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General discussion

Wanting to network an external hard drive

Jan 13, 2009 9:15AM PST

I have 2 iMacs both the white Intel dual core variety:
#1 is a 24" 250GB HD, 3GB RAM 2.12 GHz (I think) Intel running OS 10.5 (most current updates) the other
#2 is 17" 160GB HD, 1GB RAM, 2 GHz Intel running OS 10.4 (most current updates)
Both of these fine machines are using my airport extreme base station (802.11n (yay!))to connect to the internet. Both of their HD's are nearly full I might have 20 GB between the two. My question is I thought about getting like a 1TB or maybe 2TB external HD and connect it my airport extreme and use it as a network drive to put some of my thousands of songs, photos and movies onto to free up room for more games! Or just put newer stuff on the external (like final cut projects). What are your thoughts and can this be done?

Discussion is locked

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Network Attached Storage
Jan 13, 2009 10:10PM PST

Yes, this will work.

You can share a HD by plugging it into the USB port of the Airport Extreme and use the Airport Disk Utility to set it up.

The external drive should have USB2.0 connectivity.

Good Luck

Peter

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EZ
Jan 16, 2009 1:01PM PST

I currently do what you are suggesting. I have a MacBook Pro, a new MacBook and an iMac all sharing a Seagate 750 GB external USB drive plugged into the back of my AirPort Extreme Base Station. If you can, plug it into the back of your Mac first and use the disk utilities to format the drive. After that plug it into the USB port on the back of the AEBS and use the Airport utility to configure. Make certain that you have all software and firmware updates installed. You can also use the drive for Time Machine automatic backups. Life is good:&gtWink

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Formating you say...
Jan 17, 2009 11:18AM PST

How exactly do you format it? What types of formating are there? I have heard of FAT32 but that doesn't mean anything to me. I am a realitive newbie when it comes to hardware and doing something like I am going to undertake.

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Of formatting and things,
Jan 17, 2009 11:01PM PST

Most drives arrive from the manufacturer already formatted in FAT32.
This type of format can be read by either a Windows machine or a Mac and enables the HD to be used straight out of the box. This "improves" the buying experience.

It is not important that you understand how each format works, it is sufficient for you to know that they exist and what they are good for.
FAT, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, HFS+ & HFS+(Journaled) will be the ones you hear most.

The FAT versions have limitations as to file size and are not considered to be very stable. You will find them on thumbdrives (works straight from the box) and the HD's that I already mentioned.
WIndows and OS X machines can read from, and write to, a FAT formatted disk.

On a Windows machine, the drive is normally formatted as NTFS. OS X can read from, but cannot write to, an NTFS formatted disk.
A Mac disk is normally formatted as HFS+(Journaled). A Windows machine cannot read from, or write to, an HFS+ disk.
However, a drive running on a network should be readable by any machine on that network, regardless of the format of the disk.

For an all Mac network it would make sense to format the external as HFS+(journaled).
To format a disk on a Mac, you would use the Disk Utility application which you will find in the Applications/Utilities folder. Choose the disk, select the Erase tab and go from there.
Be aware that ALL data will be destroyed on that drive when it is formatted. Backup any data that you need saved, first.

Drive manufactures are a matter of personal choice. I have more Seagate drives than any other brand as they have a nice warranty. Any of the major brands will do you.
Most drive manufactures make external enclosures for their drives and there are other enclosure sellers that make the enclosure but do not make the drive. LaCie is one of those. I like their enclosures and should the drive fail outside of the warranty, you can always put another one in the enclosure.


Good luck
P

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While we are on the subject...
Jan 20, 2009 7:50AM PST

Can you connect more than one external HD to the Airport Extereme Base Station. If not is there a way to "dasiy chain" the HD's? I am looking at getting probably a 1 TB HD to accomdate for both my wife and I to access with our computers which as we speak are bursting at the seams. I await your response oh Mac Guru! Happy

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Oh one other thing!
Jan 17, 2009 11:24AM PST

Does it matter what kind I get do I need to get one that is psecifically for Macs? Also what brands are good and what brands should I stay away from. Thx