Connecting external Hard Drive via ethernet cable

I have recently switched from PC to Mac. In doing so I salvaged my old 500 gig Seagate Barracuda Hard Drive and placed it into a NexStar: LS 3.5 inch external case with USB and Ethernet connection capability.

For a month or so I have been backing up my data using Time Machine via the USB connection with no problems.

Recently I tried to utilise the Ethernet connection, however I have been unable to have the Mac Finder identify the drive. It does appear with a functioning green indicator light in the Network/Internet tab of System Preferences as Built-In-Ethernet with Self Assigned IP.

My question is how do I connect the drive using the Ethernet Cable for backup via Time Machine.

FYI: I also have a wireless a 2Wire ADSL 2+ modem/router (Supplied by Telstra Australia) with 4 Ethernet ports. So my second question is could the process be completed using this piece of hardware?

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I’m new to the world of networking in general.

Kind Regards Mad Hawk

Yes you can connect the HDD to your wired router, and use it that way, you will however have to make some changes, Open a terminal window and type this exactly...

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

If you start to get errors, you need to open Disk Utility and make a sparsbundle file.

JGruber said:

Yes you can connect the HDD to your wired router, and use it that way, you will however have to make some changes, Open a terminal window and type this exactly...

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

If you start to get errors, you need to open Disk Utility and make a sparsbundle file.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your help - I'll give it a try and hopefully I will have success.

Cheers
Madhawk