External HD though Airport Express?

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Tomaz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2004
311
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Switzerland
I was wondering if it's possible to connect an external USB harddrive to the Airport Express connector and access it wirelessly ?
Anyone knows how to do that?
Thanks, Tom
 

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Tomaz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2004
311
0
Switzerland
dpaanlka said:
I don't think anybody has tried that, since it would be relatively pointless.
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I would like to access music files on this external HD from both my laptops from anywhere within the house? Why is that pointless?
 
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Tomaz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2004
311
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Switzerland
Applespider said:
Now there's a way to encourage people to help you in the future. Perhaps no-one spotted it who knew the answer...

And no, you can't. The USB port will charge an iPod or work with a printer but not with a HD.
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Well it worked with you ;)

Thanks for the answer, so it seems I have to get a ethernet ready HD and connect it to my router in order to have the same effect.

Thanks again. :)
 
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DannySmurf

macrumors 6502a
Jul 7, 2005
628
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Tomaz said:
Well it worked with you ;)

Thanks for the answer, so it seems I have to get a ethernet ready HD and connect it to my router in order to have the same effect.

Thanks again. :)
Click to expand...
Either that, or build (or buy) a cheap used computer, throw a copy of Windows server on it, connect the hard drive to it and share the drive over the network. That's the solution I chose.
 
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Tomaz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2004
311
0
Switzerland
DannySmurf said:
Either that, or build (or buy) a cheap used computer, throw a copy of Windows server on it, connect the hard drive to it and share the drive over the network. That's the solution I chose.
Click to expand...
Would be a solution, but i swore (no myself) to never allow a windoze computer in my household anymore. Mini's are cheap though...hmmm :cool:
 
panoz7

panoz7

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2005
904
1
Raleigh, NC
No need for windows... or an expensive mini.

If you've got an old PC laying around put freeNAS or a linux distro on it. FreeNAS basically makes the PC into a network attached storage device and is super easy to set up. Linux is a little bit harder, but once you get samba configured it's not too bad. That's what i've got at home and it works great.

If you're really set on a mac, buy an old G3 or G4 tower and use that. There's more internal space then in a mini, you can put a PCI raid card in, and the whole thing will be pretty cheap.
 
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Tomaz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2004
311
0
Switzerland
panoz7 said:
...
If you're really set on a mac, buy an old G3 or G4 tower and use that. There's more internal space then in a mini, you can put a PCI raid card in, and the whole thing will be pretty cheap.
Click to expand...
That's actually a pretty good idea!!
 
superleccy

superleccy

macrumors 6502a
Oct 31, 2004
975
22
That there big London
Remember that the maximum speed of 802.11g (Airport) is about one 1/7th of the maximum speed of wired USB (someone correct me if I'm wrong). If you're using your Airport network for other stuff too (music streaming, Internet access), that will bring the speed down further.

I don't know how much of a headache this would be to you, but its something to consider before you rush out and invest in Network Attached Storage.

HTH
SL
 

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