USB drive compatibility with Airport Routers. Help make database.
Please HELP.
Everyone who has a USB drive plugged into the airport directly and working, I want to assemble a database of those that work and those that fail.
And if you could not get it to work but it is ok on a powered USB hub please also give that info.
I see the question over and over about failure of the USB drive to work on a Time Capsule or Extreme (Express is not compatible).
The drive must be formatted correctly. FAT32 or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). (HFS+) are the only formats that work.. and really only the later is recommended.
Yet when people plug their drive into the airport, all correctly formatted it does not work.
There are obvious considerations..
1. Format and partition is correct.
2. Power consumption.. self powered drives may not get enough power.. actually I would not recommend using self-powered drives with any of the older version TC.. the power supply is underrated.. and even the AE power supply is far from excessive. The new version AC models have a far more powerful supply, so self powered drives should not be a problem.
3. USB chipset.. I think the problem is here. A USB drive can work fine on the Computer.. it has huge number of drivers available but the AE/TC has limited firmware space and limited number of drivers. So what I want is to find those that work and those that don't.
Info I would like.
1. Make and model.. as much info as required that a person could go out and buy that same one. ie versions maybe important.
2. Does it work directly on the AE/TC?.. yes or no.
3. Does it work via a powered hub? yes or no. Leave this blank if the answer to 2 is yes.
4. Can you please plug it into the Mac, open the system information and give me this info.
Touro Desk Pro:
Product ID: 0x1013
Vendor ID: 0x4971
Version: 0.00
Serial Number: 31001304180002200312
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: HGST
Location ID: 0xfa130000 / 5
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 8
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,136,448 bytes)
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: Yes
BSD Name: disk1
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
It will be more useful as a copy and paste.
But here is the screenshot. So you know where to find it.
5. Comments
You might want to tell us if it is terrible or slow.. or cheap and excellent.. recommend to others or stay away.
The last bit I want is to work out if any of the technical id stuff helps.
What is the USB chipset? You do not need to add the info.. I can search for it.. but when I google the Vendor ID: 0x4971 I discover this is JMicron.
If you are interested then please you can add it as well.
There is a lot of info around the web.. look for reliable source.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki/Supported_USB-Devices
6. USB chipset. JMicron
Maybe we can track down the factors that are making it hard to pick devices that work and devices that don't.
At least have a list of drives known to work could be helpful.
There is a listing.. http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/8014.html It is way out of date.
That is the only one I know of.. but if people can point to others that is great.
Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), 2011 base model
