Can an encrypted USB drive be used with the Airport Extreme?

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Level 1

2 points

Can an encrypted USB drive be used with the Airport Extreme?

I would like to keep an encrypted USB drive hooked up to my Airport Extreme (A1354) so that I can use it for a hand archive of documents I might need to reference on the road or conveniently within my home, mainly because it would be handier than having to plug and unplug a USB device into whatever computer I'm using, and would allow my wife to do the same with her computer. I know most internet providers provide a service like this, but I figured why not just do this with my Airport Extreme?

I've read posts from people who have taken encrypted USB volumes generated from their MacBook Pro, and plug that USB device into the Airport Extreme. The Airport recognized the device exists, but it is you can't actually use it as an encrypted volume. This seems like a flaw on the part of Apple if you can't do this, as this device is a much more expensive solution that what most wireless routers provide.

Has anybody figured this one out?

AirPort Extreme 802.11n (4th Gen)

Posted on Jan 23, 2012 6:17 AM

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Answer 1

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Jan 23, 2012 5:32 PM in response to MountRitter

I've not tried that, but I suspect the problem is, the Airport doesn't recognize the encryption.

I don't know if it will work, but you might try creating an encrypted disk image on the drive via Disk Utility (it will be faster if you connect it directly to your Mac to create it).

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Answer 2

Tuche

Level 1

0 points

May 31, 2012 11:15 AM in response to Pondini

Yea, i would like to know this too.

I formatted my 1TB usb disk as (Journaled, Encrypted) and then plugged it to the Airport Extreme and it couldnt see the hard drive 😟

am i missing something here?

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Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

May 31, 2012 11:43 AM in response to Tuche

Doubtful it's going to work. 😟

Does it see the same disk if it's formatted just Journaled (ie, not encrypted)?

The tehnical article isn't entirely clear . . . it just says Mac OS Extended: AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule: USB storage device supported formats and protocols

It was last modified June 14, 2011, a couple of weeks before Lion was released with the ability to encrypt drives.

Note that ExFAT is supported on Macs effective with 10.6.5, but not Airport Extremes; there's no reason to think encryption is any different.

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Answer 4

Sep 29, 2013 7:25 PM in response to MountRitter

Doesn't work. You can open the disc automatically if you plug the encrypted (I assume with Filevault 2) drive directly into your Mac and it will save the password on the Keychain. This means that as soon as you plug it in, the drive opens pretty much straight away like an unencrypted drive.

The problems start if you try and access the same drive via AirDisk. The drive won't come up on your Finder and you are never prompted for a drive password. The encrypted drive is basically invisible.

Disappointing - if you want to encrypt your drive so roommates can't get into your stuff, you have to plug in manually to your Mac. No AirDisk convenience.

If someone figures out how to hack it or if this changes in a new firmware update, please let me know...

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Answer 5

Oct 25, 2013 1:52 PM in response to MountRitter

Same issue here. Extremely disappointing.

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Answer 6

AliAAA

Level 1

9 points

Jan 2, 2014 7:05 PM in response to MountRitter

same issue here. very disappointed too.

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Answer 7

Jan 5, 2014 8:03 AM in response to MountRitter

You could format your partition as a regular unencrypted hfs+ (osx) and create a sparse image file and put everything in that image file

Sorry if I spelled anything wrong ..... **** dyslexia.

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Answer 8

Jimcamel

Level 1

33 points

Mar 18, 2014 10:36 AM in response to david4150

David4150 - that suggestion works just fine. Encryption slows things down a bit ... so you can put casual stuff in un-encrypted folders and have one sparseimage protected with a robust password for confidential stuff.

I'm getting to the Airport Extreme nicely now from outside using Back To My Mac and my AppleId.

Will be testing more over the next week for speed and robustness.

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Answer 9

Jun 20, 2016 5:30 PM in response to MountRitter

The lack of support for encrypted drives is currently documented at AirPort base stations: About USB disks - Apple Support
I have filed a Radar (Apple bug report) requesting this feature. It is radar://26906115. Feel free to "dupe" my request. I have mirrored it on OpenRadar.

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