Airport Extreme attached HDD remote access (mac to Mac)

Hi,

Apologies for raising another post on this subject, but the supplied info (mostly from Tesserax) for this topic, although extensive & comprehensive, is still not

allowing me to set up my kit to allow remote Mac access to my AEBS HDD.

Part of the problem I think is that the interface for my Airport Utility is slightly different, another part of the problem no doubt is my own lack of understanding.

I'm going to show the procedure that I followed (kindly posted by Tesserax), with the area's of difficulty highlighted, but first here's my exact set up:

iMac - Mavericks 10.9.1. Airport Extreme 5th gen v6.3.2 - attached HDD (formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)). BT Openreach Fiber Modem. All connected by ethernet. Static external IP supplied by ISP.

Tesseax's guide:

Method #3: Using Port Mapping

Prerequisites:

If the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn) or Time Capsule (TC) is connected directly to the broadband Internet modem, verify that the modem is in bridge mode, i.e., if the modem provides NAT & DHCP services, disable them. - Using Openreach Fibre box; no control over it, but assumed in bridge mode as no double NAT.
If the AEBSn or TC is downstream of another router or gateway device, configure that device for port mapping/forwarding to the AEBSn or TC. (Note: AFP requires that TCP port 548 be mapped.) Also, configure the AEBSn or TC to have a static Private IP address so that it will always be found at the same address. No other gateway devices other than listed above.
Use CheckIP (or equivalent) to determine your router's current Public (WAN-side) IP address. Static IP known & used.

I am using later version of Airport utility (6.3.2)

Setup:

Start the AirPort Utility > Select the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn,) and then, note the IP address shown. Done.
Select Manual Setup. No manual setup tab.
Verify that Connection Sharing = Share a public IP address is selected on the Internet > Internet Connection tab. May be the problem - I don't have this option or any equivalent.
Select Disks, and then, select File Sharing. No option.
Verify that both the "Enable file sharing" and "Share disks over WAN" options are enabled. Done.
Verify that Secure Shared Disks = With a disk password. (Recommended) Done.
Verify that AirPort Disks Guest Access = Not allowed. (Recommended) No option.
Select Advanced, and then, select the Port Mapping tab. No option.
Click the plus sign to add a new port mapping. Done.
For Service, select the "Personal File Sharing" option. Done.
In the Public UDP Port(s) and Public TCP Port(s) boxes, type in a 4-digit port number (e.g., 8888) that you choose. In the Private IP Address box, type the internal IP address of your AEBSn that you wrote down in step 1. In the Private UDP Port(s) and Private TCP Port(s) boxes, type 548. Click Continue. Done; LAN IP address used?
In the Description box, type a descriptive name like "AirPort Disk File Sharing," and then, click Done. Done.
Click on Update. Done.

To connect to the shared AirPort Disk from a remote location using a Mac:

From the Finder > Go > Connect to Server.
Enter the DynDNS-provided Domain Name or Public (WAN-side) IP address of the AEBSn, followed by a colon and the Public port number that you choose in step 11 of the previous procedure. For example: afp://www.mydyndnsdomain.com:8888 or afp://123.456.789.123:8888 Done. Used static IP address & assigned port.
Click Connect.
You should be prompted for your user name and password. The user name can be anything you like; the password should be the Disk password for the AEBSn that you created in step 6 previously. No prompt on remote Mac. Given 'There's a problem connecting' dialogue.
Click Connect.

Arrgh!

Any (further) help on this would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Posted on Feb 10, 2014 1:55 AM

Jan 20, 2016 9:18 AM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks, LaPastenague. What you say makes a lot of sense (even if it's frustrating that Apple is removing services from Airport firmware). I will try your suggestions once I have time. Following Bob Timmons suggestions, I'll put any issues that come up in a new post. (I thought putting related issues together might help, but am happy to follow the advice of experts like Bob.)

Just as an aside, I was thinking of getting a new router as LaP suggests, but wanted to explore the functionality of my existing airport extreme a bit better to know what I was getting into. This experience has me leaning towards eventually getting a non-Apple router next (even though all my computers and phones are Apple). Thanks again all.