Level 3

598 points

Lacie ethernet big disk HD via Airport. No go.

Here's what I don't understand.

Apple is the leading computer company of the world. It is.

Networking from day one. Local talk on up. Here we are in 2007, really 2008. The most advanced OS. Leopard.

Apple embraces wireless before anyone. Apple drives the demand for wireless. From computers to iPhone.

It's all in place. AppleTV. iTunes. Music.

Apple preaches backups. Good. I've been backing up since 1995.

So now we have Apple deliver Leopard. I buy it and install it on my numerous Intel Mac's. yes I always buy the latest Apple gear. Love it.

And I buy a Lacie ethernet big disk 1 terabyte hard drive. Ethernet of course. Speed. I got to have more speed! Movies for AppleTV with movies. iTunes remotely for music. ONE TERABYTE! Plugged into my Apple gigabit Airport.

And I can't access this hard drive in Leopard.

Why is that? Nothing. It says connecting. It never does.

What a waste. If I wanted and OS that doesn't work? We know that option.

Does anyone have an ethernet disk connected to Airport that is working? is it Lacie? They say it's Apple via their tech support. Apple tech support gave up on the HD issue. Like they did on why my second Airport N base station connected via WDS to the main gigabit Airport. And why only it's connection throughput of of 4.5 Mbps. While the main Airport, 30 feet away gives me 28,000.00 Mbps. They just told me it was a hardware issue. Even though we switched out Airport N's. I have a few of them. Gear head. Oh well. I leave my printers unplugged until I need them. So I get the full throughput.

So does anyone have an ethernet hard drive working in Leopard? Does it work? USB disks work at times. But they;re not reliable either.

I need network hard drive access. But not in Leopard.

MacBook Pro Core Duo 2.16ghz, Mac OS X (10.5), 4GB Ram  250GB HD  3 iPhones  Numerous iPods

Posted on Nov 11, 2007 1:09 PM

47 replies

musicmaker Author

Level 3

598 points

Dec 2, 2007 3:53 AM in response to Rain Forest

I agree. It seems to me it wold be a simple fix too. But we get nothing.

Oak Tree

Level 1

15 points

Dec 3, 2007 2:58 AM in response to musicmaker

Strange!? When I did it, the problem completely disappeared. Everything is still running perfect allthough iTunes seems somewhat slower than before.

Are you running 10.5 or 10.5.1?

Dec 4, 2007 11:50 PM in response to AstraPoint

Same problem here. Bought the Lacie Ethernet Big Disk. Transfer speeds over wireles are painfully slow. The disk sometimes falters and stops, to resume again after 1 minute or so.
The USB connection to the MacBook does not work; I cannot see the drive. (and yes, I followed the procedures in the manual)
For some reason, the firmwere upgrade from LaCie gets rejected?!
And the Dsk turns up in my network settings as a modem, not as an ethernet connection (as the manual explains).
Although I am no network expert, this thing does not work as it should be. Hopefully I will be able to get some money back.

Last resort; cracking open the case and use the 2 500GB disks seperately?

sonicth

Level 1

0 points

Dec 5, 2007 11:14 AM in response to musicmaker

I have exactly the same problem - i can only get Download speeds of up to 500kb per second; upload is strangely somewhat higher - about 600;
It's fine if i want to play tunes on itunes or even podcasts, but it is too little for playing dvd files (VOB) where it its over 1 or 2 megabytes per second - unfortunate!

The drive itself is decent, 20-30MB ps on usb and about 8 on wired ethernet - something you would expect!

But taking into account that 22mbit wifi would be /2 = 2.75mb per seecond. taking away protocol headers, error correction codes, ethernet collisions etc would shave off 600-400kb ps, no more i would think, so i still should be getting about 2mb of raw thoughoutput, right!?

Dec 11, 2007 5:14 PM in response to musicmaker

I was having the same problem with a LaCie 0.5T connect through ABES USB. Not mounting. Today, after installing the new version of Parallels I could mount the disk. I did the usual procedure but it did not mount (but connected as usual). I Force Quit Finder. It came back with the disk mounted okay. After some time it did disconnect again. I did the same procedure and it came back. Now it is working fine. The performance problem I did not check.

I hope this works for somebody else. I could not access my disk for two weeks before this.

Alex GT

Level 1

0 points

Dec 12, 2007 4:47 AM in response to sonicth

I'm getting a similar problem but it's intermittent. Sometimes I can move 400mb in 2 minutes and sometimes the exact same transfer takes more than an hour. (probably close to the 500Kbps you're seeing.)

Anyone else see this big intermittent transfer difference?

Anyone know how to force it into the faster transfer mode?

Thanks

musicmaker Author

Level 3

598 points

Dec 12, 2007 4:53 AM in response to musicmaker

Well I order just a plain old USB 500gb Lacie hard drive. I need something to use wirelessly.

it too DOESN'T work with Apple Airdisk! I see the drive in the Sidebar in Leopard Finder. I click and it says connecting, but never does.

So this is my third hard drive that I've bought that DOESN'T work with Airdisk. The big Lacie ethernet/USB disk, Iomega 250GB USB disk, and this third one.

AIRDISK DOESN'T WORK.

Dec 14, 2007 1:29 PM in response to musicmaker

Just try to download updated version of IP Configurator at http://www.lacie.com/us/support/support_manifest.htm?id=10224.

As it is a Network drive, IPC will assign an IP address using DHCP.
Once configurated you will be able to access the disk as a SHARE volumen, not as a Local Hard Drive.

It work just fine.

Please let me know, if it works

millerrl

Level 1

0 points

Dec 14, 2007 2:03 PM in response to musicmaker

I have a Lacie BigDisk 1 tb usb and firewire. It does not work on my extreme. In fact it crashed the Airport each time I connect it.

musicmaker Author

Level 3

598 points

Dec 14, 2007 2:10 PM in response to millerrl

The 250GB Iomega drive I connected to the Extreme via USB also "crashed" the Airport. Consistently.

Airdisk doesn't work. I have a 1 TB ethernet Lacie, $300, no go. A 250GB Iomega, $80 bucks. No Go. I just bought the 500GB Lacie USB. No go.

and I have two Extremes. Neither.

musicmaker Author

Level 3

598 points

Dec 14, 2007 2:11 PM in response to Lone Mac Ranger

Thanks I have the latest IP Config. I get an IP fine. None of my computers will connect t the drive. All it does is say connecting. And never does

Dec 14, 2007 4:31 PM in response to Firesign3000

My EDmini ethernet drive worked a treat for months as an Airdisk with several shares until I upgraded to 10.5
It was visible in the side bar of 10.5.1 for about 3 weeks then it got turned off without spinning down. After starting up again it was invisible from the sidebar but I can log on to it through finder go connect to server! It then shows up again in the sidebar.
Weird.

Dec 27, 2007 6:02 PM in response to musicmaker

Are there any issues with non-airport routers? I'm thinking about picking one up tomorrow to see.

musicmaker Author

Level 3

598 points

Dec 27, 2007 7:49 PM in response to DR Allison

I wish I knew and could help you. No I don't.

Jan 1, 2008 2:47 AM in response to musicmaker

I just bought the LaCie 2-big ethernet drive 1Tb and spend 2 days (and 2 sleep overs) to get it installed. Nice memories of my windows times.

Now it works!

The biggest impact was: Turning off the Leopard Firewall!

Suddingly the disks was approachable and talked back. I could connect to it via Computor/Network/AFP, connect as admin; password admin

I had already downloaded IPconfigurator 2.0.3 and could install and set-up the drive through this programme. Do not forget to restart the drive after a change through the administration tool (browser). My airport network is DCHP enabled.

Back up is functioning, though slowly, but that's expected as it tranfers via airport.

Good luck.

Willem

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Lacie ethernet big disk HD via Airport. No go.