Q: Sharing External HDD on AE - Can't Access
Long story short, I have a 4TB drive connected to my Airport Extreme and want to access it from a number of devices for media - FireTV Stick, XBox, WDTV Live, Popcorn Hour, etc.
The AE can see the drive with no issues. I can share it by configuring it as well. However, I cannot see the share on any other device - including my PCs (no Macs in my house - just PCs). I've tried \\IP and \\routername with no luck. The biggest issue is that I don't know what the share name is. It doesn't state that in the router config (only something like this is listed - WD 4TB External Harddrive). In effect, I can't put in \\IP\share or \\routername\share as I don't know what the share name is. Frustrating.
Here's a bigger question - if I don't have Macs in my house, does the drive NEED to be Fat32? Anything larger than 4GB won't work on that, and ALL my media is 6GB and larger. I would think I could use NTFS...but it's just not working.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Posted on Jan 25, 2015 8:34 AM
exFat doesn't work, as stated by Apple: AirPort base stations: About USB disks - Apple Support
You'll be able to read and write HFS+ from windows with an additional software (see below), but not from "FireTV Stick, XBox, WDTV Live, Popcorn Hour."
there isn't a solution for your setup for 4GB+ files, other than getting an NAS router that supports exFAT or NFTS. Airport devices are made for Apple users mainly. sorry
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
- Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
- Maximum file size: 4GB.
- Maximum volume size: 2TB
- You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
- Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
- Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
- To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:
- For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon (approx $20) (Best Choice for Lion)
- Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and Lion, but is not advisable, due to instability.
- AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
- Maximum file size: 16 TB
- Maximum volume size: 256TB
- You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
HFS+ ((((MAC FORMAT))))(Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
- Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
- Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac internal hard drive.
- To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer
- Maximum file size: 8EiB
- Maximum volume size: 8EiB
- You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
EXFAT (FAT64)
- Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
- Not all Windows versions support exFAT.
- exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
- AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
- Maximum file size: 16 EiB
- Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
- You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.
Posted on Jan 25, 2015 8:46 AM