-
All replies
-
Helpful answers
-
Jul 30, 2016 6:29 AM in response to alaninnjby Bob Timmons,Sorry, I am not clear on what you are trying to do. Are you saying that you are trying to use the USB port on the AirPort Express to connect to a hard drive?
If that is the case, there is not really anything to troubleshoot here, since the USB port on an AirPort Express will only support a compatible USB printer. It does not support any other type of device, so it would not matter what type of USB to Ethernet adapter that you might have.
-
Jul 30, 2016 8:19 AM in response to alaninnjby Tesserax,The USB port on the AirPort Express is basically only designed to be used with USB printers.
Since the Synology DS213 has a Gigabit Ethernet port in addition to USB ports, just connect an Ethernet cable between it and the LAN (opposing arrows) port on the AirPort Express for connectivity.
-
Jul 30, 2016 8:29 AM in response to Tesseraxby Bob Timmons,When alaninnj said that the only available port on the Express was USB, I assumed that he had an older one Ethernet port version of the Express and that he was using the Express to connect to a modem. So, the only available port left on the Express would have been USB.
I may have assumed too much. Hopefully the OP will let us know more about his set up to clarify things.
-
Jul 30, 2016 8:33 AM in response to Bob Timmonsby Tesserax,Good point! I took the following "I just acquired a =n airport express" and took that to mean the 2nd generation model. Let's see what the OP has to say.
-
Aug 12, 2016 5:05 PM in response to Bob Timmonsby purplehazevr6,Am I correct in my way of thinking here, but the USB port on the Airport Extreme has more functionality than as merely a printer port?
AirPort base stations: About USB disks - Apple Support
Therefore; providing the same functionality as a Time Capsule?
-
Aug 12, 2016 5:21 PM in response to purplehazevr6by LaPastenague,Therefore; providing the same functionality as a Time Capsule?
No.. the express does not support hard drives.. exactly as stated by two senior gurus.
Apple did not include disk access because the Express is slow.. only 100mbit ethernet .. so this would go slow slow very very slow if it did work.. which it doesn't. It is better to plug USB straight to your computer.. especially if the computer has USB 3.. by a factor of 50x.
-
Aug 12, 2016 6:10 PM in response to LaPastenagueby purplehazevr6,My tied eyes mis-read the 'Express' for 'Extreme'. Hence the ability of the Extreme to provide a 'shared' disk or a LAN disk with remote access, courtesy of the Extreme's USB.
Anyhow as @alaninnj has the Express, please accept my apologies @LaPastenaguea, it was a petulant school-boy error on my behalf.
From the confusion would it not be considered counterintuitive to make a decision to place this theoretical USB Hard drive available to one machine through wired; USB or providing greater functionality, as a insinuated from the outset of my weary and in-accurately stated post. As the the option of non-restrictive access through the advent of the AEBS would be greatly advantageous? Or would you prefer to be tethered, almost akin to that of a G3 PPC - Keyboard - Mouse
-
Aug 12, 2016 7:00 PM in response to purplehazevr6by LaPastenague,Or would you prefer to be tethered, almost akin to that of a G3 PPC - Keyboard - Mouse
The USB drive plugged into a router will always perform poorly when accessed over a network, cf the same disk plugged into the Computer.
So it all depends. If you insist on having nothing plugged into the computer.. which is fine for MBA etc.. then using network disk is understandable.. and considering average wireless speed is not that fast anyway.. then using USB drive plugged into a router can be reasonable way to go.
I do note that USB drive plugged into an AEBS has not proven to be super reliable though. Lots of drives don't work at all.. and some spin down after initial connection.. never to spin up again without the good old .. did you turn it off and on again.. PC troubleshooting type comment.
A Time Capsule with internal drive is superior to the AEBS plus USB by a substantial amount.
I now run a synology NAS (as well as multiple TC) and it far outstrips the network speed of the TC. So if people really want reliable network storage.. I do recommend bypassing routers with USB hanging off them.. and do the job properly. Yes, the initial cost is substantial.. but so are the reliability and speed improvements.
So in line with the original question..
Connecting to external Sinology disk station
Other than needing gigabit and AC wireless to get the best out of the Sin-ology... hence the unsuitable nature of the express which is N wireless and 100mbit.. this is no problem at all. A gen4 or gen5 AE will give 450Mbps wireless (close range on 5ghz) and gigabit ethernet.. but need the Gen6 AEBS for 1300Mbps wireless to later Macs (close range again but even 800Mbps link speed is going to see a big jump in throughput).
-
Aug 12, 2016 7:25 PM in response to LaPastenagueby purplehazevr6,Unfortunately, I made the grave error of poor judgment at the end of 2014, where I splurged what I can remember was the best part of £500 (That was with a good discount!) on a WD 12TB My Cloud EX 2. Tbh it has been nothing but a pain in the derrière.
Although I’ve been looking at what is on the market, after I had painstakingly transferred my iTunes libraries from a series of retro LaCie Firewire Drives that had previously accompanied me with my G4 Powerbook from the early 00’s. Losing a myriad of tracks from a few albums on the migration and the hassle of sorting through my cd's again and pulling a rip from this one and that one - all to maintain equilibrium - is a task for cold winters in the UK.
I did consider keeping the two Red's and passing the outer on to somebody, however I had difficulty finding somebody whom had committed such heinous crimes that their punishment was Western Digital!
-
Aug 12, 2016 7:40 PM in response to purplehazevr6by LaPastenague,I commend the reviews on smallnetbuilder for routers and NAS.. any time you want to buy something.. that happens to be cheap.
I actually do not own a synology.. I run Xpenology.. google it. Synology OS is open source and you can run it in a HP microserver.. or even an old PC depending on location. I would buy a G8 microserver but at the time I had lots of bits and just bought an ITX Q1900 board and loaded Xpenology onto a USB stick to boot it.
It has now run for a couple of years with not a single issue. Muchly superior to the WD casing.
I did consider keeping the two Red's and passing the outer on to somebody, however I had difficulty finding somebody whom had committed such heinous crimes that their punishment was Western Digital!
Do it.. Just do it.. Do it Now. (Arnie voice). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6P40wLThbc
I would either rescue the WD reds.. and put them in your own NAS.. or G8 microserver or whichever you go for.
Or sell off the whole lot and buy again..Synology with Macs. WD reds are ok for domestic NAS.. I tend to buy HGST or Toshiba. (Even if WD now own HGST.. the actual construction of some of the domestic end drives is pretty shoddy).