External USB hard drive not recognized by Airport Extreme (via USB hub)

I too, have a USB Hub underneath by Airport Extreme. How can you actually access Disk Utility? I tried opening the application under the Utilities folder and it has two options, but nothing shows up...

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this...

It will not work with the older hubs. It must support USB 2.0. That could be your problem.

It's actually USB 2.0 :/ any other thoughts? thanks for the reply.

The question isn't answered, I am having the same problem if I use an old USB hub 1.1 my hard drive works but at 1.1 speeds, when I use a 2.0 USB hub my printer works but the hard drive doesn't.

I have exactly the same issue as you. Just posted the question, hopefully someone knows what to do. Seems to be a common issue now that I have been searching more extensively

airport extreme needs you to manually set up your usb disk. you should be able to see your usb disk that is connected to airport extreme when you open the airport utility, and double click on the base station. Select the Disks icon from above the window and you should see the drive listed.
You should verify that your hub is functioning properly and is self powered if the drive is not listed.

unfortunately I have the same problem that you have and have not been able to resolve it yet! My drive (LaCie miniHUB) does not show up in Airport utility. I am calling Apple tomorrow.

iMac Core Duo, macbookpro 17 Mac OS X (10.4.9) apple tv, airport extreme, lacie mini HUB, etc

If your drive that is connected via the usb hub is partitioned then AEBS will not recognize it. The drive must be formatted as a single partition.

I also have trouble getting my USB hard drive recognized by Airport Extreme. I have 2 external USB drives running through a powered USB hub. They are both Maxtor drives, of different types (1 200GB and 1 500GB). I can see the 200GB with no problem, but the 500GB never shows up. This is the case whether I direct connect the drive to AEBS or do it via the hub.

I thought it might be the configuration of the disk (200GB was Apple Partition Map w/ 1 partition and 500GB was Master Boot Record, but I just erased and reformatted the 500GB to Apple Partition Map and it is still invisible. I also updated my AEBS to firmware version 7.1, also to no avail.

This is very frustrating because this one of the big reasons to get the new Airport Extreme in the first place...

I have this same exact problem with a 200gb maxtor and a 500gb wd mybook premium. No solution yet that I know of. Even the 500gb hooked up directly to the AEBSn doesnt work. It shows in the config, but the partition of the 500gb does not mount? Anyone know if it's a size limitation problem? Maybe I should try partitioning it down to 250gb partitions just to see.

Re my own previous post, after rebooting the AEBS after the disk reformat to Apple Partition Map, it now shows up and is working fine as a network drive attached to the AEBS.

I can only assume that the reformat did it...

If your drive that is connected via the usb hub is
partitioned then AEBS will not recognize it. The
drive must be formatted as a single partition.

That is **not true** at all. I have a Maxtor drive formatted as HTFS+ with TWO partitions: one exactly as large as my notebook disk (used to backup the entire notebook drive) and a second one used for general backups for other machines on the network. This drive is connected to the AE through a D-Link powered USB Hub (which also connects two more USB printers).

It all works fine, and ALL partitions are visible from all networked computers.

I have this same exact problem with a 200gb maxtor
and a 500gb wd mybook premium. No solution yet that
I know of. Even the 500gb hooked up directly to the
AEBSn doesnt work. It shows in the config, but the
partition of the 500gb does not mount? Anyone know
if it's a size limitation problem? Maybe I should
try partitioning it down to 250gb partitions just to
see.

No, the limit is not an issue. I have a Maxtor 750GB USB drive connected to the AEBSn, formatted with 2 partitions (94GB and 640 GB) and both partitions mount and are perfectly visible to all networked computers.

I made some experience during the last days. It seems that the external USB hard drive must be fully spinned up and ready before you connect it to the AirPort.

I think some drives have external power supply and spin up as soon as you switch them on. Other drives, like my Iomega MiniMax 500, only starts once the USB cable is connected with the Airport or my MacBook Pro. However, unlike a normal Mac or PC, which waits and constantly checks the USB port to eventually mount the disk, AirPort seems to expect the disk to be ready within seconds after plugging in the USB cable.

Hence, for now I had to plug an extra USB 2.0 hub between, wait till the disk has spun up and then connect the USB hub to the AirPort. Then all works including my connected Laserjet.

I hope Apple is going to update the firmware so that the timeout for detecting a connected external hard drive will be higher and all more reliable so that the extra hub can go again as the Iomega MiniMax comes already with a built in USB hub.


MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

I tried your suggestion and it worked for me. In my last post to this subject, I had declared victory after having reformatted my disk. However last 2 days my disk never showed up.

So tonight, I had my Maxtor 500GB attached to my usb hub, and turned it on BEFORE I plugged my usb hub into the AEBSn and magically the disk showed up.

I hope it works tomorrow also!!!

Thanks for the suggestion.