airport express with external hard drive?

[Cinch]

Can I plug an external hard drive or thumb drive into the airport express USB port and have my MacBook recognize and use it?

Thanks

Cinch

 

[rick3000]

Right know you can only use the Express with a USB printer. It will not recognize a hard drive. Their could be a fireware update in the future to make it possible but I wouldn't count on it. The Airport Extreme supports a USB hub and you can connect a printer and HD.

 

[Cinch]

simple setup

@ rick3000

I was hoping to plug in a 32GB thumb drive and use that as my back up for music/movies and photos or a 250 GB Toshiba USB 2.0 to do the same in the future.

Apple intentionally crippling airport express?

Cinch

 

[dylanbrown]

I feel that Apple brands it's AirPort Express as a device that cvan extend your wireless network of another AirPort device, serve your tunes to your stereo and act as a sort-of homeplug.

AirDisk is a feature in the AEBS and Time Capsule, which allows you to connect a USB mass storage device, like a thumb drive or hard drive and share it over your network. It also allows you to us that USB mass storage device as a Time Machine back-up destination.

Hope this helps...

 

[skorpien]

It won't be fixed with a firmware update. As far as I know, the USB controller in the express isn't capable of sharing a USB HDD or thumb drive. Apple isn't intentionally crippling anything, it's just a feature of the Express. If you need that extra functionality, then consider upgrading to an Extreme or a Time Capsule.

Edit: If it was capable, I'm sure there would have been a hack released to enable the functionality, as was the case with the Extreme's Time Machine capabilities before Apple enabled it themselves.

 

[juanir36]

Hope there was a hack... Something like dd-wrt will be sweet!