Using Time MACHINE with a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme

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Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme AirDisk
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Note: If you got here by clicking a link that looks like this:
_. . . discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2299608#Q1_
Note the number at the end, after the +*pound sign,+* (#) and click the corresponding item below:
Please pardon the inconvenience.
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QUESTIONS
*Q1. Can I use the USB drive(s) for Time Machine backups AND other data?*
*Q2. How do I set up Time Machine to back up to a USB drive connected to my Airport Extreme?*
*Q3. How do I delete backups?*
*Q4. How do I back-up my backups?*
If you don't see your question here, try Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
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PROBLEMS
*P1. The Backup disk image could not be created.*
*P2. Time Machine could not complete the backup . . sparsebundle could not be accessed. (Error 109).*
If you don't see your problem here, try Time Machine - Troubleshooting
This is the 3rd version of this tip. It was submitted on May 16, 2010 by Pondini.
Do you want to provide feedback on this User Contributed Tip or contribute your own? If you have achieved Level 2 status, visit the User Tips Library Contributions forum for more information.

Hi, Nubz!
Yes, I just saw that, and am still chuckling.
Maybe that will mollify the Jive gods?
Thanks again,
Jim

Similar Messages

  • I can't use Time Machine with a USB drive plugged into an Airport Extreme.

    I connected an external drive to the USB port of an Airport Extreme, intending to use it with Time Machine and one of the laptops in the Wi-Fi network (call it Laptop). The drive is visible from the Disks tab of each computer’s Airport Utility but from nowhere else, in particular not to Laptop’s Time Machine preference.
    Laptop is relatively new and arrived with Mavericks. Time Machine used to work on Laptop before I upgraded the rest of the network (a desktop Mac Pro and another laptop) from OS X 10.6 to Mavericks.
    The drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I have tried other external hard drives, with the same behavior. The desktop correctly use Time Machine to back up its internal drive to another internal drive. Another possibly relevant factor is that our DSL connection has recently been upgraded, and now uses a 2Wire modem that provides its own router, so Airport Utility’s Network Router Mode is set to “Off (Bridge Mode)”.
    I would be grateful for suggestions of what to try next.

    Here is one from Pondini, who was the foremost Time Machine expert in the world.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
    And another from Apple. Info near the bottom.
    AirPort base stations: About USB disks
    And another miscellaneous from Apple:
    AirPort base stations: Time Machine hard drive compatibility

  • Can i use time machine with a hard drive connected to the airport extreme?

    Just wondering if there is any news on this since the last post was in 2008.
    The Apple website info regarding the Airport Extreme mentions attaching a hard drive to the Airport Extreme, but I can't see whether that could be used for a Mac using Time Machine.

    You can attach a hard drive, but Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port at the AirPort Extreme are not supported by Apple, so it's not possible to say what your actual results might be.
    If you decide to try this, it would be wise to have a secondary backup plan in place as well.
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html

  • HT204057 is there a way to use time machine with a backup drive connected to my AirPort?

    is there a way to use time machine with a backup drive connected to my AirPort Extreme?

    Unfortunately, this is not officially supported by Apple......if you still have the 4th Gen AirPort Extreme that you list in your equipment profile.
    However, the new "tower" shaped version of the AirPort Extreme does now officially support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port of the device.

  • I am trying to get an answer to whether or not I can successfully use Time Machine with an external HDD connected to an airport extreme?  Some forums say yes, some say no.

    I am trying to get an answer to whether or not I can successfuly use Time Machine with an external HDD connected to an airport extreme.  Some forums say yes, some say no.  I'm also curious about formatting the hard drive to work both on my wife's MacBook Pro and my PC.  Any help would definitely be appreciated.

    You may be going on a recollection, that I share, that at one time Apple stated this would be possible:
    In fact, Apple’s Time Machine Web page touted this very capability as recently as last Tuesday, as you can see from Google’s October 16 cache of the page
    Effortless meets wireless. With a hard disk connected to your AirPort Extreme Base Station, all the Macs in your house can use Time Machine to back up wirelessly. Simply select your AirPort Disk as the backup disk for each computer and the whole family can enjoy the benefits of Time Machine.
    But if you look at the current Time Machine page on Apple’s Web site, that text is nowhere to be found.
    That was a long time ago, it has never been officially implemented, and at present they specifically say it cannot be done.
    In summary, it may work, but probably won't, and even if it does it may not be reliable.
    Reference:
    Disks that can be used with Time Machine
    Time Machine can’t back up to an external disk connected to an AirPort Extreme, or...
    and
    Mac OS X v10.5: Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Extreme AirPort Disks

  • Using Time Machine with 3rd party drive connected to Airport Extreme

    In Snow Leopard, I connected a G-Tech drive to my Airport Extreme via USB and used that with Time Machine for backups.  It worked flawlessly most of the time, although my understanding is that this technique has not been supported by Apple since Snow Leopard was released.  Is anybody using this method in Lion?  If so, does it work OK?
    I got a little worried reading about the issues some folks have had doing Time Machine backups in Lion so instead of trying that method, I got another drive and connected it via FireWire to my MacBook Pro for backing up in Time Machine.  The first backup took a little over an hour.  The second one took just a few moments.  I do notice that my hard drive stays mounted on my desk top even when Time Machine is inactive.  Is this normal? 

    Lots of people do this, but it is not supported and there have been reports of data corruption even if things appeared to be working for quite some time.  The question you have to ask yourself is whether it is worth the risk.  This is a backup, after all.  An unreliable backup is worse than no backup (because you think you have one when you may not).
    What you have experienced with your external drive is all normal.  The first backup takes quite a while because it is both large and there are lots of small files to copy.  (Copying lots of small files is slower than copying a few large ones.)  Subsequent backups will usually be much faster.  One hour for the initial backup is actually very fast.  Finally, external drives remain mounted even when Time Machine is not using them, unlike network drives which are only kept mounted while the backup is active.

  • How to use Time Machine with an external drive?

    Hi…I’m new to this, I hope someone can help me=)
    I’m trying to back up my Macbook Pro 10.6.8 using Time Machine with an external drive Seagate Backplus Slim. I’ve tried several solutions that I’ve found through different forums but still wouldn’t work.
    Every time I opened Time Machine, it has this appearance:
    Then when I click “Select backup Disk”, it goes on like this:
    And after I click “Set Up Time Capsule”, it has this:
    It keeps saying that it couldn’t find AirPort wireless, even though I have good WIFI connection.
    Anyone know what I should do? Please help….Thanks everyone

    Ayuphie ~ In your Time Machine Preferences panel, slide the OFF-ON switch to the ON position:

  • Can a time machine usb drive backup the data from an external usb drive connected to and airport extreme*

    can a time machine usb drive conected to my mac book backup the data from an external usb drive connected to and airport extreme ?

    Hi Adam, if you think yoiur HD may be failing you could do a TM restore onto the new disk. I would rather see you do a clone either SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner.Of your internal drive. That way you have a bootable backup in case it does fail.
    btw - what are the symptoms of your failing drive?
    -mj
    Message was edited by: macjack

  • How to lock a specific files on a shared network usb drive connected to an airport extreme on a mac running lion?

    Is it possible to lock a specific files on a shared network usb drive connected to an airport extreme on a mac running lion?

    Here is one from Pondini, who was the foremost Time Machine expert in the world.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
    And another from Apple. Info near the bottom.
    AirPort base stations: About USB disks
    And another miscellaneous from Apple:
    AirPort base stations: Time Machine hard drive compatibility

  • Time machine backup from USB drive connected and backing up to Time Capsule

    Hi all forum virgin here, so be gentle.
    I'll get straight to it. Much net trawling hasn't resulted in a definitive answer on this which surely I'm not alone in
    I have: MBP networked to TC (where TM resides) and USB drive connected.
    A- I simply want to TM backup not only MBP but USB drive on network as well?
    As far as I can see there is no way of selecting this and after TM back has finished the only way I can check is
    to enter TM (fancy space screen view) and obviously idrive doesn't appear in finder view.
    I have tried connecting to MBP and obviously TM backs it up too and I can see in Enter TM. But I need this
    drive on network so a further 2 things here:-
    B- when I remove from MBP and TM backs up again will it see it's not there and delete as a change?
    C- will it keep in previous backups if I cycle back to that particular one?
    Andy help here would be most welcome

    Slymon2000 wrote:
    B- when I remove from MBP and TM backs up again will it see it's not there and delete as a change?
    Sooner or later, yes, as LaPastnague says.  It depends on when the backups are done.  The first backup of each day is kept for a month;  all others are deleted after 24 hours.  After a month, the first backup of the week is kept as long as there's room, and the others deleted.
    Obviously not a reliable solution. 
    A better method might be to use a different app to back it up to the TC's internal HD, but that presents another problem.  See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for an explanation and some possible workarounds.
    The 3rd-party apps CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSynch can do network backups (others probably can, too).
    So you might be able to "reserve" some space on the TC's HD and use one of those apps.  As LaPastnague says, though, that will be relatively slow.
    If there isn't enough room on the TC's internal HD, you could get another USB drive and connect it to the TC also (via a powered USB hub) and back up to it.  That will be even slower, though.

  • Can Time Machine backup a USB drive connected to Airport Extreme?

    Hi all,
    I have an airport extreme that I used to run a shared USB drive for the family. I have a network drive attached to the airport extreme which I used for Time Machine backups, how do I tell Time Machine to back up the USB drive also?
    All help very gratefully recieved.

    Thanks for your reply,
    When I open Time Machine preferences I can either select a different disk to use as the backup disk or exclude items from the back up. I cannot find an option to add the USB drive attached to my airport extreme. Apologies if I am being a little dumb.

  • Using Time Machine with a network Drive

    I recently bought a WD My Book Live network drive to use as my Time Machine backup. I was previously using a USB external HD for Time Machine with no problems. I have set up the new network drive but when I go in to Time Machine to select it as the drive to back up to, it is not showing up. The only drive I see is my old USB external HD. I have the latest firmware for the network drive and I am running Mac OSX10.5.8. Any suggestions?

    If you bought the WD in a USB enclosure it probably came formatted with NTFS (Windows). Time Machine can't use NTFS drives or SMB (Windows) network shares as a backup destination because that format does not allow the proper permissions to be set. If this is the case with your drive, open Disk Utility and reformat your new drive (NOT you system drive!!) with HFS+ aka 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' and then the drive should show up as a target selection in Time Machine.

  • Can I use time machine if my hard drive is hooked through my Extreme?

    I have used my Airport Extreme for the past year just as a router but recently added 3tb usb drive and I feel I hit a wall trying to get time machine on my IMac, and macbook to auto back up. Am I going to need to plug them in directly when I want to back up and plub to the Extreme just for file sharing?

    Make sure that the hard drive is formatted correctly in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and that you are using a powered USB hub with the AirPort Extreme to deliver the best chances of the hard drive working correctly.
    Unfortunately, Apple does not officially support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme, but some users report that they have been able to make this work. Your decision on whether you want to try this unsupported method of backups.

  • Time Machine and External Hard Drive wireless backup over airport extreme

    Ok can this be done? I have an external HD that I used a firewire to connect to my macbook pro and it backed up my movies,photo's etc without a problem.
    When I realized I could plug the HD into the back of the extreme I tried that and I can see the shared HD in my finder but I cannot get time machine to backup wirelessly now and I can't see my previous back up in Time machine but I can see it when I look on the HD.
    Can I continue to do my backups over the extreme wirelessly? How do i do this? Or do I have to plug the firewire and mac into the HD each time I want to back up using time machine?
    Thanks,

    I hope that support is added to the airport extreme. I would be disappointed in apple to learn that they have disabled it for the airport extreme and connected hard drive in order to only sell another piece of hardware (time capsule) that is simply the airport extreme with a hard drive built in.
    There are reported work arounds for getting the airport extreme and external hard drive to work with time machine. A couple google search results outlined the process, it didn't look too complicated. I would prefer it was a feature and not a work around though.

  • CAN I USE TIME MACHINE WITH A NETWORK HD CONNECTED TO MY ROUTER?

    I have a 500gb hard drive connected to my wrt350n router usb port, can i use it with time machine? how can i do it?
    do i need to format it for mac?
    ones i format my hd would i be able to access from window?

    You do not need to reformat the drive - it doesn't matter what format the drive is, as long as you can mount it via AFP, TM will create an image to write to.
    See http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5653763#5653763 for more details.
    Bear in mind that this is not supported, so if anything goes wrong - you're on your own as far as Apple is concerned... furthermore, there is always the possibility that a future update will break the existing functionality.

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