Can I connect a PC Hard Drive to Airport Extreme?
Can I connect a PC Hard Drive to Airport Extreme?
Airport Extreme-OTHER, Windows 7
It'll read and share FAT16 and FAT32 drives, but not exFAT or NTFS ones.
(79775)
9 replies
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Of course. You can connect an external drive to the USB port of your AirPort Extreme to show it on all the computers connected to the AirPort Extreme
Thanks for your quick replies. The reason that I ask is that I just installed a new Airport Extreme...eveything works great...multiple PC's networked, internet access, and printer...all working well, except my WD hard drive isn't showing up in Windows Explorer.
In that case, Niel's reply should help you. Most of the external drives used by Windows are formatted in NTFS, a filesystem that gives problems in OS X, because OS X can't write in it. Instead, we recommend FAT32 or exFAT, but as the AirPort Extreme only detects FAT16 or FAT32, you must use FAT32
If the drive's in a supported format, click here and follow the instructions. The base station must also be a model capable of supporting 802.11n to be able to access USB drives.
(79777)
Thanks very much mende 1 and Niel. I'll look into this.
You are welcome
The Western Digital unfortunately is NTFS. Looks like I need to purchase a new HD. Thanks again.
Instead of purchasing a new HD, I reformatted my NTSF drive to FAT32 using the SwissKnife application. I connected this FAT32 HD to Airport Extreme and set it's parameters in the manual setup section of Airport Utility. This HD drive is now accessible on just one of my 4 PC's. It is accessible in the normal PC location; Windows Explorer. It is not visible in Windows Explorer on my other PC's. How do access this HD from my other PC's? BTW...the one PC on which it is accessible is the PC I used to reformat the drive. Thanks for your help!
Can I connect a PC Hard Drive to Airport Extreme?