Problems sharing a usb hard drive with Airport Extreme

[justusthane]

Hello
I recently ordered a MacBook and an Airport extreme. The MacBook has not arrived yet, but I have the Airport Extreme set up.
So far, I have my DSL modem and my Dell desktop computer both plugged into the Airport, and it's working fine just like that. The indicator light on the Airport is green, and I have Internet on my Dell.
However, when I try to plug my external USB hard drive into the Airport Extreme, I run into problems. The indicator light blinks amber, and it says "Disk needs repair. There is a problem with the disk connected to your Apple wireless device. Connect the disk to your computer to repair the disk."
The disk works when I plug it directly into my computer, so I know it's fine. The disk is branded Elements, powered by WD. Model number WD2500C035. NTFS format.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Edit: Well, apparently Airport Extreme does not support NTFS. Very lame.
Any other suggestions? Is using FAT32 on a 250gb drive reasonable? Am I going to run into problems doing that?

 

[alphaod]

No you format it as HFS+. It's not lame that it doesn't support NTFS; OS X does not support writing to NTFS.

 

[justusthane]

If I use the HFS+ format, I have to purchase MacDrive for $50?
Would I be making a huge mistake by just formatting it as FAT32?
Thanks for the help

Edit: Nevermind, I just read that FAT32 doesn't support drives over 137gb in volume. So my only option is buying MacDrive?

 

[Michael CM1]

When you get your MacBook, hook the drive up and format it as Mac OS X Journaled (or whatever the top one in the list is) in Disk Utility. Then connect it to the USB port on the AEBS. In AirPort Utility, go to Manual Setup, click the Disks icon at the top, select the File Sharing tab, make sure Enable file sharing is checked, then make sure you have the right Workgroup Name for Windows File Sharing.

Make sure you have Bonjour for Windows installed on your PC and allow traffic on Port 5353 (someone make sure I don't mean 3535) on your firewall. After that, search for the AEBS in the workgroup you created. It should show up with whatever disks are attached showing up as mounts. Just create shortcuts on your desktop and you should be good to go.

I FINALLY got this done on an old PC today, so I'm pretty sure it works. It makes me want to slit a Windows XP CD in the throat, but they don't have throats.

If you wonder why you're able to format using Mac OS, it's because the networking protocols (or something in the network) translates the stuff for you. It's how you can get stuff off the Internet from servers using no telling how many OSes and file formats. If you knew all this already, sorry! But it does work.

 

[justusthane]

Thank you SO much, Michael. I'll try it out as soon as I get my MacBook. Do you mind if I PM you if it doesn't work? Thanks, and have a great day

 

[fonty]

Problems sharing a usb hard drive with Airport Extreme

When you get your MacBook, hook the drive up and format it as Mac OS X Journaled (or whatever the top one in the list is) in Disk Utility. Then connect it to the USB port on the AEBS. In AirPort Utility, go to Manual Setup, click the Disks icon at the top, select the File Sharing tab, make sure Enable file sharing is checked, then make sure you have the right Workgroup Name for Windows File Sharing.

Make sure you have Bonjour for Windows installed on your PC and allow traffic on Port 5353 (someone make sure I don't mean 3535) on your firewall. After that, search for the AEBS in the workgroup you created. It should show up with whatever disks are attached showing up as mounts. Just create shortcuts on your desktop and you should be good to go.

I FINALLY got this done on an old PC today, so I'm pretty sure it works. It makes me want to slit a Windows XP CD in the throat, but they don't have throats.

If you wonder why you're able to format using Mac OS, it's because the networking protocols (or something in the network) translates the stuff for you. It's how you can get stuff off the Internet from servers using no telling how many OSes and file formats. If you knew all this already, sorry! But it does work.

Dear Michael,
I tried your approach on this and seem to struggle somewhere
Hope you can shed some further light on this

On the AEBS I activated File Sharing, the disks are secured with 'With a disk password' and the workgroup name is WORKGROUP (no WINS info entered).

My old XP PC is set up with a full computer name and the Workgroup set to WORKGROUP (My Computer > Properties > Computer Name).

I try to find the AEBS with the disks now on my XP PC, but fail
Looking under My Network Places > Entire Network > Microsoft Windows Network I find the icon 'Workgroup' and nothing else. Double clicking on it does not do much at all either ...

So, now I feel totally lost and cant pinpoint where I have gone wrong.

I know you done it and I would be very grateful if you could shed some light, ie. the details on how you did this

Thank you
fonty