Is it possible to scan over a network

Hi there and welcome to Apple Discussions.

If you have the Brother connected to the USB port of the Airport Express, then you cannot scan. This is a limitation of the Express USB port.

But, if your Brother connects to the Airport via Ethernet or wireless, then it is possible to scan, providing Brother has a network scanning utility available for Mac OS X 10.5.

PaHu

My brother color laser (MFC9840CDW) is great for scanning over my ethernet network and I've read that it supports wireless, but haven't bothered to turn that function on. Of course it's a network printer, and Brother does provide scanner software for Leopard for my printer. I can also scan from the printer to any machine on the network.

Basically, if you get a machine that's designed to work, then yes, you can scan over a network.

In your case, USB is not a two way connection for a printer from just about any USB Print Server. A lot of times the USB print servers will not even let you read the ink levels. Brother will not waste the time creating network scanning software for a non-network scanner.

Message was edited by: dechamp

colinncox wrote:
Is it possible to scan over a network using Airport Express? I ahve a brother mfc210c.

It is certainly possible to scan over a network, _if you use a network-aware scanner or multifunction device_. I, for example, have such a MFD: a Brother MFC-440CN. Note the 'N'. There are a large number of such devices, from vendors including Brother, Canon, Epson, and HP. You do not have such a device. Your MFD will not scan over the network, it lacks the network-aware software and hardware. Attaching it to an AE will allow you to print over the network, but not scan as the AE does not have any way to allow for scanning and the MFD doesn't know about networks.

Does anyone know how one can tell if a particular device (scanner) is network-aware? I realize it depends on the manufacturer's implementation of the driver, but they never list that stuff in the specs, especially for Mac networks.

I'm looking to buy a scanner and want to verify that it will work when plugged in via USB to my Airport Extreme.

If you want to be certain, get a network scanner. I have a Canon Pixma MX 850 multifunction, which scans perfectly over the network, in this case, connected by Ethernet to my wireless router. The current MX 860 has WiFi built in. I do not know about straight scanners, but they are undoubtedly out there.