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emediately

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 14, 2009
48
0
I bought a 1TB Time Capsule and setting up the wireless network was easy. I also added the printer and that works too. However, I am having problems sharing my External Seagate 500GB USB Hard drive. I have a USB hub and I connected it, and when I'm in Airport Utility, I click on Disks, it shows the 500GB Seagate!

However when I'm in Finder, I can't see the 500GB Seagate drive. And I launch Disk Utility, it doesn't show the drive.

How can I access the External USB Drive first of all? And enable it, for sharing via my Time Capsule's wireless network?

The thing is, Time Capsule detects my additional hard drive, but I believe it's not configured to enable using it.

Oh and yes, I checked the Enable File Sharing checkbox & secured it with a password. Airport Disk Guests Access is set to not allowed though. Should I change that? Share Disks over WAN is also unchecked..

Please help...
 
I assume your hard drive is formatted HFS+. If so, have you enabled the Connected Servers checkbox in the Shared subsection of the Sidebar tab in your Finder Preferences?
 
it shouldnt particularly matter the format of the drive connected to it as it will be distributed either way.

have you clicked on the Time Capsule icon in Finder on the side bar?
ohd9y.png


When you click on it, it should show a Folder icon with your time capsules internal drive as well as the drive connected to the USB Hub.

so check in there again.
 
No, my hard drive is actually formatted NTFS.. Is that the problem?

I assume your hard drive is formatted HFS+. If so, have you enabled the Connected Servers checkbox in the Shared subsection of the Sidebar tab in your Finder Preferences?
 
No man, I'm not dumb.. It's not there. There's only a Data folder which contains the backups..

it shouldnt particularly matter the format of the drive connected to it as it will be distributed either way.

have you clicked on the Time Capsule icon in Finder on the side bar?
ohd9y.png


When you click on it, it should show a Folder icon with your time capsules internal drive as well as the drive connected to the USB Hub.

so check in there again.
 
NTFS is the problem

Okay, I guess I know what the problem is. I'll transfer the data, and reformat the drive.
 
Okay, I guess I know what the problem is. I'll transfer the data, and reformat the drive.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the TC won't share NTFS. And although the Time Capsule may share FAT32 formatted drives, Time Machine can only use it if it's formatted HFS+. I know you're not using it for Time Machine but I'm just stating it for those reading this thread that may want to.

Also, FAT32 has a 4GB file limit that you won't run into with HFS+. And if you're worried about sharing between PC and Mac, the TC allows both to access the drive - regardless of its format - with Macs using AFP and PCs using SMB to connect.

Keep us posted on your progress.
 
Yey!

Cool thanks man. I backed up data, formatted it to HFS+, then put everything back on it. Works like a charm. Even on a PC. I was worrying that the HFS+ filesystem wouldn't allow me to read it on a PC, but it's all cool.

Thanks again!

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the TC won't share NTFS. And although the Time Capsule may share FAT32 formatted drives, Time Machine can only use it if it's formatted HFS+. I know you're not using it for Time Machine but I'm just stating it for those reading this thread that may want to.

Also, FAT32 has a 4GB file limit that you won't run into with HFS+. And if you're worried about sharing between PC and Mac, the TC allows both to access the drive - regardless of its format - with Macs using AFP and PCs using SMB to connect.

Keep us posted on your progress.
 
Cool thanks man. I backed up data, formatted it to HFS+, then put everything back on it. Works like a charm. Even on a PC. I was worrying that the HFS+ filesystem wouldn't allow me to read it on a PC, but it's all cool.

Thanks again!

that I think is actually the largest plus side to the TC/AEBS combo of sharing a drive.

multi-platform accessibility despite its drive format.
 
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