daveinpoway
Premium
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| Getting Airport Extreme Base Station to recognize drive
I tried hooking both a USB flash-card reader/writer (with a 2 GB SD card inserted; this is powered by the USB cable) and a 40 GB external hard drive (which has its own power supply, so that it doesn't require USB power) to my AEBS (running Firmware 7.3.2). In both instances, going to the "Disks" option in the Airport Utility does not show any drives hooked to the base station. Resetting the AEBS still does not cause either drive to show up. With the flash-card reader/writer, the light on the reader/writer came on, so it was receiving power from the base station. I tried a different USB cable also- same results.
Is there some simple thing I am overlooking here? It wouldn't seem that this should be all that complicated.
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Sebehk
I am my Avatar.
Premium
join:2002-02-09
Chula Vista, CA | Just to make sure, but are the SD card and hard drive formatted?
--->Robert
8-) |
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daveinpoway
Premium
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA | Yes, they are. I can mount both of them if I plug them directly into a USB port (a Firewire port, also, in the case of the 40 GB hard drive) on my Mac Pro. |
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Gordo74
Premium
join:2003-10-28
Monroeville, PA
clubs:
| reply to daveinpoway
Make sure they are formatted with Journaled HFS+ and try using the one that only uses external power... i remember reading somewhere that ones requiring USB power is not supported...
--
Ever wonder about the stars? |
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daveinpoway
Premium
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| I'm a little busy now, but I'll check into your suggestions as soon as possible. I'm pretty sure the hard drive that has its own power supply is formatted as you indicated, but I'll check it again. If worse comes to worse, I guess I could get another external enclosure with an Ethernet interface, but no point in spending the money if I can make what I already have do the job.
Thanks for the help. |
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daveinpoway
Premium
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| This morning, at a garage sale, I ran into a guy selling some networking equipment, and I happened to mention that I was trying to mate an external hard drive to the AEBS. I don't know if he has even a clue, but he said that his research has told him that the only external drive which will work is one that Apple sells (I don't know the model number, but he said it is "a little small thing" and he has only seen it sold on-line).
Something seems wrong here, as the Help menu for the AEBS says nothing about having to use an Apple external hard drive, and, if it were true that only their drive would work, I would expect that they would be selling the drive in the Apple Stores.
Anyone know what he was talking about? |
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TearAbite
join:2001-07-25
Rancho Cucamonga, CA | reply to daveinpoway
i justed connected my external HD to my AEBS yesterday.. had no problems at all.. I dont remember the model (i'd have to crawl back under the table).. but it is the one sold at the Apple Store.. Lacie ? |
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Thinkdiff
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY | reply to daveinpoway
Apple does not make an external HD. He was full of it. |
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TearAbite
join:2001-07-25
Rancho Cucamonga, CA | He said the one that Apple SELLS.. Not "makes"... i got mine at the Apple Store. |
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Thinkdiff
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY
1 edit | Guess we just have a difference of interpretation.. Apple selling a third-party HD in the Apple store does not make it magically work with the APEBS any better. Any external HD should work.
According to dave, the man said there was only one HD that would work, and that Apple sells it. I interpret that to mean Apple makes it. But whatever. That point is irrelevant because it's absolutely false no matter how you interpret it. Any HD should work. That guy is still full of it. |
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daveinpoway
Premium
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| Thanks for confirming my gut instinct that it is not necessary to use only this mysterious Apple external hard drive.
I guess the next thing I will try is to zero-out the external drive and reformat it. If it still isn't recognized by the AEBS, perhaps the base station has a problem (I've never tried the USB port before, so the port may have been defective all along and I haven't known about it). |
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Sebehk
I am my Avatar.
Premium
join:2002-02-09
Chula Vista, CA
 ·Cox HSI
·Americable Japan
| Have you tried using a powered USB hub?
Have you tried connecting a USB printer to see if the AEBS recognizes it?
I also have an AEBS and I have connected a hard drive and two printers to the AEBS-n with a powered USB hub awhile back. It worked fine without problems.
--->Robert
8-)
--
Grey's Law - Any process, if left to itself, will always tend toward a state of chaos. |
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daveinpoway
Premium
join:2006-07-03
Poway, CA
| Problem solved! I searched on Google for problems with Airport Disks, and I located a thread in the Apple Discussion group. It turns out that the drive will not show up if you do not enable File Sharing on the disk in the AEBS. Once I turned FS on, the drive was found.
In my opinion, Apple should have written the Airport Utility software so that if FS was not on, it would tell you that it detected a disk plugged into the AEBS, but the disk cannot be mounted until FS is turned on. If not that, at least tell you about the need to turn on FS in the AEBS help menu. |
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Thinkdiff
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-07
Bronx, NY | Thanks for finding and posting the answer. I'm sure it will help some one in the future.
I agree, maybe you should send that in as a feature request/bug report. |
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