LaPastenague

Q: 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.

 

Screen Shot 2014-02-18 at 8.37.34 AM.png

 

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

Posted on Feb 17, 2014 3:17 PM

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Q: USB drive compatibility with Airport Routers. Help make database.

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  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Oct 31, 2014 11:36 AM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 9 (54,356 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 31, 2014 11:36 AM in response to LaPastenague

    That is a lot better than expected.. I will have to go back and check my values. (You are using B for Bytes??)

    Yes, the "B" stands for Bytes. I use a number of throughput tools to take the measurements, including IPNetTunerX, Net Monitor, and AJA System Test, to name just a few.

    For the drives that only require 2mA are they powered or in a USB powered hub??

    Neither. They are connected directly to the Time Capsule's USB port where they all get their power from. I believe all of the WD My Passport models get their power this way as they are very portable drives. I have also used several of them together using a powered-USB hub attached to the TC. I found using more than two with an unpowered-hub to be the limit before they become randomly unreliable.

     

    I use a dedicated Symbology NAS for my primary network backups, including the Time Machine ones. The My Passports are secondary backups that I can easily store off-site because of their portability.

  • by nathan_h,

    nathan_h nathan_h Nov 20, 2014 7:01 AM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Nov 20, 2014 7:01 AM in response to LaPastenague

    1. WD My Book 6TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive

    2. No

    3. TBD

    4.

    My Book 1230:

     

      Product ID: 0x1230

      Vendor ID: 0x1058  (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)

      Version: 10.65

      Serial Number: 575835314833343231393133

      Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec

      Manufacturer: Western Digital

      Location ID: 0xfa120000 / 4

      Current Available (mA): 500

      Current Required (mA): 26

      Capacity: 6 TB (6,001,140,957,184 bytes)

      Removable Media: Yes

      Detachable Drive: Yes

      BSD Name: disk3

      Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)

      S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported

  • by nathan_h,

    nathan_h nathan_h Nov 20, 2014 5:52 PM in response to nathan_h
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Nov 20, 2014 5:52 PM in response to nathan_h

    Did some more experimenting, rebooting things, and tried another drive, and then this one, again -- and now it works.  Not sure how to edit my original post so I am updating this info as a reply.  The 6TB WD drive now appears on my network.

  • by DEFCON 3,

    DEFCON 3 DEFCON 3 Dec 4, 2014 8:00 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (118 points)
    Dec 4, 2014 8:00 PM in response to LaPastenague

    1. I’m using this old Fujitsu drive with this basic OWC Express USB2 enclosure

     

    2. Yes, when I try it just now (though I ordinarily run it through a powered hub)

     

    3. N/A

     

    4.

    Express USB2:

     

      Product ID: 0x00db

      Vendor ID: 0x0dc4  (Macpower Peripherals Ltd.)

      Version: 0.00

      Serial Number: 0011051B3262

      Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec

      Manufacturer: OWC

      Location ID: 0xfa130000 / 6

      Current Available (mA): 500

      Current Required (mA): 2

      Capacity: 320.07 GB (320,072,933,376 bytes)

      Removable Media: Yes

      Detachable Drive: Yes

      BSD Name: disk2

      Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)

      S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported

      Volumes:

    EFI:

      Capacity: 209.7 MB (209,715,200 bytes)

      BSD Name: disk2s1

      Content: EFI

      Volume UUID: 85D67001-D93E-3687-A1C2-79D677F0C2E0

    Fujitsu:

      Capacity: 319.73 GB (319,728,959,488 bytes)

      Available: 67.61 GB (67,608,903,680 bytes)

      Writable: Yes

      File System: Journaled HFS+

      BSD Name: disk2s2

      Mount Point: /Volumes/Fujitsu

      Content: Apple_HFS

      Volume UUID: 631E4BBB-1CE6-3508-8126-63BA41408EE1

     

    5. The drive is the original HDD from my MacBook Pro 4,1 (Late 2008), which I recently pulled and now have connected by an OWC USB 2 enclosure to one or the other of two Gen 4 TCs (v. 7.6.1 and 7.6.4).

     

    6. JMicron 20329

  • by lior,

    lior lior Apr 16, 2016 1:14 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (97 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 16, 2016 1:14 PM in response to LaPastenague

    This Orico external enclosure DOES NOT work with Time Capsule A154 (1st gen) USB

    NS1066:

      Product ID: 0x1066

      Vendor ID: 0x2537

      Version: 1.00

      Serial Number: 0123456789ABCDE

      Speed: Up to 5 Gb/sec

      Manufacturer: Norelsys

      Location ID: 0x14700000 / 31

      Current Available (mA): 1800

      Current Required (mA): 2

      Extra Operating Current (mA): 0

      Capacity: 4 TB (4,000,787,030,016 bytes)

      Removable Media: Yes

      Detachable Drive: Yes

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Apr 16, 2016 1:31 PM in response to lior
    Level 9 (52,476 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 16, 2016 1:31 PM in response to lior

    Thanks for the info.

     

    Looking up the chip..

    http://www.norelsys.com/uploads/soft/NS1066_NS1066X_Brief.pdf

     

    It is well worth avoiding the Orico brand if you want things to work with an airport.

     

    https://www.smartmontools.org/wiki/Supported_USB-Devices

     

    USB 3 on a first gen TC is stretching your luck anyway.. !!

     

    I think you have better hope with a USB2 based enclosure with warning that many do not support disk sizes over 2TB.

  • by marsiglia,

    marsiglia marsiglia May 9, 2016 4:37 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    May 9, 2016 4:37 PM in response to LaPastenague

    My own contribution:

    Screen Shot 2016-05-09 at 6.24.46 PM.png

    This is an older hard drive/enclosure combo, purchased from Other World Computing in 2012. Works perfectly when attached to my Airport Extreme Base Stations, both 3rd Gen and 6th Gen., via a powered hub. Was a tad on the expensive side when new, back then. My experience with it is described here: <https://discussions.apple.com/message/30109785#30109785>

     

    Works via a powered hub.

  • by cluelass,

    cluelass cluelass Aug 11, 2016 2:52 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Aug 11, 2016 2:52 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB Portable External Hard Drive with Mobile Device Backup USB 3.0 (Silver) STDR2000101

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FRHTTIA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01 

    2. Yes.

    3. n/a

    4.

    BUP Slim SL:

     

      Product ID: 0xab24

      Vendor ID: 0x0bc2  (Seagate LLC)

      Version: 1.00

      Serial Number: NA7RJQEE

      Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec

      Manufacturer: Seagate

      Location ID: 0x14200000 / 15

      Current Available (mA): 1000

      Current Required (mA): 100

      Extra Operating Current (mA): 0

      Capacity: 2 TB (2,000,398,933,504 bytes)

      Removable Media: Yes

      Detachable Drive: Yes

      BSD Name: disk5

      Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)

    NB: 2 user partitions, both Journaled HFS+

     

    5. Connects to a latest model Time Capsule 802.11ac (June 2013), which is an extension (bridge mode) of the wi-fi network. It also works when I connect it to the Airport Extreme 802.11ac (June 2013) which is the network router off the cable modem.

     

    However, it did not work when I opted to secure shared disks “with accounts”, only when I selected “with device password”. (This is in AirPort Utility on the Disks tab.)

     

    When connected to the TM, it drifts off now and then but I only need to click on the TM in the sidebar and it remounts. It may be different now that I have plugged into the AE router. I keep my default iTunes and Aperture libraries on it. Compared to direct plug-in to my MBP, iTunes is a bit slower to start up, otherwise no difference. Aperture can be considerably slower if I am importing hundreds of pictures, otherwise slowdown is barely perceptible during display and editing.

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Aug 11, 2016 5:04 PM in response to cluelass
    Level 9 (52,476 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 11, 2016 5:04 PM in response to cluelass

    Great to have feedback on these newer portable drives.

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