HT204664: AirPort: How to mount an AirPort Extreme USB hard disk volume in Mac OS X and Windows

Learn about AirPort: How to mount an AirPort Extreme USB hard disk volume in Mac OS X and Windows
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proustianzen

Q: cant see disks in the airport extreme setup

cant see disks in the airport extreme "partions" to set up, tried different disks, cables, restart, etc, bottom line the extreme does not see any attached external hard drives, any ideas?

Cheers

Michael

airport extreme, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 1, 2012 3:21 PM

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Q: cant see disks in the airport extreme setup

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  • by Bob Timmons,Solvedanswer

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Aug 1, 2012 3:28 PM in response to proustianzen
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    Aug 1, 2012 3:28 PM in response to proustianzen

    Checklist:

     

    1)  The drive must be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Unless the documentation with your drive specifically states this fact, the drive is very likely pre-formatted for Windows, which will not work on the AirPort Extreme. Use Disk Utility on your Mac to reformat the drive.

     

    2)  Even if the drive is formatted correctly, the USB port on the Extreme is underpowered....so it is often necessary to use a powered USB hub with the Extreme.....even if your hard drive has its own power supply.

     

    3)  The hard drive will not "show up" on the desktop the way that drive that is connected directly to the Mac will do. You must click on the AirPort Extreme icon under the SHARED heading in the Finder, then double click the folder representing the drive to mount it on the desktop.

  • by proustianzen,

    proustianzen proustianzen Aug 1, 2012 3:31 PM in response to proustianzen
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    Aug 1, 2012 3:31 PM in response to proustianzen

    thank you - the drives im trying to use are NTFS, crap-got some work to do:-)

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Aug 1, 2012 3:49 PM in response to proustianzen
    Level 10 (105,268 points)
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    Aug 1, 2012 3:49 PM in response to proustianzen

    FAT32 will work as well,  but file size limitation of 4 GB might be an issue. Better to use Mac OS Extended (Journaled), also known as HFS+ if you can.

     

    Windows will have no problems reading and writing to the drive attached to the AirPort Extreme.