Airport Extreme REQUIRES powered USB hub for external HDDs

ellenbogen wrote:

Thank you for your reply Pondini - if you read at the top of the thread, one poster was able to run multiple printers/scanners through the Airport Extreme USB using a powered 4-port USB Hub.

We must be reading different posts. If you're talking about this paragraph:

The reason given is that the USB port on the Airport Extreme was originally designed for printers and is basically underpowered for proper HDD connections. Adding a powered USB hub not only allows USB hard drives to work, but you can connect multiple USB devices (hard drives and printers) to share over the Airport Extreme through the powered hub, so you do get that added feature.

That's speculation about the reason the port is underpowered; there's no mention of scanners, or of KAdminsInCo actually using a printer, much less scanner, there.

Since Epson has said your printer won't work that way, that's probably the case.

My question is, which brand will work in this way? I am aware that we are warned that printers/scanners are unreliable using the Airport USB, but perhaps there is an exception?

Some printers will, but from everything I've read here, scanning is not supported.

The Apple tech article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2421 says printers may be used, not printer/scanners.

And, the Apple Store page for the Airport Extreme only mentions printers: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD031LL/A/AirPort-Extreme?fnode=MTY1NDA0Mg

Message was edited by: Pondini

Thanks again for your quick reply, and for the links.

So my last question would be, if I want to use a powered USB hub to the AE for more than one printer, then which is a reliable brand of hub to buy? If anyone has a recommendation of one that works in this set-up, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks!

Any should work, as long as it's powered. USB is USB is USB. 😉

I have a 3-year old Belkin. I don't know the model, but it's probably obsolete by now anyway.

Pondini - Hehe, well the reason I asked is because there is a thread here somewhere about a Belkin hub that was giving people problems (interfacing with Lion I think) and I am trying to avoid rather than invite any more complications!

If a USB hub is a USB hub, then how does one become obsolete? (serious question) - thanks for help.

(I had an Imac G5 for many years running smoothly with 2 Epson printers and 1 Epson scanner connected on a D-Link USB 2. hub to the Imac, and everything worked just fine. Now I have a spankin' new Imac w/ Lion and a TimeCapsule/wifi, and ENDLESS device/connection problems. Tonight I even got the Time Capsule "...not connected" message that I saw you addressed to someone in another thread. Was able to fix it quickly, but honestly I am spending far too much time trying to get this all to work. Wish I had my old computer back! grumble grumble) thanx

For years, I have been using a "no name" Dynex 4 port hub available at Best Buy.

You have thousands invested in your equipment...and you seem to be having problems with a $20 decision. 😉

Even if we gave you a list of exact model numbers, you still will not know if it will work for you until you try it.

Ask the store if you can return the hub if it does not work correctly for you...and try it out.

ellenbogen wrote:

. . .

If a USB hub is a USB hub, then how does one become obsolete? (serious question) -

Most manufacturers make "new and improved" models. Sometimes they're really improved in some way, but often the improvements are cosmetic, or more for marketing. I did just check, and sure enough, Belkin no longer makes the one I have. But it works fine.

(I had an Imac G5 for many years running smoothly with 2 Epson printers and 1 Epson scanner connected on a D-Link USB 2. hub to the Imac, and everything worked just fine. Now I have a spankin' new Imac w/ Lion and a TimeCapsule/wifi, and ENDLESS device/connection problems.

I hope you know, scanners won't work on the TC's USB port. 😟

Without details, we can't help with the connection problems. You'd be better off to start a new thread for that.

Hi Bob - no I am nowhere near a store to run in and out with sampled parts so I want to avoid purchasing (have to do over the internet or drive an hour) anything that is already deemed unreliable.

But that is not my question: for 7-8 years I had all my devices/peripherals (2 Epson printers, 1 scanner etc) connected to a D-Link USB2 hub connected to USB port at Imac G5 and it all worked fine.

Now as I set up each device, they are unstable/not found until I connect them DIRECTLY into the Imac, not the hub. I am not talking about the Time Capsule/wifi unit - just the D-Link hub which I always used. Should I replace the D-Link, or is there something about the IMac/Lion/TimeCapsule/AirportExtremeWifi set-up that requires that all devices/peripherals go directly into the USB ports of the Imac??????

Thank you.

Should I replace the D-Link

Yes. It sounds like you have had good service from your previous D-Link device, so you might want to try another. 5 years use for small accessories like this is about all that you can expect.

Thanks! Gotcha.

I don't know how often people come on here and say "I am an idiot!" - but I'm going to say it now, because yesterday I replaced the 7-year-old D-Link powered USB2 Hub (which connected all my devices/peripherals via USB port on my IMac Lion) - with a new $29.99 Staples powered USB2 Hub - and now everything works: the iMac sees the peripherals, the wifi printing via AirExtreme works properly, Epson scan can find the scanners, etc. Thanks Bob + Pondini for suggesting I test the smallest part of the puzzle - I guess I thought a hub would either work totally or totally go bust, but the D-Link was apparently just mis-functioning some of the time, in other words, slowly deteriorating. T H A N K Y O U!

I backup just fine with windows backup to airport extreme, with selfpowered HD (passport) connected.

The reason i arrived here, is because i have issues when my WIFI security cameras record to the HD.

Then it seems indeed the USB port is underpowered which creates recording problem.

will buy oen of those usb hubs as suggested here, and see if it does the trick!

cheers

Egon

I dont know if anybody is still watching this thread but last week I bought a brand new Extreme and I cannot get it to recognize my 1TB Western Digital HDD. It was suggested to me to try a USB hub with it's own power supply (the HDD has it's own) and it should work. Well I just got a 4 port hub from Radio Shack and it still won't see it. I know it isn't the port because I have 2 flash drives plugged into it and I see both of those. Should I just trash this HDD and get a new one?

How is it formatted?

Neither NTFS or ExFAT will be recognized. See AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule: USB storage device supported formats and protocols.

If it's either of those, connect it to your Mac and reformat it.

Just so you know, Time Machine backups to a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme are not supported, even if the drive is formatted properly.

The drive is formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journal). I went on WD's website and downloaded a firmware updater and a driver installer. I did those and it still isn't working. I downloaded WD's formatting tool so now I am pulling the important files off and I'm going to use it to reformat it again.

I'd recommend using Disk Utility to format it. See #1 in Using Disk Utility.