Please help: Lacie 3TB connect to Airport Extreme for NAS?

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Level 1

8 points

Please help: Lacie 3TB connect to Airport Extreme for NAS?

Dear all, if someone can help me with this I'd be really grateful.

I want to connect a new Lacie 3TB external hard-drive to my AirPort Extreme to be able to use the Lacie as external network storage, but accessible via wifi.

My understanding is that it should just be a question of connecting the Lacie to the Airport Extreme, and then it should be available on the Finder as an external HD to which I could drag / pick files. I have formatted the Lacie connected to the Macbook Pro 15" (Mavrick) using the DiskUtility without problem.

However, when I connect it to the AirPort Extreme, it's not visible as a separate HD in my finder. Also when I go to DiskUtility, the Lacie doesn't appear in the list of disks (only the MBP SSD and Machintosh HD appears). When I however go to my Time Machine, then I can see that the Lacie appears in there.

The only think I can think of is that the Lacie somehow is seen as an extension of my AirPort so that the Lacie storage is available for the Time Machine, instead of being seen and usable as a separate HD for storage on the wifi?

When I connect the Lacie to the MacBook then it appears under Devices and I can of course drag'n drop. I would however like that it works like that, but over the wifi system so that it's available when I'm home on my wifi network, without having to plug it in (yes, I know transfer rates will be affected, but that's an inconvenience I'm willing to live with for the benefit of having it on the wifi system so I don't need to fiddle with cables).

VERY grateful if someone can help me resolve this problem!

R

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Jan 19, 2015 12:11 PM

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Answer 1

macdane

Level 1

11 points

Jan 2, 2017 11:48 PM in response to macdane

I spoke too soon! Immediately after testing this and finding that it worked, I left town for a week. While away, I tried to access my files but couldn't. After a LOT of searching and working with Apple both in the store and on the phone, I finally got to the bottom of it: the drive was going to sleep, and there was no way to wake it up remotely.

The crux of the matter seems to be that the Rugged Raid drive requires AC power when connected via USB. Once it goes to sleep (as it should) it cannot be woken up by the AEBS because it doesn't "see" the power coming from the AEBS when a request comes in ... all because the drive is getting its power from the wall.

I've tested it out with a couple of other portable drives (1TB and 2TB) that draw power via USB, and it works perfectly even after sitting idle for more than a day. So the trick to making this work appears to be to use a drive that's capable of being powered via USB.

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Answer 2

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,030 points

Jan 19, 2015 12:34 PM in response to scoufr

First things first. The first task is to insure that the drive is being recognized by the AirPort Extreme's USB port.

To do that.....

Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility

Click on the AirPort Extreme icon, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click the Disks tab

The name of the hard drive will appear in this window if the drive is recognized by the AirPort Extreme

In the example shown below, you will see a drive named 500GB that is attached to the USB port of the AirPort Extreme.

Post back on your results and we will continue.

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Answer 3

scoufr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2015 12:41 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Dear Bob, you have no idea how pleased I am to get your message!

When I go to the aiport utility, as you say above, I see two disks 1) DATA which is my Airport internal disk (blue color), and 2) my Lacie disk (yellow color) telling me it has 3TB available.

So, so far so good... it seems that it's recognized. What's next?

PS: the idea is that I'm doing a lot of photo and video editing, meaning that my files are quickly filling my MBP SSD.. so the reason I got the external drive is to have a storage for all the files, accessible when I need them, without clogging my MBP.

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Answer 4

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,030 points

Jan 19, 2015 12:48 PM in response to scoufr

It sounds like you really have a Time Capsule.....which is really an AirPort Extreme with a built in hard drive.

If the drive is recognized in the Disks window of AirPort Utility, you will be able to access the Lacie drive exactly the same way that you access DATA through the Finder.

Are you saying that DATA does not appear in the Finder?

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Answer 5

scoufr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2015 12:55 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Yes, I believe you're right: I have a time capsule (airport express with internal HD).

When I open my finder I see:

FAVOURITES

All My Files

Airdrop

Applications

etc...

DEVICES

Remote Disc

SHARED

My Time Capsule

I do not have anything called "data".

When I connect the Lacie directly to the MacBook it appears under DEVICES as LACIE 3TB

Ideally, and if possible, I would like to have it appear there on the Finder sidebar, as LACIE... but over the wifi (I'm sure you know what I mean)

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Answer 6

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,030 points

Jan 19, 2015 1:06 PM in response to scoufr

Under the SHARED heading in the Finder, click on the Time Capsule icon.

That should reveal the two drives that are associated with the Time Capsule as folders.....in the window to the right. One folder is named DATA and the other will have the name of the hard drive that you assigned to the Lacie.

Double click on the folder representing the Lacie drive to mount the drive icon on the Mac's desktop. You may be asked for the disk password that you set up in AirPort Utility the first time that you do this.

Once the drive icon is mounted on the desktop, you can drag/drop or copy/paste files directly onto the icon, or double click the icon again to open up a window to perform the operations.

You can mount DATA on the desktop the same way if you want to use the drive through the Finder.

CAUTION.......the experts in iPhoto, Aperture, iMovie forums all strongly warn against trying to locate a "working" library on either DATA or another network drive. OK to store backups there, but not your day to day "working" libraries.

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Answer 7

scoufr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2015 1:22 PM in response to Bob Timmons

When I click the Time Capsule, I now get the two files DATA and LACIE as you say. In fact, when I clicked on it before they didn't appear, so I rebooted and now they appear.

However ⚠ when I click on the LACIE, I get an error message coming up on the screen "The operation can't be completed because the original item for "LACIE 3TB" can't be found"

What's that??

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Answer 8

scoufr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2015 1:28 PM in response to scoufr

UPDATE: Ok, now that works... but when I single-click on the Lacie, it just highlights (no mounting going on as far as I can see). When I double-click, it opens up the content as normal (so I suppose I can now drag'n drop into it). However, there is still nothing appearing for the Lacie separate on my finder sidebar.

I tried to just drag and drop the LACIE onto "favourites" and it appears as if it would be able to place there (when it hovers above e.g. documents, documents get the blue ring around it, and when I place it between two folders it highlights the blue line), but when I release nothing happens.

So, appears I can now access it... but still not appearing as a separate drive on my finder side bar...?

(PS: appreciate your patience...)

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Answer 9

scoufr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2015 1:30 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Also, I dried to drag and drop a file from my desktop into the Lacie (hovering over Time Capsule, and releasing after the DATA and LACIE opened up). And whilst it looks like it would copy in there, in fact... nothing happens, for when I go after and open the Lacie folder, it's still empty.

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Answer 10

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,030 points

Jan 19, 2015 1:41 PM in response to scoufr

However, there is still nothing appearing for the Lacie separate on my finder sidebar.

The Lacie, like DATA, will never appear in the Finder sidebar. Remember, these are network drives......totally different from a local drive connected directly to a Mac.

Only drives that are directly connected to the Mac via USB, FireWire, etc will appear in the Finder sidebar under Devices.

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Answer 11

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,030 points

Jan 19, 2015 1:44 PM in response to scoufr

Also, I dried to drag and drop a file from my desktop into the Lacie (hovering over Time Capsule, and releasing after the DATA and LACIE opened up). And whilst it looks like it would copy in there, in fact... nothing happens, for when I go after and open the Lacie folder, it's still empty.

I assume that the Lacie drive has read and write access. If you cannot drag a file onto the Lacie drive icon that is mounted on the Mac's desktop and drop it there, then I have no explanation for that, and cannot duplicate that error when I test here.

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Answer 12

scoufr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2015 1:46 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Ok, what you say about the Network drives (as opposed to local drives) makes sense.

However, it still appears however that I cannot drag'n drop into the Lacie drive, taking a file from e.g. the desktop?

Also, as you're being so helpful: when I formatted (erased) it by connecting it directly to the laptop and using the DiskUtility, I selected the OS X Extended. Having now been scurrying around on Google I'm getting the impression that I should have formatted/erased it with OS X Extended (journaled) - opinion?

Thank you again

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Answer 13

scoufr Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2015 1:48 PM in response to Bob Timmons

"I assume that the Lacie drive has read and write access. If you cannot drag a file onto the Lacie drive icon that is mounted on the Mac's desktop and drop it there, then I have no explanation for that, and cannot duplicate that error when I test here."

Yes, I would assume it has read/write access. Is there any way I can confirm that however? And, as per above, it actually never appears to mount on the desktop (I assume by mounting you mean that the icon would appear on my actual desktop when I click it?)

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Answer 14

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,030 points

Jan 19, 2015 3:02 PM in response to scoufr

The drive needs to be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), which is also known as HFS+.

That should have been the default setting in Disk Utility. Disk Utility will also reveal details about the drive. By default, it will allow read and write access.

When the drive mounts on the desktop, it will look like this, for example.....similar to the way that Macintosh HD looks.

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Answer 15

macdane

Level 1

11 points

Dec 20, 2016 7:24 PM in response to scoufr

I know this is an old thread but it popped up when I was looking for help with a similar problem, and I hope my solution helps others.

I have a 4TB LaCie Rugged Raid (Thunderbolt/USB3) full of photos. Wanting to access these photos remotely, I plugged the drive into my Airport Extreme Base Station but trying to connect through the network kept giving me an error message: "The operation can’t be completed because the original item for “LaCie” can’t be found."

After trying all of the suggestions I found online (to no avail) I disconnected the drive and plugged it directly into my MacBook Pro to confirm (a) that it worked when connected directly and (b) that it was in fact formatted as HFS+ (it was).

As soon as I plugged the drive into my MBP, the LaCie Desktop Manager app popped up. I went into the preferences and unchecked all of the options (so the app won't do anything automatically). I moved the drive back over to the AEBS and voila ... everything works perfectly.

Hope this can help someone some day!

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