Airport Extreme hard drive not displaying

[boston04and07]

Hi guys - I was hoping someone might have an insight into a problem I'm having with my Airport Extreme. I have a latest-generation Airport Extreme and have decided to attach an external hard drive for the purpose of Time Machine backups. The hard drive works fine and has backed up my computer when it was plugged in directly to my laptop's USB port without any problems, but it's not showing up on the Airport Extreme. I've plugged it into a powered USB hub so that the AE can also share my printer, but it's not appearing in the Disks section of Airport Utility or in the Shared section of the Finder. Am I doing something wrong? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Altemose]

I've plugged it into a powered USB hub so that the AE can also share my printer, but it's not appearing in the Disks section of Airport Utility or in the Shared section of the Finder. Am I doing something wrong?

Is File Sharing turned on in AirPort Utility? Your USB hard drive must be formatted in either FAT 32 or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

 

[CoastalOR]

Is File Sharing turned on in AirPort Utility? Your USB hard drive must be formatted in either FAT 32 or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

My understanding is that it is recommended that the drive be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) only for Time Machine use.

 

[CoastalOR]

Hi guys - I was hoping someone might have an insight into a problem I'm having with my Airport Extreme. I have a latest-generation Airport Extreme and have decided to attach an external hard drive for the purpose of Time Machine backups. The hard drive works fine and has backed up my computer when it was plugged in directly to my laptop's USB port without any problems, but it's not showing up on the Airport Extreme. I've plugged it into a powered USB hub so that the AE can also share my printer, but it's not appearing in the Disks section of Airport Utility or in the Shared section of the Finder. Am I doing something wrong? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!

As a test, try connecting the drive directly to the AE (without the USB hub) to see if that works.

 

[boston04and07]

Thanks for your replies!!

Is File Sharing turned on in AirPort Utility? Your USB hard drive must be formatted in either FAT 32 or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

My understanding is that it is recommended that the drive be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) only for Time Machine use.

Yeah, I formatted the hard drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before I did my first TM backup (via USB). File sharing is also turned on in Airport Utility, at least it's checked off.

As a test, try connecting the drive directly to the AE (without the USB hub) to see if that works.

Tried that, to no avail. Weirdly enough my printer is working, both plugged into the AE directly as well as plugged into the hub, so I'm guessing the hub/USB port on my AE are okay...

 

[Altemose]

Yeah, I formatted the hard drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before I did my first TM backup (via USB). File sharing is also turned on in Airport Utility, at least it's checked off.

Reformat the drive and then try it again. Note that you cannot do a backup over USB and then switch it to the AirPort since Time Machine uses different file types for network backups and locally connected backups.

 

[boston04and07]

Reformat the drive and then try it again. Note that you cannot do a backup over USB and then switch it to the AirPort since Time Machine uses different file types for network backups and locally connected backups.

Interesting, I had no idea! Thanks, I'll try that.

 

[Altemose]

Interesting, I had no idea! Thanks, I'll try that.

Report back if you have any questions!