How do I plug an external hard drive into my Airport device?
August 14, 2015 1:47 PM Subscribe
I have a Maxtor BlackArmor 250GB external hard drive. I'd like to plug it into my Apple Airport device that serves our house's WiFi. Ultimately, I want to be able to put Plex Media Server on it so we can watch movies and listen to music. How do I make this happen?
I just plugged the hard drive into the Airport's USB port. Nothing happened.
- How do I mount the drive? I'm using Windows 7 Premium.
- Also, will I be able to install Plex on it to function as a house media server?
Maxtor BlackArmor 320GB USB 2.0 2.5" External Hard Drive
AirPort Extreme 802.11n (5th Generation) - Technical Specifications
I just plugged the hard drive into the Airport's USB port. Nothing happened.
- How do I mount the drive? I'm using Windows 7 Premium.
- Also, will I be able to install Plex on it to function as a house media server?
Maxtor BlackArmor 320GB USB 2.0 2.5" External Hard Drive
AirPort Extreme 802.11n (5th Generation) - Technical Specifications
The file system on the drive must be Mac OS Extended (HFS+), FAT16, or FAT32 to be accessible via Airport USB sharing. Encrypted volumes, ExFAT, and NTFS formats aren't supported. Any hardware or software encryption specific to the BlackArmor series won't be supported. Also note that there is an inherent file size limitation in FAT32 of 4GB, and reformatting the drive to FAT32 will make you lose any data that's currently stored on it.
You can't install Plex Media Server on the drive per se. You might be able to install Plex Media Server on your Windows 7 computer and point it to the mounted drive, but the computer will be running the PMS and it might be better just to plug the drive straight into the computer to eliminate USB-->Wifi lag.
posted by bluecore at 1:57 PM on August 14, 2015
You can't install Plex Media Server on the drive per se. You might be able to install Plex Media Server on your Windows 7 computer and point it to the mounted drive, but the computer will be running the PMS and it might be better just to plug the drive straight into the computer to eliminate USB-->Wifi lag.
posted by bluecore at 1:57 PM on August 14, 2015
Response by poster: bluecore, the Win7 PC is a laptop. If I plug the drive straight into it, doesn't that mean I'd have to leave the laptop on 100% of the time?
posted by zooropa at 2:09 PM on August 14, 2015
posted by zooropa at 2:09 PM on August 14, 2015
it does (have to stay on 100%) if you want it to act as a server.
the trouble is that a media server is more than a disk. it needs a processor (ok, strictly a disk does contain a processor or two, but they're dedicated to doing disky things).
what you can do is use a NAS - that is both a disk (possibly multiple disks) and a small processor. unfortunately, your disk is not a NAS. it's "just" a disk in a box - it doesn't have the extra processor (i realise the distinction probably isn't at all clear, unfortunately).
info on plex and nas - includes link to this spreadsheet of compatible hardware.
posted by andrewcooke at 2:16 PM on August 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
the trouble is that a media server is more than a disk. it needs a processor (ok, strictly a disk does contain a processor or two, but they're dedicated to doing disky things).
what you can do is use a NAS - that is both a disk (possibly multiple disks) and a small processor. unfortunately, your disk is not a NAS. it's "just" a disk in a box - it doesn't have the extra processor (i realise the distinction probably isn't at all clear, unfortunately).
info on plex and nas - includes link to this spreadsheet of compatible hardware.
posted by andrewcooke at 2:16 PM on August 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
bluecore, the Win7 PC is a laptop. If I plug the drive straight into it, doesn't that mean I'd have to leave the laptop on 100% of the time?
Yes, but that's how PMS works. The benefit of Plex is that it makes your content available on whatever device you're using, wherever you are. Watching on a Roku on the same network? It will convert the file to a format the Roku can see and push it to the Roku. On an iPhone while riding the bus? It will convert it to a more-bandwidth friendly format and push it out across the interwebs. But the downside is 1) You need a server running any time you want to watch content and 2) you can't install the Plex server on something with a tiny CPU like the Apple Airport. Many people buy Mac Minis (or the Windows equivalent Intel NUCs) just to have a little PMS sitting in their home theater setup.
posted by bluecore at 2:17 PM on August 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yes, but that's how PMS works. The benefit of Plex is that it makes your content available on whatever device you're using, wherever you are. Watching on a Roku on the same network? It will convert the file to a format the Roku can see and push it to the Roku. On an iPhone while riding the bus? It will convert it to a more-bandwidth friendly format and push it out across the interwebs. But the downside is 1) You need a server running any time you want to watch content and 2) you can't install the Plex server on something with a tiny CPU like the Apple Airport. Many people buy Mac Minis (or the Windows equivalent Intel NUCs) just to have a little PMS sitting in their home theater setup.
posted by bluecore at 2:17 PM on August 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
You cannot put plex on any Airport device.
If you have an Airport Extreme (not Express), you can plug a USB drive into it and then access movies or whatever through it using your laptop/desktop the same way you'd access any kind of network share.
As others have said, plex requires a dedicated server.
The first questions you should ask are "what device do I want to watch the movies on?" and "who will be watching them?" and then proceed from there.
If all you want is people with laptops to be able to use a shared network drive, then you don't need plex.
posted by modernnomad at 7:24 PM on August 14, 2015
If you have an Airport Extreme (not Express), you can plug a USB drive into it and then access movies or whatever through it using your laptop/desktop the same way you'd access any kind of network share.
As others have said, plex requires a dedicated server.
The first questions you should ask are "what device do I want to watch the movies on?" and "who will be watching them?" and then proceed from there.
If all you want is people with laptops to be able to use a shared network drive, then you don't need plex.
posted by modernnomad at 7:24 PM on August 14, 2015
You could install Plex on your laptop and use their cloud sync service to uoad your content to a cloud storage service. Then you'll be able to shut your laptop off and still access your media.
Plex in general is great.
posted by reddot at 10:57 AM on August 16, 2015
Plex in general is great.
posted by reddot at 10:57 AM on August 16, 2015
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2> The drive has to be formatted FAT32 or HFS+ I believe. For you, fat32 would be quite a bit easier.
posted by wotsac at 1:50 PM on August 14, 2015