Would this setup/scenario work?

TheMagicPirate · 14 Nov 2007 at 12:05

Ok, imagine I have the following setup.

New iMac and MacBook, and a Windows Xp PC around my house.

I buy an AirPort Extreme. These 3 PC's should connect ok, yes?

Now I throw into the mix an USB hub, connected to the AirPort, and into the Hub a Printer and External HardDrive.

I would be able to share the printer and HDD on the network, yes?

BUT, would Time Machine work?

Thanks and sorry for the long post lol

EDIT: Actually, a USB WFi back up device is going to be stupidly slow isn't it?

J1234 · 14 Nov 2007 at 13:23

TheMagicPirate said:
Ok, imagine I have the following setup.

New iMac and MacBook, and a Windows Xp PC around my house.

I buy an AirPort Extreme. These 3 PC's should connect ok, yes?

Now I throw into the mix an USB hub, connected to the AirPort, and into the Hub a Printer and External HardDrive.

I would be able to share the printer and HDD on the network, yes?

BUT, would Time Machine work?

Thanks and sorry for the long post lol

EDIT: Actually, a USB WFi back up device is going to be stupidly slow isn't it?

Yes it will connect fine, and yes it should work through a USB hub.

I don't know if time machine can backup over a network, but your right it would be painfully slow for the first backup, after that it only backs up any changes since the last, so won be too bad.

ichabod crane · 14 Nov 2007 at 13:28

If time machine is backing to the HDD it will have to be partitioned as time machine requires HSF format

artaxerxes · 14 Nov 2007 at 13:43

Time Machine will work best if you connect it directly to the actual Mac for the first back up. Then removing it and put it on the Airport Extremememememe, I have seen anecdotal evidence of success - but haven't done it myself.

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Ry@n · 14 Nov 2007 at 17:25

Slightly off topic,

Can you format an external HDD so that both Windows and Mac can read/write to it ? Is this ok to do, or is it simply not recommended?

Thanks

Mr Jones · 14 Nov 2007 at 17:31

Ry@n said:
Slightly off topic,

Can you format an external HDD so that both Windows and Mac can read/write to it ? Is this ok to do, or is it simply not recommended?

Thanks

Fat32 is supported for both Mac/Windows.
NTFS is readable on Mac (no writing)
HFS is not even readable on Windows - unless you install MacDrive, which I've tried under Vista, works like a charm but refuse to work on my XP machine.

Caged · 14 Nov 2007 at 18:19

For something which is readable and writeable in OS X and Windows, I'd use NTFS and then install NTFS-3G in OS X.

However, if it's plugged into the AirPort and shared over SMB and AFP, it doesn't matter what format the drive is as long as the AirPort can understand it, so you could use an HFS+ drive in the AirPort and still write to it from Windows.

Mr Jones · 14 Nov 2007 at 18:26

Caged said:
For something which is readable and writeable in OS X and Windows, I'd use NTFS and then install NTFS-3G in OS X.

Woo... never heard of that "NTFS-3G", might come in useful for me

Have you used it personally and how stable / reliable is it?

Caged · 14 Nov 2007 at 18:57

I've no idea, it seems to be favourably thought of though.

Mr Jones · 14 Nov 2007 at 20:18

I just tried it. It does work with Windows and OS X but the read and write speed is s-l-o-w. I was copying a 120GB from HFS+ to my macbook, took 50mins. Set to copy the same files over the the same drive under NTFS-3G however, has an estimated time of 8hours.

I waited for the 1GB to transfer and that took over 5minutes.

Good idea but not very practical when it comes to file transfering... Fat32 is faster than the NTFS-3G from what I've observed.

Edit:
Comments on NTFS-3G
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3156578562014006371&postID=955067704278387169
Very interesting...