# Airport Extreme | G-drive 2TB external drive compatibility



## ldichiara11 (Aug 25, 2012)

Is anyone using a G-drive 2tb external as an air disk connected to the USB port on an extreme base station?

- does it require a powered USB hub
- will it work as it has it's own external power supply
- will it be able to be used with both Mac and windows machines or is partitioning/reformatting required?
- is it true plug and play? (attach to the USB port in the router and go?)


----------



## DeltaMac (Aug 25, 2012)

There is no problem if you ask your additional questions - which all appear to be exactly the same query about using some USB drive with your Airport Extreme. But, you should wait to see if folks answer your question on one of the other threads that you have started. You can even ask your additional questions on the same thread that you start, no need to make a new thread.
G-drives are sold at Apple stores. I would hope that devices sold with the intention of using on a Mac, would be compatible with your Mac. Just plug it in, and go 
The Air Drive does not need any special setup. It's used as a network drive, once attached to the AEBS. You set access to that drive from each system that it would be used on. You would need the Airport utility installed on a Windows PC, so you can assure that it will mount properly. The instructions for that use are in the Airport Extreme setup guide, which you can view before you even purchase that. http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/airport_extreme_5th_gen_setup.pdf

SO - why did you settle on an Airport Extreme, when a Time Capsule would have everything that you need.


----------



## sgould (Aug 25, 2012)

My 2TB G-Drive is not connected to an Airport hub.  It's connected to the computer and used as the Time Machine backup disc.  But it has its own mains electric power supply, so I doubt that it needs power from a hub.


----------



## ldichiara11 (Aug 26, 2012)

Thanks delta. I installed airport for windows and got a friends g-drive 500gb to mount so I'm assuming the 2tb will work the same. 
I didn't get a time capsule because though unlikely I didn't want to take the chance of it failing down the road. With the external I can swap out as needed if the drive tanks


----------



## firehouse (Sep 1, 2012)

I've been attempting to use my 2TB G-Drive on my Airport Extreme for about 6 weeks.  We can connect to it and small file transfers work fine.  However, we are receiving a message 10-12 times a day that says the server connection was interrupted.  Also - when transferring large amounts of data during overnight backups, it disconnects both with DejaVu and Carbon Copy Cloner.  I've yet to have a successful backup. HOURS of Apple tech support and they couldn't find an answer for me...this is the very drive they show in the Airport Extreme advertising.  

Also - we are unable to save certain Adobe files direct to the drive when its connected to the AE and using Lion.  It freezes the machine the 2nd time you hit save.  Saving from Snow Leopard is fine. Again - no answer from Apple other than they know they have "issues".  

I'm buying a powered USB hub today to see if that helps.  I've also tried a Seagate Backup Plus for Mac 2TB and it won't mount at all - it fact it knocks the  Airport Extreme offline and we lose internet.  

Probably should have just bought the Time Capsule, but I like to change out my hard drives routinely to keep data safe and its expensive when the router and drive are all in one.


----------

