file to the Airport Disk.

And for some reason, the Airport Disks don't show up in Disk Utility, so you can't keep an eye on them and make sure that they're working properly. For all I know, I could have almost 1TB of screwed data sitting on my Airport Disks I only find the true extent of the damage as I attempt to open each file.

All in all, the Airport Disk feature is TOTALLY useless.
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post #18 of 38
4/11/07 at 11:46pm
Oh, and you can't 'Spotlight' or 'Command-F' Airport Disks properly, either.
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post #19 of 38
4/12/07 at 12:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Messiah View Post

I'm sorry to hear all you guys are having problems as well.

Even when you do get the USB drive 'working', you'll find that when you go back to the data on the drive it's hosed. I had originally thought that this was only when you saved files directly to the drive but it turns out that it also happens when you save a local copy and then drag the file to the Airport Disk.

And for some reason, the Airport Disks don't show up in Disk Utility, so you can't keep an eye on them and make sure that they're working properly. For all I know, I could have almost 1TB of screwed data sitting on my Airport Disks I only find the true extent of the damage as I attempt to open each file.

All in all, the Airport Disk feature is TOTALLY useless.

You scared the shite out of me. I did some random checks on my files stored on the AEBS HD and they all work fine.
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post #20 of 38
4/12/07 at 2:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Messiah View Post

And for some reason, the Airport Disks don't show up in Disk Utility,

Why would they show up? They're not locally connected. What genius protocol do you know of where you can repair a disk across the network?
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post #21 of 38
4/12/07 at 6:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chucker

What genius protocol do you know of where you can repair a disk across the network?

iSCSI
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post #22 of 38
4/12/07 at 6:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikef View Post

iSCSI

Likely to be supported on a consumer machine around 2179.
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post #23 of 38
4/12/07 at 7:00am
I run it on a consumer machine now, but it was a joke... hence the smiley. No sense of humour this morning?
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post #24 of 38
4/12/07 at 7:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikef View Post

I run it on a consumer machine now, but it was a joke... hence the smiley. No sense of humour this morning?

Morning? It's 4 PM, and gorgeous weather. I did take it as a joke.

But*for the time being, AirPort Disk simply uses AFP or SMB, and I really doubt that's gonna change soon.
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post #25 of 38
4/12/07 at 12:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by lfe2211 View Post

FWIW, been using AEBS with a 250 gig Wetern Digital HD attached to it for about 6 weeks. The drive and system have worked flawlessly from day 1.

I don't doubt that other drives worked (the tests I have done seem to verify it). I bought the buffalo drive because of the price. Looks like I am paying for it.

As a side note, here are the reviews of 500 Gig drives:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...intsrc=hm_list

Western Digital it is.
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post #26 of 38
4/12/07 at 1:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rilindo View Post

I don't doubt that other drives worked (the tests I have done seem to verify it). I bought the buffalo drive because of the price. Looks like I am paying for it.

As a side note, here are the reviews of 500 Gig drives:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...intsrc=hm_list

Western Digital it is.

rilindo,

Thanks for the review.
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post #27 of 38
4/13/07 at 6:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquia33 View Post

Just installed my new "n" airport and it is working well except for my Buffalo 500G USB drive. It does not show up in the Airport Utility menu. When I power up the drive I get a red light indication, if I move it back to a direct connect USB port all works fine. Seems like the airport and the drive are not connecting properly. Any one else have success with a USB drive on the n airport??

I've got a a pair of Airport Extremes connected by wire with Lacie 500Gb disks attached to each USB port. Initially it was flaky but with the various software upgrades they now work most of the time! Sometimes they won't let me connect and give me erroneous messages about incorrect login and password. Rebooting the Extreme fixes it. Synching the two drives with Synchronise Pro X initially took forever and hung the extremes a couple of times but this now seems to be more reliable.
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post #28 of 38
5/14/07 at 6:59am
I got a My Book WD drive and it worked quite well. In fact, when I rebooted the Apple Extreme router, it came back online. The buffalo drive. . . not so much.

So now I replaced the buffalo with another My Book WD. Gave the buffalo to my friend. Going forward, I recommend the WD drives with Apple Extremes.
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post #29 of 38
5/15/07 at 6:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rilindo View Post

I got a My Book WD drive and it worked quite well. In fact, when I rebooted the Apple Extreme router, it came back online. The buffalo drive. . . not so much.

So now I replaced the buffalo with another My Book WD. Gave the buffalo to my friend. Going forward, I recommend the WD drives with Apple Extremes.

I haven't tried my AirDisk function yet. I have an older 20GB notebook drive that I put into an enclosure that I use from time to time. I'm assuming it's going to work? Thoughts?
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post #30 of 38
5/15/07 at 6:51am
It should work. At the very least, it's worth a drive. That being said, I'd go repartition the drive prior to connecting it (I don't know if Air Disk supports anything other than HFS+).
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post #31 of 38
5/15/07 at 7:34am
Mine worked fine.

I used a OWC Mercury drive... unfortunately, for my purposes the 802.11g speed i am able to transfer at is not sufficient...
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post #32 of 38
5/15/07 at 7:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by hardeeharhar View Post

Mine worked fine.

I used a OWC Mercury drive... unfortunately, for my purposes the 802.11g speed i am able to transfer at is not sufficient...

I would just use it for storage and what not...nothing read/write intensive.
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post #33 of 38
5/15/07 at 11:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SDW2001 View Post

I would just use it for storage and what not...nothing read/write intensive.


*Sigh*

Son just ripped up one of my Disney box sets this weekend. I guess I need to join the ripping game and maybe get an AppleTV.

Is the Extreme USB too slow to use for streaming? I'm sure it would be a double whammy to read from my MBP and then stream to aTV but maybe with N all around I can get away with it? I have an older MBP so that's natively G until I can find a N expresscard.

Or maybe I'll wait until the mini gets a rev and do that...hmm...

Vinea
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post #34 of 38
5/15/07 at 2:45pm
Hmm. I got an AE(n) and replaced my Linksys router/wireless router with it. It installed in a snap and then I plugged a Fantom 500GB drive into the network drive USB port. It saw it straight away. I ended up putting all my music on that drive (it's named "music" and access it from 3 different Macs with no problem whatsoever).

So, for me it's working really well.
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post #35 of 38
6/19/07 at 11:40am
Has anyone used the AE(n) with both a USB drive and USB printer?
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post #36 of 38
6/19/07 at 12:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by a-thinker View Post

Has anyone used the AE(n) with both a USB drive and USB printer?

Yes. I use a 4 port USB hub attached to the AEXB. I have a 250 gig WD hard drive and a Canon S600 printer attached to the hub. It has worked flawlessly from day 1.
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post #37 of 38
6/28/07 at 2:13am
Came across some useful info here:

http://tech.ifelix.net/8014.html

Sadly, the lone incompatible drive listed is the same Acomdata model I just purchased today. Wish I'd known about all of this before. I'm sure those who've posted here could add to this list.
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post #38 of 38
5/25/08 at 9:51pm
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.
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