Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Tested USB Hard Disk Support for 2012 AirPort Express

Would be nice if they incorporated AirPrint into the Airport - effectively turning any printer into an AirPrint printer. Not being able to print from my iDevice because my printer is too old is a drag.
 
My old airport extreme supports USB printers and hard drives, even with USB hubs. Unfortunately, the performance is terrible and there are occasional corruption issues, making it useless for time machine. While it technically supports it, apple backpedaled and recommends against actually using it.
 
Don't bother with the USB hard drive support. It's a disaster and might as well be unsupported anyway. Best to use it for Time Machine backups if permitted like on the 802.11ac Airport Extreme.
 
Sorry that's not what I meant AT all; I meant that I'm surprised that this functionality isn't supported on the cheaper device; I was saying rather that I wish it was; I have an extreme but for other family members I bought an express; I'd love to see them have it included for that model as well.

coolfactor said:
How can you make a claim like "most consumers are looking to drop Airport Extreme prices", and be mad about it? Just because there are cheaper routers on the market doesn't mean that the Airport routers are equal on all fronts, but at a higher price. The hardware and software is generally superior to many third-party options, even from a pure integration with Macs and iOS devices standpoint.

Apple is a hardware company and needs to make money. The "bargain" they offer (and there is one!) is the longevity of their hardware and software. You get more than you paid for it, easy. If you want a cheaper router, get a cheaper router.

----------



Crippled? That's a bold claim. You do realize that these devices are mini-computers, right? They do a lot of work beyond just routing your network traffic. The Airport Express is a tiny device, and to cram even more functionality and demands into it may have exceeded processing and heat thresholds beyond Apple's quality of standard. What if they decided to roll out that Network Disk feature to the Express and it performed poorly? How pissed would you be then?
Click to expand...
 
hortod1 said:
Would be nice if they incorporated AirPrint into the Airport - effectively turning any printer into an AirPrint printer. Not being able to print from my iDevice because my printer is too old is a drag.
Click to expand...

If your printer has Ethernet, connect it that way. I have an ten-year-old OKIdata C5150N (GDI) printer and I have always used the Ethernet port for printing. If your printer does not have Ethernet, then perhaps its time to update? I highly recommend OKI laser printers. As long as you have a Ethernet port on any printer, you can print to it using ANY computer (MAC or PC) on your network - wired or wireless.
 
I'd like to see Apple add support for connecting an iPhone via USB to the routers so we can do away with modems and ISPs that are landlocked and abuse their monopolistic power >cough< Comcast >cough<......that way it can charge the phone and provide a secure connection for the rest of your devices in the house.
 
Last edited:
Nikiaf said:
I'm not sure if this is true. I have one of each at home and was looking to swap them to improve signal strength where it's needed, but from what I was able to gather from the Internet, the output signal strength is identical between the two.
Click to expand...

Even if the output signal strengths were identical, the antennae are higher up in the Extreme, and with its 802.11ac WiFi technology, and 'Beam forming', the Extreme reaches further and faster, and will definitely outperform the 'N' tech of the Express.

Needless to say, you need computers with ac WiFi capability built-in to take advantage of that performance boost.
 
Kilamite said:
Configured right, it might've given okay performance. I wouldn't expect anything great though, smaller antennas for one.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if USB Mass Storage support was pulled over performance issues with existing AirPort hardware.

There are many third party "network" drives that you just plug into a WiFi hub for shared drives in the market now.
 
I still wonder to this day why on Earth they redesigned the Express. The new design isn't really an improvement at all.
 
reliability

Quu said:
I have one of these, great product. Would be wonderful if I could attach a USB hard disk to it for time machine backups!
Click to expand...

Apple originally included TM capability with the Airport Extreme but pulled it at the last minute, leaving that to Time Capsule only. Lots of people wondered why and I heard that it was because of reliability. Apparently TC has some extra "stuff" in it that handles interruptions better.

I too would like TM from an Express, but I want reliability more.
 
vpndev said:
Apple originally included TM capability with the Airport Extreme but pulled it at the last minute
Click to expand...

?? The current AirPort Extreme does support Time Machine via an attached USB drive. It specifies that right in the manual. I've been doing it for several months and it works perfectly.
 
octothorpe8 said:
?? The current AirPort Extreme does support Time Machine via an attached USB drive. It specifies that right in the manual. I've been doing it for several months and it works perfectly.
Click to expand...

Manual? Lucky you! My time machine did not come with a manual nor did it come with any software. I purchased the time machine before having one Apple computer in the home. It was somewhat of a chore to setup and install, but I was able to do it.
 
coolfactor said:
How can you make a claim like "most consumers are looking to drop Airport Extreme prices", and be mad about it? Just because there are cheaper routers on the market doesn't mean that the Airport routers are equal on all fronts, but at a higher price. The hardware and software is generally superior to many third-party options, even from a pure integration with Macs and iOS devices standpoint.

Apple is a hardware company and needs to make money. The "bargain" they offer (and there is one!) is the longevity of their hardware and software. You get more than you paid for it, easy. If you want a cheaper router, get a cheaper router.

----------



Crippled? That's a bold claim. You do realize that these devices are mini-computers, right? They do a lot of work beyond just routing your network traffic. The Airport Express is a tiny device, and to cram even more functionality and demands into it may have exceeded processing and heat thresholds beyond Apple's quality of standard. What if they decided to roll out that Network Disk feature to the Express and it performed poorly? How pissed would you be then?
Click to expand...

A few things, you can buy cheaper routers that allow 3rd party USB use. Apple didn't because it would stop people buying the extreme. The hardware and software is no different from any other router, as for working better with the hardware that's a joke. you should be able to plug in any router and it'll work.
 
TheDoctor1010 said:
Manual? Lucky you! My time machine did not come with a manual nor did it come with any software. I purchased the time machine before having one Apple computer in the home. It was somewhat of a chore to setup and install, but I was able to do it.
Click to expand...

You mean your Time Capsule? Time Machine is the OS X feature that lets you back up and recover files.

And I can't imagine how it wouldn't have come with any kind of quick start guide, unless you bought it used or something. My airport extreme was a refurb from apple and still came with documentation — it's a tiny booklet.

There's no "software" for it because it just out of the box works with a Mac and I believe can also be configured via iOS.
 
USB Support on Airport Extreme is proven unreliable

Even if USB drives were supported on the Express- Apple has yet to prove that USB connectivity works on the expensive Extreme. After six months of testing variuos USB attached drives I have yet to see the Time Machine work for longer that a month before I encounter a corrupted file. I have tried it two Mac Book Airs, one iMac all running current 10.9.x software. My Airport Extreme is current sixth generation.

I moved over to Carbon Copy Cloner and eliminated the file corruption problem.
 
TheDoctor1010 said:
If your printer has Ethernet, connect it that way. I have an ten-year-old OKIdata C5150N (GDI) printer and I have always used the Ethernet port for printing. If your printer does not have Ethernet, then perhaps its time to update? I highly recommend OKI laser printers. As long as you have a Ethernet port on any printer, you can print to it using ANY computer (MAC or PC) on your network - wired or wireless.
Click to expand...

That is correct, however this is not the same as AirPrint, which allows you to print direcdtly from your iOS device.
 
macs4nw said:
Even if the output signal strengths were identical, the antennae are higher up in the Extreme, and with its 802.11ac WiFi technology, and 'Beam forming', the Extreme reaches further and faster, and will definitely outperform the 'N' tech of the Express.

Needless to say, you need computers with ac WiFi capability built-in to take advantage of that performance boost.
Click to expand...

my bad, I was thinking of the previous generation airport extreme. The new one has several obvious benefits, so yes what you've said is completely true.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back