Apple Airport Extreme + USB Hard Disk + Time Machine? + Express questions

LordSplodge

LordSplodge

LordSplodge

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OK.

I have 2MB NTL broadband at the moment and what with 3 users on the network it just isn't enough. My wife couldn't watch Coronation Street on ITV catch Up whilst I was on YouTube and the Troll upstairs was on WoW and downloading porno (probably :p ). So I will be upgrading to 20MB. Go me!

As well as this I am thinking of replacing my Linksys router with an N capable AirPort Extreme. I currently backup my mac via a USB attached HDD. Question one: Can I attach this to the Extreme and backup via Time Machine over the Airport network?

The PC in the Media Room connects via a Linksys Wireless Bridge at 802.11G speeds. Could I replace this with an Airport Express used as a Bridge and get N speeds to the desktop? (Note: this is only temporary for a few months until I get a Mac Mini as that has N built in!)

Finally I have numerous other 802.11 devices (Wii, DS, iPhone) I take it these will all be OK? I ask this as way back when I had my iLamp I had an the tit shaped Airport and some non Mac stuff had problems with it...
 
Officailly you can not connect an external USB drive to the Airport and use it with time machine. I have recently tried this and the drive just does not show on the drives selectable for the target.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306833

However there does seem to be a non official workaround

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20071026075201634


Also Virgin are in the process of rolling out free boradband speed updades

http://www.broadband-expert.co.uk/b...ee-broadband-speed-upgrade-for-customers/7743

Somewhere on the virgin site you can enter your postcode and they will tell you when the updade will be compleated. I will dig the direct link out later
 
Get the Time Capsule.

There is no official way to do it over wireless with the AirPort Extreme, which sucks.

If you do decide on going AirPort Extreme you will get N speeds, providing you have N devices connected. Any G or B devices will slow it down to their speeds.

P.s. Try having 1500kbps ADSL, with no chance of getting cable :p
 
EVH said:
Get the Time Capsule.

There is no official way to do it over wireless with the AirPort Extreme, which sucks.

If you do decide on going AirPort Extreme you will get N speeds, providing you have N devices connected. Any G or B devices will slow it down to their speeds.

P.s. Try having 1500kbps ADSL, with no chance of getting cable :p
Click to expand...

I thought there was no official way of doing this. Oh well it's not much more for the TC.

Does 802.11b/g slow the whole network down? B devices can connect at B speeds whilst G devices get G speeds. It would suck if my Wii, iPhone et al slowed the network down. Bummer.
 
LordSplodge said:
I thought there was no official way of doing this. Oh well it's not much more for the TC.

Does 802.11b/g slow the whole network down? B devices can connect at B speeds whilst G devices get G speeds. It would suck if my Wii, iPhone et al slowed the network down. Bummer.
Click to expand...
Yes.

Using your example. If you had a "N" network setup, and connected an iPhone to it, the whole lot of devices would slow to "g" speeds.

You could however, look in to setting up dual channel Wi-Fi with 2 AirPort Express's. As they're cheap it would be the fastest way to get the N devices running at full speed, while keeping the legacy devices running at theirs.

FYI: This speed restriction is not an Apple hardware thing, the same would hold true for any wireless device broadcasting an "N" network; the slowest device restricts the whole network.
 
EVH said:
Yes.

Using your example. If you had a "N" network setup, and connected an iPhone to it, the whole lot of devices would slow to "g" speeds.

You could however, look in to setting up dual channel Wi-Fi with 2 AirPort Express's. As they're cheap it would be the fastest way to get the N devices running at full speed, while keeping the legacy devices running at theirs.

FYI: This speed restriction is not an Apple hardware thing, the same would hold true for any wireless device broadcasting an "N" network; the slowest device restricts the whole network.
Click to expand...

That sucks.

I'll look in to the dual channel approach!
 
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