Airport Extreme and connected Hard Drive

Question

Airport Extreme and connected Hard Drive

I am considering getting my wife an iPad and therefore also considering getting an Airport Extreme so she can connect to our network wirelessly. My other goal is to add a network drive to our network as well. My question is this, I see stand-alone network drives from, for instance, LaCie. However, they are a bit more pricey than a standard USB 2.0 hard drive. My question is how well does a standard USB 2.0 drive connected to the Airport Extreme function in comparison to a stand-alone network drive. Advantages and disadvantages? For instance, can a PC access a drive connected to the Airport Extreme?

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.3), wired 10/100 network presently

Posted on May 3, 2010 6:20 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Duane

Level 10

124,267 points

May 3, 2010 6:21 AM in response to Jeffrey Bivans

For instance, can a PC access a drive connected to the Airport Extreme?

Yes. What other questions do you have?

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Answer 2

May 6, 2010 5:35 AM in response to Duane

Well, I guess the other question is how well a USB drive works as a network drive when attached to an Airport Extreme in comparison to a stand-alone network drive like the ones LaCie offers? For instance, could the USB connected drive have my iTunes library on it? And if so, could my Apple TV then access it and vice versa? I remember previously reading something about you could not do these things with Apple TV and iTunes when using a network.

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Answer 3

Duane

Level 10

124,267 points

May 6, 2010 5:47 AM in response to Jeffrey Bivans

I don't have any performance numbers but I would think that a dedicated NAS would give better performance.

Your iTunes library could be located on a USB drive connected to the AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS).

I don't know if Apple TV can use files from that drive or not. It would be best to ask in the Apple TV discussion area.

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Answer 4

Jolly Giant

Level 7

25,464 points

May 6, 2010 5:53 AM in response to Jeffrey Bivans

Jeffrey Bivans wrote:
For instance, could the USB connected drive have my iTunes library on it?

yes. i have one of my iTunes libraries on a USB drive connected to my TC - it works just fine.

And if so, could my Apple TV then access it and vice versa?

yes. however, iTunes will have to be running if you want to stream content to the TV. also, with such a setup, i would recommend an all-wired connection, i.e. ethernet cables from your computer and from the TV to the airport extreme.

J GG

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