AirPort Extreme & USB Hard Drive Time Machine Backups

Hi everyone. I'm a brand spanking new MacBook Pro owner and am looking at ways to backup my machine and to save my films, photos and files on a wireless network that is available to everyone in my home.
I'm the first to admit that I'm not the most computer savvy person but I'm okay with the basics. I've read through a lot of forum sites and the community pages on here and most seem to recommend Synology products. They do seem very good but are a good price too once you've bought the hard drives to go with it. I already own an external hard drive so I thought that maybe the AirPort Extreme would be the ideal choice as I know that it can be connected and files can be saved wirelessly. I did read tonight however that you cant backup your macbook using time capsule which is a little bit annoying.
I have two questions really, firstly is it the case that time machine won't backup to an external hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme and secondly, how important is it to back up through time machine? I'm what you could describe as a low level user and will only be using it for simple tasks such as watching/saving films, storing and editing photographs, surfing the web and saving the odd pages and numbers document.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Simon

I have two questions really, firstly is it the case that time machine won't backup to an external hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme and secondly, how important is it to back up through time machine?
The very latest 802.11ac version of the AirPort Extreme DOES support Time Machine backups to attached external USB HDDs. All other 802.11n models are not supported by Apple for these types of backups. A number of folks have been successful doing so, but most typically post here about data corruption issues.
Time Machine is not the only backup strategy, but it is very convienent. I would recommend that your overall backup strategy includes at least two types of backups: 1) Incremental ... like the ones Time Machine supports, and 2) Disk cloning. The latter is very effective for quickly getting you back up and running if your Mac suffers an internal HDD loss.

Similar Messages

Airport Extreme USB Hard Drive & Time Machine?

For my iMac I have a FW800 external drive set to perform Time Machine backups.
My question though, is for my Macbook Pro. If I get a USB drive, can it be set and operate as a Time Machine backup through the Airport Extreme? I thought this was a possibility, but have not seen anything addressing this.
Thank you!

As Tesserax says, backing-up to a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme is not reliable.
You do have a wireless option, though: back up via your network to a "shared" drive connected to the iMac. If it's large enough, you can use the same one the iMac is backing-up to. See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum) for details.

Airport Extreme usb hard drive connection loss after closing finder window

I just did a software update on my MacBook Pro and now I am experiencing a weird Airport Extreme usb hard drive issue. I can see the name of my airport extreme in the Shared section of my finder window. However when I click on it, the finder indicates the it's connecting, but it stops immediately and displays the 'Not Connected' message. When I click on the 'Connect As' button, I am prompted to enter my password and if I click 'Connect', it just spins out endlessly. However, when I re-enter the password and press Connect, my usb drive mounts. I can view, access and use the drive's contents, but if I close the finder window, the connection drops and I have to re-connect. What else is weird, is that once I see my drives, the finder indicates that I am connected as another user(not a user native to this computer). This issue did not exist before my software update.
My software log update indicates that the following items have been installed:
Canon Printer Software Update 2.3 and Security Update 2010-003.
I suspect it has something to do with the Security Update. Is there a way I can revert to the previous security version? Or is there any other solution that could help me avoid re-connecting to my airport extreme usb hard drives?
I will really appreciate any feedback.

Free Solution:
Sure there's a »fix« with Apple software. You'll need to install the Developer Tools (Xcode) from the Snow Leopard Install DVD, though.
After you've done that, you can use "SetFile" to clear the Alias bit from the misbehaving Volume:
/usr/bin/SetFile -a a /Volumes/<YourExternalDriveName>
Please keep in mind that using this command might be dangerous, so don't try this solution unless you feel confident on the command line. (See http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/m an1/SetFile.1.html or invoke /usr/bin/SetFile without arguments for more info on the SetFile command.)
...a similar discussion and answer can be found at: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2131824&start=45&tstart=0

Apple Extreme - External Hard Drive - Time Machine????????

Can i connect an external hard drive to a apple extreme and use time machine for automatic back ups? If so, how?

J_Corrigan_93 wrote:
can you two speak english lol.
If you'll be specific instead of talking about "things" and "somthing" (sic) and "doesn't work."
Remember, we can't see over your shoulder or read your mind from here.
I got a usb hard drive thing
You've posted in the Airport forum, so is it connected to An Apple Airport Extreme? If so, directly or via a USB hub? If so, is it powered? Does the drive have it's own power supply?
Or is it connected to an Apple Time Capsule? Or directly to your Mac? Or something else (ie, what)?
How is it formatted?
and i try to turn on time maching it turns it self off. I try to back up it says disk cannot be found or somthing like that.
What does it actually say? If you're not sure, post a screenshot.
I tried selecting the disk but that doesnt work either.
What do you mean by "doesnt work"? What happens, or doesn't happen. Any messages? If so, what, exactly?
Or, perhaps, you might want to see one of these for detailed instructions:
How do I set up Time Machine to an internal or directly-connected external HD?
How do I set up Time Machine to back up to my Time Capsule?
How do I set up Time Machine to back up to an Air Disk on my Time Capsule?
How do I set up Time Machine to back up to an AirDisk on my Airport Extreme?

External hard drive time machine backups not mounting

I have used Seagate 500.11 external hard drive as a backup location for the time machine for over two years. I just got a message that it had not updated in over thirty days. It is not listed on FInder, but it is listed on the disc utility. The Time machine backups are grayed out on the disc utility screen and cannot be mounted, even after the repair and verification tests said that their volumes were ok. What should I do?

Time Machine does not create bootable clones. It does not even create a bootable backup. If that's what you prefer then do not use Time Machine.
If you use Time Machine then you must allocate at least twice as much space for the backups than the capacity of the drive you are backing up. A 2 TB backup drive would be suitable for a 1 TB main drive or smaller.
If you plan to create a bootable backup, then partition the backup drive with one partition the size required for the clone. Then use the other partition for you additional storage neeeds.

Hard drive failure! New hard drive/Time machine backup/iPhone questions

Hello,
I have a 2011 MacBook Pro who's hard drive failed (rather acutely too, I do use disk utility to check it's health regularly) and I bought a replacement to install (SSD!). I have a bunch of questions but have only found partial answers in searches. Maybe it's best to list them:
1. I'd like to do a fresh install of the OS X using OS X Recovery because I'm concerned my Time Machine backup is partly corrupted. I hadn't updated to Mavericks, will I be able to install Mountain Lion? If not: will this be a problem with my backup files?
2. Say the OS X Recovery works, how do I use Time Machine to restore things like my iTunes library/iMessages/email/iPhoto library etc? In other words: just the data I can't get any other way (I hope it's not too corrupted). And/or should I use my iCloud backup on a few of these (iMessages/contacts)?
3. Do I need to set up the new OS X install with the same account names/home disk name etc. for the restored backup files to function?
4. Is this going to f'up iCloud or vice versa?
5. Finally, how do I sync my iPhone to the "new" computer without erasing the iPhone (which had an iOS update since my last backup to Time Machine). Or do I have to restore the iPhone too.
6. How come Apple doesn't have a mobile theme for their website yet?
Any help would be much appreciated,
Matt

Do you still have the original System Reinstall DVD set that came with your Mac?
If you created that Lion external drive you have from YOUR Mac, when Lion was installed on it, and it also contains a Recovery HD partition you can use that to boot to the Recovery HD and reinstall Lion on the new drive. And or Clone that external to the new internal drive you installed.
Right since your Mac came with Snow Leopard you can't use the Online Internet Recovery system to reinstall Lion, as your system didn't originally come with Lion, but you should still be able to boot to it to do diagnosic things like using Disk Utility, going to the Net to get help and even Restoring the system from a Time Machine backup. But you will get an error if you select Reinstall Mac OS X. The firmware update is usually applied with system updates.
If you created a New Time Machine Backup when any of the Download Only version of OS X were installed on your internal drive Time Machine, the system, Copies over the files needed to boot the system from that backup drive. If it was a care over backup from when Snow Leopard was installed is might or might not be bootable. Only way to tell is to connect it and at startup hold down the Option key to get the Boot selection screen, IE The Boot Manager screen, and see if it shows up as a Boot Source. If it does thenn it contains the files needed to get to the Mac OS X Utilities, IE the Recovery HD files.
What you should do is Boot the system from either the Time Machine backup, if it is bootable, or your External that has Lion on it, The Recovery HD if that drive contains a Recovery HD, or your Original Snow Leopard reinstall DVD that came with your Mac and then try to Restore from your Time Machine backup drive.
If that fails to restore your system properly then nyou should reinstall Snow Leopard and the iLife Apps from the Original Discs then upgrade to Mt Lion which will be in the Mac App Store under your Purchases area. Then maybe you can restore your files from that Time Machine backup.
scardanelli wrote:
I've had a bunch of issues with my computer (you can look at some of my other questions on these forums) which, to my mind anyway, seemed to be finally given a diagnosis when my HD crashed. It may be paranoia but there have been enough problems that I'd rather do a clean install to be on the safe side.
I have an early 2011, shipped with Snow Leopard.
I was under the impression that Time Machine can't be used as a boot drive and the OS X Recovery is a firmware update (on my computer) or hard wired in (on later computers). I might be wrong. I was planning on using the internet recovery, the HD failed right after I got some password protected files unencrypted and onto an external drive (was that necessary?) but wasn't sure if it's a problem if it installs Mavericks.
So Setup Assistant will configure my accounts the same and I don't need to worry about that? That's a relief.
Thanks for the lengthy response.

Time capsule or Airport Extreme + USB hard drive

I would like to get a wireless update solution (to work with time machine) and I am considering the following options:
1. Time Capsule 1TB
2. Time Capsule 500GB + USB external hard drive attached to the time capsule (in case I need more storage than the 500GB on the Time Capsule)
3. Airport Extreme Base Station + USB external hard drive attached (to use with Time Machine)
I am wondering what the opinions are in this forum. What is cheaper? More reliable? Better?
Any other suggestions? Thanks!
I am running Mac OS X 10.5.5 on an iMac

Yeah, I've seen your explaination that those are glasses before. But I can see why some might be confused. (First laugh of the day!)
No I hadn't tried that yet because my 2 external HDs are Firewire. But it just so happens that I picked up a USB WD500Gig yesterday and am starting an initial TM backup to it now via USB - after having reformatted it of course.
I am assuming, though, that as soon as I move it from my MB Pro to the TC that the TM backups will be broken and I'll have to start a new set of backups to create the disk image (sparsebundle). However, it will give me an opportunity to see if backups created locally (USB) can be viewed via "Browse Other TM Disks" when they are connected to a TC.
I'm curious how it works out, though, because I've noticed a few comments here that state these drives (or one of the WD models) has trouble waking from sleep for routine backups when connected to the TC USB port. I guess I'll find out.
Great to hear from you.

Backup airport extreme usb disk with time machine

Can I use Time Machine to backup a usb disk attached to an Airport Extreme?

no.
TM does not back up networked drives. check out ChronoSync.

External Hard drive/Time Machine backup error message

On a sidenote, I posted a question a week ago about what external hard drive would be compatible with my Macbook, and I so happened to get a WD My Passport Studio hard drive as an unsuspecting gift, so I didn't have to buy one.
Anyways, I started the backup on this hard drive and I had an error message: "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume." I searched this on the Apple Support Communities and found that I wasn't the only one who had this problem. So, I came upon one discussion that suggested downloading Time Machine Buddy (link:http://pondini.org/TM/A1.html) (link that prompted me to download: http://pondini.org/TM/C3.html). I downloaded it and found out that the error was occurring in my Library folder, specifically in the folder entitled "db" in the "Receipts" folder. There's one file in the "db" folder entitled "a.receiptdb" <----can someone please explain what the heck this is??? Lol. Anyways, I decided to exclude the whole "Receipts" folder from being backed up and now my external hard drive is backing up my files fine. My MAIN question is this: What is wrong with my receipts folder that is causing the error?
P.S. here are the error messages in the Time Machine Buddy log:
Error: (-36) SrcErr:YES Copying /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb to (null)
Error: (-36) SrcErr:NO Copying /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb to /Volumes/My Passport Studio/Backups.backupdb/Josh Brew’s MacBook/2012-01-29-162450.inProgress/D9F83053-7FE1-4EBE-991A-F400C35D37CC/Macin tosh HD/Library/Receipts/db
Stopping backup.
Error: (-8062) SrcErr:NO Copying /Library/Receipts/db/a.receiptdb to /Volumes/My Passport Studio/Backups.backupdb/Josh Brew’s MacBook/2012-01-29-162450.inProgress/D9F83053-7FE1-4EBE-991A-F400C35D37CC/Macin tosh HD/Library/Receipts/db
Copied 246 files (277.4 MB) from volume Macintosh HD.
Copy stage failed with error:11
Backup failed with error: 11
As you can see, iy is located in the "db" folder. I have no idea what's wrong. Thank you for your time! It is MUCH appreciated.

The connection to 10.6.7 may just be a coincidence. I had a similar problem with a disk and was about to throw it out but decided to try a different USB cable. That fixed the problem and the drive is still in use.
Try a new cable if you have not already done so.
Dave

Remote access the airport extreme usb hard drive over the internet with multiple users?

I just purchase the new airport extreme 802.11n and set it up on my LAN behind a comcast modem with broadband. I plugged a 3 tb Seagate hard drive formatted with fat32 (default) to it and have set it up for access for all of my computers, ipad, iphone, android in my house. Everything works as expected, internet access, file access to the USB HD on all devices locally through back to my mac. I would now like to allow my daughters in another state to access this drive through the Airport Extreme remotely from their location and have there own accounts on this hard drive to store and move their files for on the go access. I have studied many of the forums and have enabled share disks over WAN, Enable file sharing but no body really gives an exact method of connecting remotely. I had one of my daughters try on her Macbook Pro laptop through the finder, connect to server, by giving her the IP address. She could see the name of the Airport Extreme but could not access the hard disk and got a "Not able to connect message". I am obviously missing something simple that needs to be checked or setup but have drained my brain trying to figure it out. Most of the forums describe clicking manuel setup on the Airport utility, but with version 6.1 this is now where to be found. I have a DYN account but could not figure out where to input this in the Airport utility.
There is a network option which has DHCP lease and range and a box for Enable NAT port Mapping Protocal with Enable default host at:
I am guessing that this is for some other purpose though. Please help

Try installing AirPort Utility 5, then you may be able to follow the guides you mentioned earlier:
http://macintoshdesktop.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/airport-utility-56-and-mountain-l ion.html

Erase Hard Drive;Time Machine Backup

I recently discovered that I have some bad directories in my main hard drive which is causing some performance deficits on my computer. I always use an external hard drive exclusively for Time Machine, and it backs up several times a day. If I wipe my hard drive, will I be able to select my Time Machine drive and restore everything I had prior to erasing the disk? In my Time Machine preferences, I have not excluded the backup of any kind of file. Will my computer (all settings, preferences, etc.) be exactly as it was before the disk erase if I back up from my Time Machine drive? I just want to make sure that I don't lose anything? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-P.

Hey there,
Yes, if you backed up everything and restore everything, your computer should seem as exactly as it was. More on restoring from Time Machine can be found in the link below. Hope this helps.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15638.html
B-rock

Access AirPort Extrems USB hard drive from Android

I'm starting a new discussion because I erroneously marked my earlier discussion "solved".
I've been using a USB connected disk drive on my AirPort Extreme from my Android tablet for years. Since upgrading the AirPort to version 7.6.4 I can no longer access the disk drive from the tablet. I have not changed anything on the tablet, only the AirPort.
The tablet can see the AirPort itself as 10.0.1.1 and can see the attached disk drive, but when I try to access the drive I get a series of possible errors including Firewall issues, SMB service is off or out of scope and WLAN is off.
I don't know how to look at the firewall on the AirPort or check on the SMB service (I can't find either topic in AirPort Utility).
I have tried a factory reset, and also reverting back to version 7.5.2 as suggested in the other thread, but I still get the same message when I try to connect.
The drive is fully accessible from either of the two Macs on the network.
Please help - I really need to access files on this disk from the tablet. I konw Dropbox will work, but ti's cumbersome and I don't really want some of the files to live on Dropbox.
Walt

I would venture to say that the issue may be related to the AirPort firmware update not being compatible with the current version of firmware on your Android tablet. Of course, you probably already know this. I'm not aware of any incompatibilities between these two devices as Apple has not provided any information on this.
As far as firewall on the AirPort, unless you are accessing the Extreme from a remote location its NAT firewall would be a mute issue. About SMB, this is automatically enabled when you configure the Extreme to share out an external USB HDD. So there is no setting to change there either.
I have tried a factory reset, and also reverting back to version 7.5.2 as suggested in the other thread, but I still get the same message when I try to connect.
If your Android was not having this issue when the Extreme was running 7.5.2 firmware, but is now after downgrading it to this version tends to make me believe the issuse may be with your tablet. Is there a potential firmware update for it?

Nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

Time Machine has been working just fine, but in the last week or two it has given up the ghost. I reset the connections to the drive, and it will basically save a few bytes of data and then hang.
Although Apple originally announced, prior to the release of the first 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations (AEBSn), that it would support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks, they removed that option before they did finally release the base station for sale.
Since then, Apple has posted (as you have noted) that they DO NOT support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks. As far as I know, they have not changed from that position and those who do these backups find that they become corrupted over time. Sorry, but it sounds like you just confirmed that for yourself.
1) Has one of the recent updates either on the AE (firmware) or OSX disabled this function?
No. Again, this feature has never been supported by Apple for every generation of AEBSn released.
2) Are there any changes I can make to get this working again?
If your data backups are critical to you, then you will want to use a different solution for your Time Machine backup destination drive strategy. I would suggest that you connect your WD My Book directly to your Mac in the mean time.
Your other options would be to either use a Time Capsule (which interestingly does support TM backups to AirPort Disks) or a non-Apple solution like the Drobo FS or HP MediaSmart server.

HT201250 I have had my mac stolen, I have an external HD I connect via USB for these time machine backups, I now have a new replacement mac and wish to restore from my external HD, migration assistant doesn't seem to recognise or see my drive ? please hel

I have had my mac stolen, I have an external HD I connect via USB for these time machine backups, I now have a new replacement mac and wish to restore from my external HD, migration assistant doesn't seem to recognise or see my drive ? please help

See Pondini's Excellent information here...
Setting-up a new Mac from an old one, its backups, or a PC
See the Second Chance to Use Setup Assistant here...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/SetupLion.html

Using Airport Extreme- Printers & Hard Drives - Mac and WIndows XP Network

I might be asking a really dumb question now, I have a Mac Pro, a PC my sons use and a laptop my wife uses. The PC and laptop both run XP Pro.
I have my Airport Extreme set up and working well with my BT Home Hub acting as my modem only - that went much easier than I thought.
All I want to do is to set up a network - my Mac (wired) to my Airport Extreme with a Canon Printer and external hard drive. I also want to be able to share files on the PC and Laptop (wireless) with other users as well as the printers. Ideally, i'm looking for a video website that will easily show how to set this up. I appreciate I may need to view several clips to get this sorted. I have tried YouTube without much success.
As I said, this may be a dumb question.
Thanks in advance, Matt

1. So, what I want to do now is share an external hard drive also connected to my AEBS using a USB hub.
AirPort: How to mount an AirPort Extreme USB hard disk volume in Mac OS X and Windows
2. Share files on my other PC machines as well as their printers. So, if I need some text printing done quickly, I would print it from my sons' pc printer downstairs but request it from my mac upstairs.
I'm sure that Windows has the ability to share a printer, but I have no details on how to enable it.
3. Access / share files between Mac Pro, laptop and PC
On your Macs, go to the Sharing preference pane and enable File Sharing. Now they can be seen by other devices.
"How to Share Files between your Mac and PC"
"File sharing between Mac and PC"
4. Access Mac Pro online via Back to my Mac (I do have a mobile me account for this).
In the MobileMe preference pane on the Mac Pro, enable the Back To My Mac feature. Then on your remote Mac the Mac Pro should appear in the Finder's sidebar as a shared item.

AirPort Extreme & USB Hard Drive Time Machine Backups

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