Wireless router for accessing external hard drive

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Hello all,

I will be receiving a 27" i7 iMac within 2 weeks to replace my 8 year old desktop PC. I still have my 2 year old laptop PC and a 11TB Western Digital external hard drive. I want to set up a home network so I do not have to move my external from computer to computer and I currently have a D-Link DIR-625. I have been thinking about replacing it with an AirPort Extreme because they claim a external hard drive can be accessed through the router if networked. I just recently tried to use a Linksys WRT-610N but I couldn't get it to access the hard drive and got tired of waiting for a friend to come do it for me.

My question is will the AirPort Extreme work for me or should i just bite the bullet and buy the Time Capsule and keep my current external as a back up for the Time Capsule? I like the fact that the Time Capsule can be accessed through the internet if I'm out of town but do not want to subscribe to MobileMe for something that I MIGHT do 2 times a year.
 

cwa107


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Your Mac's Specs
14" MacBook Pro M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD
For use as a single drive NAS with Macs, the AirPort Extreme is your best bet. There are other cheaper routers that can host storage, but they're not really geared toward Macs. For example, the D-Link DIR-655 I have can host external hard drives, but it's not nearly as user friendly as one hanging off an AirPort Extreme.

I would not buy a Time Capsule in light of the high failure rate.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
27 iMac+Thunderbolt, iMac 21,
When i got mine i put it on surface protectors to give more cooling;


Click for full size

Let u know how long it lives!
 
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D
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Thanks for the replies. That's one reason why I did not want to purchase the Time Capsule because of the reviews I have read on the hard drive failures. I know I'm going to purchase the AirPort Extreme when my iMac gets delivered.
 
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Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 13.3 inch mid 09 4gb RAM 500GB HD, iPhone 8GB, 30GB ipod video, Airport Extreme
i use my AirPort Extreme and 2 TB iomega external drive and have that partition to 2 one for time capsule one for external space

works amazing
 
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For use as a single drive NAS with Macs, the AirPort Extreme is your best bet. There are other cheaper routers that can host storage, but they're not really geared toward Macs. For example, the D-Link DIR-655 I have can host external hard drives, but it's not nearly as user friendly as one hanging off an AirPort Extreme.

I would not buy a Time Capsule in light of the high failure rate.

After reading the Apple info on the Airport Extreme I had the feeling there was a lot of hype there. Is any of that true?

Supports 50 networked computers!
Twice the range!
Five times as fast!
Cures insomnia and psoriasis!

I definitely need to get my EHDD onto my wireless network but I'm a little leery of spending $179 with all that hype attached.

(OTOH I am a bit of an imsoniac :))

(And apologies for the thread hijacking.)
 

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