Can´t share usb drive in apple network

[rev.b]

I have 3 computers at home: pc, IMac and Macbook air. The IMac has 2 external drives attached: one by FW800, formated as HFS+, and another by usb, formatted as NTFS. This was the usb drive attached to the pc, it contains all my media, and I used it as a server to access multimedia files on wireless lan. I now have it connected to the IMac, as the pc is now seldom used

Problem is, my Macbook air can't see this usb shared drive on IMac and I can't figure out why, either as guest or as registered user with admin permissions. The fw800 external disk is seen.

On System preferences -> Sharing I added the disk as a shared folder, put everyone with read & write permissions, and shared it using AFP and SMB. Strangely enough, Vista 64 on the pc can find the shared disk (SMB I guess) without any problems.

What I'm I doing wrong?

Thanks.

 

[rev.b]

No one?
It's not possible to make a usb drive a shared folder in network?

 

[satelshawn]

Nothing to do with USB

Hey rev.b,

I am having the same problem as you but with a twist and I think I have worked out the problem. It seems to have nothing to do with the USB tho.

I have 1 Firewire 800 1.5 TB drive set up on my iMac, houses my iTunes library and serves it up fine over the network. I can connect to it via any other Mac I own and over Mobile Me.

I have another 500 Gig drive that is USB2.0. It houses various backups. This one can also be accessed over the network from any Mac I own and over
Mobile Me with no problems.

Both of those drives stay permanently hooked up to that iMac.

My third drive, 250 gig drive I use for work and it goes with me (when I don't forget it). It is USB2.0 and it DOESNT work over the network.

All these drives are from the same manufacturer, LACIE.

The only difference between them? The first 2 are formatted with Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The last one is FAT32. That is the problem. I backed up the drive and formatted it to NTFS, still didn't show up on the network. Formatted it again as Mac Journaled, worked like a charm!!

I don't know why this is so, but it seems to be the case. My guess is Apple isn't paying Microshaft licensing fees to use FAT or NTFS over the network. But that is just a guess.

 

[MisterMe]

... My guess is Apple isn't paying Microshaft licensing fees to use FAT or NTFS over the network. But that is just a guess.

Please be reminded that MacOS X cannot write to NTFS volumes without third-party software. Without built-in support for writing to NTFS, sharing NTFS volumes would be of very limited use.

 

[satelshawn]

Please be reminded that MacOS X cannot write to NTFS volumes without third-party software. Without built-in support for writing to NTFS, sharing NTFS volumes would be of very limited use.

Limited maybe but useful all the same. As a perfect example, my father had to go out of town in a hurry for work yesterday, he left his USB HDD with all his work files plugged into his MacPro.

Now he is on the job site and needs the plans which are on the HDD. All he needs to do get the files off that drive. He has MobileMe with Back to My Mac on his MacbookPro he has with him on the job location. But because the drive is FAT he cannot. Same story if it was NTFS. He does not need to write to the drive, only copy the 150 meg file over. In the end he had to do screen sharing to pull it off by copying the files from the drive to the desktop and then accessing them. That is a pain as his connection on the job site isn't exactly snappy, he is looking at an overnight 8 hour download to get the file.

 

[macintoshtoffy]

Please be reminded that MacOS X cannot write to NTFS volumes without third-party software. Without built-in support for writing to NTFS, sharing NTFS volumes would be of very limited use.

If it is shared over the network, the file system of the drive being exported over the network is irrelevant; the only thing relevant is the protocol being used; that is why you can mount a ZFS NFS export on Windows Vista.

If anything I'd say there are issues between NTFS support (permissions etc) and SMB/AFP. You're probably better of either moving to HFS+ or possibly installing NTFS/MacFUSE and see how that works.

 

[satelshawn]

If it is shared over the network, the file system of the drive being exported over the network is irrelevant; the only thing relevant is the protocol being used; that is why you can mount a ZFS NFS export on Windows Vista.

If anything I'd say there are issues between NTFS support (permissions etc) and SMB/AFP. You're probably better of either moving to HFS+ or possibly installing NTFS/MacFUSE and see how that works.

NTFS or FAT, doesn't make a lick of difference. At least with FAT Mac OS can write to it. But it still wont share it as a network drive. However both drives formated in HFS+ work just fine. Can take the same drives and format them in FAT and they disappear from the network. If it is mounted then it should show up. There really shouldn't be any need for the user to get into changing the SMB settings jacking around in the terminal as I have seen many people suggest on other sites.

Most people with Mac's still exist in a world where they often need to use their external portable drives on Windows machines on occasion, and this means using FAT. Most all HDD's, SD Cards, Flash Discs, USB Thumb Drives etc all come formated in FAT.

One would think the least the system could do is share an already mounted drive over the network, especially if it can already write to it.

 

[macintoshtoffy]

NTFS or FAT, doesn't make a lick of difference. At least with FAT Mac OS can write to it. But it still wont share it as a network drive. However both drives formated in HFS+ work just fine. Can take the same drives and format them in FAT and they disappear from the network. If it is mounted then it should show up. There really shouldn't be any need for the user to get into changing the SMB settings jacking around in the terminal as I have seen many people suggest on other sites.

Most people with Mac's still exist in a world where they often need to use their external portable drives on Windows machines on occasion, and this means using FAT. Most all HDD's, SD Cards, Flash Discs, USB Thumb Drives etc all come formated in FAT.

One would think the least the system could do is share an already mounted drive over the network, especially if it can already write to it.

WHich is why I said to give NTFS-3G/MacFUSE a try - but what ever; complaining rather than trying out some suggestions is so much cooler these days.

 

[MisterMe]

If it is shared over the network, the file system of the drive being exported over the network is irrelevant; ...

That is so not true. You are confusing the role of the client and server. The client doesn't care about the underlying file system of the shared volume. This is because the server acts as the intermediary between the client and shared volume. However, the server must be able to read and write the shared volume. Apple is not going to enable a server that requires third-party software. However, it is possible for a third-party or parties to provide complete support for shared NTFS volumes on MacOS X.

 

[ohthefunk]

I think you're absolutely right, MisterMe. The underlying protocol doesn't matter since in this scenario, it's merely a client/server relationship. Otherwise, any Windows box using NTFS would be completely inaccessible to a Mac. However, if Apple refuses to allow the third-party software (I use MacFUSE/NTFS-3G), then the drive is inaccessible.

However, if you want to access the files without read/write access, simply deactivate whatever third-party program you're using. Then Apple's default NTFS read-only drivers kick in, and it's perfectly happy using them to share the files over the network.

What I want to know is: has anyone devised a third-party file sharing protocol. Essentially, has anyone made a MacFUSE/NTFS-3G system but for network sharing?

 

[MisterMe]

... However, if Apple refuses to allow the third-party software (I use MacFUSE/NTFS-3G), then the drive is inaccessible.

...

First, MacFUSE is now part of NTFS-3G.

Second, NTFS-3G is user software, not system software. You can't run a server that depends on having a specific user logged on to the computer. This, however, does not prevent a third-party from developing a complete NTFS-based server solution for MacOS X.