[Wagman849]

Quick question:

1. I buy a new Airport Extreme and connect via cable modem
2. I connect an external HD via the USB port

I know I could access the HD and its contents via any computer on my network, but what would it take to access this data via PC or Mac ANYWHERE via an internet connection?

I'm a consultant and travel a significant amount; would love to access home files and music and such without carrying an external drive with me.

Thanks!

-Wags

[memory-minus]

Yeah, just tick "Share disk over Ethernet WAN port" in AirPort Utility > Disks > File Sharing, then connect to it by using Finder > Go > Connect to Server... (Apple-K) and typing:

afp://[your IP address]

(AFP assumes your disk is formatted HFS+... if FAT, use smb://)

[Wagman849]

Gotcha, but is there a way to access that drive via Windoze XP? Are there obvious security risks now but putting this drive out there? Is there optional password protection?

Thanks.

-Wags

[ghporter]

As memory-minus says, you can use smb:// to connect either to a FAT-formatted drive, or from Windows to an HFS+ formatted drive. (SAMBA takes care of the details and lets you see the data without worrying about what kind of drive it's on.)

I don't have the new Base Station, so I don't know whether a decent password protection scheme is included.

[memory-minus]

Originally Posted by Wagman849 

Gotcha, but is there a way to access that drive via Windoze XP? Are there obvious security risks now but putting this drive out there? Is there optional password protection?

Yes, as ghporter mentioned, use smb:// when connecting FROM Windows.

Password protection options are provided in AirPort Utility > Disks. You can choose to protect it with the same password used by the base station itself, or set up users.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by memory-minus 

Password protection options are provided in AirPort Utility > Disks.

One wonders how strong that protection is. Is the type of protection referenced in the tech data?

[17MBPC2D]

Are you certain using smb:// will work? Has anyone tried this?

I was trying to figure remotely accessing HD (connected to AEX) from PC/Windows using just: //(ip address)/(name) and can't get connected as Windows File Sharing port #139 is closed inside AEX which I can't manually open.

True: afp://(ip address) works from another apple machine

but I'm about to toss the AEX out the window as I haven't been able to figure out the procedure to access from PC/Windows machine.

FYI, Internet provider: Earthlink/Mindspring via Brighthouse Cable Company in Central Florida.

Originally Posted by memory-minus 

Yes, as ghporter mentioned, use smb:// when connecting FROM Windows.

Password protection options are provided in AirPort Utility > Disks. You can choose to protect it with the same password used by the base station itself, or set up users.

[Wagman849]

Here is what I am trying to basically put together:

I want a big data warehouse of all my music, pics, movies, etc, but be able to access it on the road via a Mac and a PC. I have a iMac Core Duo at home but am forced to use my Dell Laptop for work as most of America is.

What if I bought an old G4 or G3 tower and set it up as some sort of always-on data server? Is anyone doing this?

Thanks!

-Wags

[memory-minus]

Originally Posted by 17MBPC2D 

Are you certain using smb:// will work? Has anyone tried this?

It will, but not exactly. I was thinking in Mac terms and shouldn't have typed it like that. My bad. Windows is SMB by default so you just have to use \\(ip address).

Originally Posted by 17MBPC2D

from PC/Windows using just: //(ip address)/(name)

Did you try \\(ip address) from Windows? Because // won't work.

[ghporter]

...and I copied what memory-minus said without thinking about it. Windows wants servers (and the networked drive counts as one) to start with "\\". This is effectively using SAMBA from the other end-we Mac users use SMB//... to connect to a Windows server/share, and the server address is entered in "Mac terms".