[TiltAgain]

Late 2013 iMac 27" running Catalina,
Late 2018 13" MacBook Pro with Touch Bar running Monterey
AirPort Extreme (the tall one with all the latest firmware)
Startech USB Hard Drive dock (USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive Docking Station - HDD Docking Stations)
4TB HDD docked into above dock.

Everything works when the dock is attached to a USB port on any of the computers.

I am trying to connect the HDD to the USB port of the AirPort Extreme to see if I can use it as a cheap home NAS. Yes I know it will be very slow because of USB 1 on the AirPort Extreme.

The internet has solutions, but all of them are very old and pertain more to the AirPort Extreme that looks like the Mac mini.

I found something that says enable File Sharing in the "Disks" tab of Airport Utility and then magically the drive would be visible in Finder (after enabling Network and sharing in Finder itself).

Well, I did all that, and I still cannot see that hard drive on any of the machines.

I wonder if I am missing some steps? Would someone have a better idea on how to get this working?

The reason I need to do this is because the iMac is dying (3TB Fusion drive) and the only affordable replacements are M1 Macs with 256/512 drives (the TeraByte options are unaffordable for me).

Thanks and cheers

 

[[email protected]]

Wouldn’t it be more performant and cheaper to just replace the drive(s) in the iMac?

 

[pm-r]

The reason I need to do this is because the iMac is dying (3TB Fusion drive) and the only affordable replacements are M1 Macs with 256/512 drives (the TeraByte options are unaffordable for me).

Just to reinforce the previous suggestion, I would seriously conside using one of these replacements:
OWC Solid State Drives For iMac 27-Inch (Late 2013 - 2019)

SSD Upgrades for Apple iMac 27-Inch Late 2013 - 2019

Get all the tools needed to safely upgrade your iMac hard drive to a new HD or SSD. Up to 8x the capacity and 92x faster than the original factory drive.

eshop.macsales.com

- Patrick
=======

 

[smashedbanana]

There is a 2.2TB Barrier for older USB.

Sorry.

 

[TiltAgain]

Wouldn’t it be more performant and cheaper to just replace the drive(s) in the iMac?

Unfortunately not. Apparently (from what I have read) it is a nightmare to do so and is best not attempted at all.

Just to reinforce the previous suggestion, I would seriously conside using one of these replacements:
OWC Solid State Drives For iMac 27-Inch (Late 2013 - 2019)

SSD Upgrades for Apple iMac 27-Inch Late 2013 - 2019

Get all the tools needed to safely upgrade your iMac hard drive to a new HD or SSD. Up to 8x the capacity and 92x faster than the original factory drive.

eshop.macsales.com

- Patrick
=======

These are not purchaseable in India. Anyway, I shall read the Lin you posted to see how difficult it is to replace at all. Thank you.

There is a 2.2TB Barrier for older USB.

Sorry.

Huh? Can you please elaborate? Thanks.

Cheers

 

[smashedbanana]

Unfortunately not. Apparently (from what I have read) it is a nightmare to do so and is best not attempted at all.



These are not purchaseable in India. Anyway, I shall read the Lin you posted to see how difficult it is to replace at all. Thank you.



Huh? Can you please elaborate? Thanks.

Cheers

Yup,

That airport extreme only has USB 2.0.

The was a limit on the size of drives that most USB 2.0 controllers could read of 2.2GB. They also failed to recognize drives in many cases. It was a limit of the controllers. I believe the technical term is LBA or LBA barrier. It's been a while but when 3tb drives came out it was an abundant problem.

Since you already have a 4TB drive path of least effort might be to plug drive direct to mac or get a NAS enclosure.

 

[TiltAgain]

SNIP

Since you already have a 4TB drive path of least effort might be to plug drive direct to mac or get a NAS enclosure.

This is what I am looking at now.

I thought I shall buy the smallest Mac mini and a 4K display and a webcam, reuse my keyboard and trackpad, and then build a cheap cheap NAS myself using Openmediavault.

Cheers

 

[[email protected]]

Unfortunately not. Apparently (from what I have read) it is a nightmare to do so and is best not attempted at all.

I have done it literally dozens of times… it’s not a nightmare at all.