Is it possible...

[Locolako]

I understand that you can hook a printer to your Airport extreme base station and have a print server, but is it possible to then hook a USB hub to that port on the airport?

Then could I hook an external hard drive to the hub along with my printer?

Or is the idea of the external hard drive connected to the airport just not going to work?

In theory I could then access the files from anywhere in my house without having to lug it around.

So is this idea possible?

Thank you for your time.

 

[cbrain]

I don't think so, but if you have multiple computers in your home, then couldn't you just hook the drive up to one of computer and share it through that?

 

[mkrishnan]

No, at least on existing Airports, the USB port is limited to a printer. From what I understand, the reason has to do with the way USB works -- USB devices expect a host that is constantly there for them. The printserver integrated into the AEBS is the thing that's there for a printer. But if you had a USB hard drive connected, for instance, and it wasn't being *served* by the AEBS but rather, the AEBS was making an extended USB connection wirelessly, using a standard that was not designed for wireless activity, think about the consequences.

It would be very easy for a small network instability during a transaction (e.g. a computer falling asleep, a single packet interruption of the wireless signal, etc) to lead the HD into a situation where it ends up writing a garbage block to the disk, and the disk could easily become corrupted.

When you have NAS (network attached storage), there is essentially a little Linux computer in there serving the disk to your computer. That's an essential feature of a NAS.

 

[spork183]

Linksys offers NAS ready routers for pretty cheap.

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/reviews/article.php/3610746

Maybe Apple will introduce the new and improved Airport Extreme Airbus, with space for USB storage passengers to ride along, coming to you at MacWorld Expo SF... Oh come on. It could happen.

 

[mkrishnan]

Maybe Apple will introduce the new and improved Airport Extreme Airbus, with space for USB storage passengers to ride along, coming to you at MacWorld Expo SF... Oh come on. It could happen.

Actually, one point of conversation here has been that Time Machine requires, as far as I know, an HFS+ partition, and few, if any, NAS'es support HFS.... leading one to wonder if something will be done about this? As a NAS and Time Machine seem like a heaven-sent combination for notebook users.

 

[cbrain]

An "Airport Extreme Airbus" ? I thought that Apple could call there next wireless technology "JetPort". That's only is it's considerbly faster though.

 

[hayduke]

Another bummer about the Airport Extreme is that I have an all-in-one printer. So I can't use the scanner etc. if it is connected to the base station. I just ended up sharing it through a laptop, but that means the laptop has to be awake...and I still can't share the scanner etc., just the printer. Argh!!!