Airport Extreme USB Disk - Internet Sharing SUCCESS

[kkachurak]

Just have to vocalize my sheer joy.

For about the last week, I have been trying to make my USB disk accessible over the Internet via "back to my Mac" with no success.

I even called AppleCare who reluctantly tried to help me. I gave up after AppleCare told me there needed to be a "computer" at "home" to facilitate the connection. Ergo, I thought what I was trying to do was impossible.

Well, I guess the true issue was my USB disk. I was using a cheap enclosure on a WD 640gb. I switched to a BlacX USB slot and 1TB WD green drive, and now... it WORKS!

I am listening to my extensive, 600gb music library that I have at home, AT WORK.

WOO HOO. I love my Mac.

 

[j2048b]

Just have to vocalize my sheer joy.

For about the last week, I have been trying to make my USB disk accessible over the Internet via "back to my Mac" with no success.

I even called AppleCare who reluctantly tried to help me. I gave up after AppleCare told me there needed to be a "computer" at "home" to facilitate the connection. Ergo, I thought what I was trying to do was impossible.

Well, I guess the true issue was my USB disk. I was using a cheap enclosure on a WD 640gb. I switched to a BlacX USB slot and 1TB WD green drive, and now... it WORKS!

I am listening to my extensive, 600gb music library that I have at home, AT WORK.

WOO HOO. I love my Mac.

well do tell.... how ya do it? and what items you need to accomplish this awesomeness



thanks!

 

[kkachurak]

well do tell.... how ya do it? and what items you need to accomplish this awesomeness

Well, check out my sig to see the hardware. On the AEBS end, I have a BlacX "cradle" and a 1TB hard disk, as posted above.

In the AEBS settings (through AirPort Utility) I just went to the Advanced section -> MobileMe tab and put it my MobileMe account info.

Restarted the router, yada yada yada.

When I'm in the house, the shared disk works as normal. And when I'm out of the house, on the Internet, the shared disk... works as normal!

Obviously, there is a bit more lag because I'm accessing over the Internet as opposed to the local network. But for music, this lag is minimal (half second to full second).

The best part about this? Aside from the technical difficulties I had with the previous drive and enclosure, there really wasn't a ton I needed to do. It just worked... more or less. And I find that a lot these days on my MacBook (and previous Mac Pro Octocore, PowerBook G4, PowerBook Titanium, and MacPro Quicksilver machines).

I wouldn't consider myself "computer savvy" even though I know my way around the basics of FCP, Motion and Photoshop. Things are just intuitive. They work... the way the computer claims it will and the way you would expect.

Awesome stuff, indeed.

 

[bohbot16]

Could you do the following?
Open up Airport Utility, select your AEBS, and then click Manual Setup
Click Disks at the top, then File Sharing
How did you fill this out? Did you select "Share disks over WAN"? What about "Share over the Internet using Bonjour"?

Thanks!

 

[kkachurak]

Could you do the following?
Open up Airport Utility, select your AEBS, and then click Manual Setup
Click Disks at the top, then File Sharing
How did you fill this out? Did you select "Share disks over WAN"? What about "Share over the Internet using Bonjour"?

Nope and nope. Neither of those boxes are checked.

I went to the "Advanced" section. Then I went to the MobileMe tab. I simply put in my account name and password.

And presto. The Airport Disk shows up whenever I'm connected to the Internet, regardless of whether I'm on my LAN or my connection at work.

I will test at the local Starbucks and see how it works.

 

[929406]

please do, I have been messing around with this function as well but no success yet. I shall try your tips and see.

Once I can work that out and the print sharing feature I'll be set, thanks

 

[929406]

Just have to vocalize my sheer joy.

For about the last week, I have been trying to make my USB disk accessible over the Internet via "back to my Mac" with no success.

I even called AppleCare who reluctantly tried to help me. I gave up after AppleCare told me there needed to be a "computer" at "home" to facilitate the connection. Ergo, I thought what I was trying to do was impossible.

Well, I guess the true issue was my USB disk. I was using a cheap enclosure on a WD 640gb. I switched to a BlacX USB slot and 1TB WD green drive, and now... it WORKS!

I am listening to my extensive, 600gb music library that I have at home, AT WORK.

WOO HOO. I love my Mac.

BTW....do you think only 3.5" HD's work in this case, my 2.5 works fine as a wireless TM backup drive, I guess there is no reason why it can't be accessed over the internet