5 PCs in the house, is Time Machine for me?

I have been contemplating to chose between a Time Machine and an Airport Extreme. All the Windows 7 PCs have Intel wi-fi cards with most being 3X3 capable for 802.11n. Conenctivity and sharing are the primary goal. I have some other hard drives lying aroudn that I can use for the NAS if I go for the Airport. I have no plans of going the Mac way in the near future for my computing needs. Considering these I would like to get your suggestions. Thanks .

William Boyd, Jr. wrote:
Don't confuse "Time Capsule", an Apple Wi-Fi base station, with "Time Machine", backup software included with OS X since version 10.5.
Since you already have disks that you could connect to an Apple base station, I'd pick the AirPort Extreme over a Time Capsule.
I believe you will find that Apple does not recommend or support backup via Time Machine to Network Attached Storage (other than a Time Capsule) perhaps Pondini can chime in on this but my information is that your suggestion won't work reliably.

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On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture. How can I access the Aperture Library on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup? I can only access the application but not the library..

On imac 10.6.8 using current version of Aperture. How can I access the Aperture Library on my external hard drive that I use with time machine for backup? I can only access the application but not the library..

Go into Time Machine (the program not the bundle on the extrnal disk) and using Time Machine's browser go to the Folder where the library lives. You could look in the library bundle in Time Machine but that won't really tell you much,
If you want to make sure it truely has backed up your library you will need to restore it and open the restored library with Aperture.
If all this still has you confused you need to read up on Time Machine in order to get a feel for how it works, for what it is doing and for how to restore files from it.

How to restart base station from airport utility? I used to be able to do it remotely I currently use a Mac Pro 10.8.4 and have a time machine for wireless 6.3 (630.34). Sometimes I cannot connect to the internet and use network preferences to diagnose t

How to restart base station from airport utility? I used to be able to do it remotely
I currently use a Mac Pro 10.8.4 and have a time machine for wireless 6.3 (630.34). Sometimes I cannot connect to the internet and use network preferences to diagnose the issue. This results in being told to restart the wireless. The airport utility includes the drop down option of restarting but is not clickable so I can't choose it.
With my prior macbook and same time capsule, etc if i had problems connecting to the internet I would run network diagnostics to help out. This included clicking on the airport utility ---> base station --> restart. This worked most of the time.
Bottom line, is there something I am missing in not being able to restart the wi-fi remotely? ]
Thanks in advance

You are likely forgetting a step.
Open AirPort Utility
Click on the Time Capsule icon
Click Edit in the small window that appears
Now click the Base Station menu.....top of the screen....not the Base Station "tab" in the center of the screen
Click Restart

Our iMac (intel, 11.2) freezes up when using Time Machine for Back Ups. We have 16GB of RAM and the BU drive is 1 TB on firewire.

Our iMac (intel, 11.2) freezes up when using Time Machine for Back Ups. We have 16GB of RAM and the BU drive is 1 TB on firewire.

See Pondini's TM FAQs for starters.

I needed a 2tb hard drive for my new iMac whats the best to work with time machine for around £100

Any suggestions about the best 2 tb hard drive to work with my imac,compatible with time machine for around £100

There is no such thing as "best" and "inexpensive", you either want one or the other but you cannot get both. IMHO I'd recommend OWC's Mercury Elite Pro (www.macsales.com) however because you are on the other side of the pond you may want to consider a Lacie product. High quality, not cheap but good stuff for the most part.

Using time machine for the first time in a while

Hi all,
I just tried backing up my laptop for the first time in ages with time machine. However , it seems to get stuck on "preparing the back up" and never actually starts the backup.
The external drive I'm using has been used before for backups,and the icon is the bluey colour it should be on my desktop as the back up location, however the back up simply won't start.
I should mention that I have upgraded this laptop to another newer model which I since returned and went back to this older model. I also replaced the hard drive, and this is the first time im trying a time machine backup since those two changes
Not many options I can play with so I can't see why it doesn't start the back up...it never took a longtime before to start...
Could it be anything to do with space? Now the comp has about 490gb needing back up and there's only 100gb of space on the ext hd,because there's about 400gb of previous back ups on there. I didn't think this would be a problem though as I understood time machine just erases old backups when it doesn't have space
Any suggestions welcome! Thx in advance!
Both laptop capacity and ext hd are 500gb

Couple of clarifying questions:
1) How long are you waiting?
2) Have you upgraded the OS to Lion?
When I upgraded from Snow Leopard to Lion, the first few time machines took hours 'preparing to backup' before the actual backup to occur. We're talking 6+ hours. I'd usually leave it over night to backup. Even my last fresh reinstall of Lion took about 20min to prepare the first time. Now the hourly backups take maybe 1min total.
My suggestion is to leave it over night and see what happens. It very well could be that the differences between your last backup and current machine state is so different it's taking a long time to determine all the changes.

When installing maverick mailboxes disappeared, only have current emails. All the folders and content missing. Could anyone be of help. I do have Time Machine for backup.

When installing maverick mailboxes disappeared, only have current emails. All the folders and content missing. Could anyone be of help. I do have Time Machine for backup.

Solved the problem by clicking the gray triangle next to "On My Mac" and drilled down!

I am going to back up to Time Machine for the first time

which I know sounds nuts. I was manually doing it for the past 6 months- don't ask why.
Do I have to completely wipe out my Lacie and do any formatting to it? Or do I just delete everything from it and set my Time Machine to default backup to that drive and go from there as if I'm doing it for the first time?
Also, I don't keep my EHD attached constantly to my laptop- I assume that is not a problem and whenever I hook it up, I can then ask TM to go to work?
Sorry for the basic questions- appreciate the help!
Thanks,
Bernice

I haven't burned a CD in years. My old MacBook doesn't have a DVD burner.
The biggest issue is the size of your various drives. For Time Machine, your Time Machine drive should be three times the size of the drive you are backing up. If you don't quite have that (and I don't), you can get away with three times the amount of data you are backing up. Whichever configuration gives you that equation should be the one you use for Time Machine. You can partition one of the external drives so that one partition is big enough for Time Machine and the other is used for other purposes, such as archives. I have one external drive configured like that. If you don't have enough room to partition, then dedicate one drive to Time Machine and the other to archives and/or clones.
Some people feel it is very important to maintain a long Time Machine history and migrate that to new drives. I don't quite understant that. I use Time Machine for backups, nothing more. I blow away all my backups on a fairly regular basis and start a fresh one. I don't need six month old versions of files. If I accidentally delete a file, I will notice sooner than that. If I have a hardware failure, I only need the last backup.
I currently have those bootable clones only because my MacBook is in a funky state right now (long story) and my MacBook Pro is a work machine bound to an Active Directory domain. I can't rebuild that system by myself without IT from work and that would be difficult for me (longer story). I don't consider bootable clones to be a regular part of my backup strategy. They are useful snapshots and archives for specific times when I feel I need them.

I want to search Time Machine for an appointment that has been deleted from my current view of iCal. Can I "restore" a previous version of iCal without losing all the entries I've made to the calendar since that prior date?

I want to search Time Machine for an appointment that has been deleted from my current view of iCal. Can I "restore" a previous version of iCal without losing all the entries I've made to the calendar since that prior date?

No. I tried it on my Time Machine (I had just made one change today, so I knew I would not be left in the lurch if I failed) and when I clicked on restore I got this message:
It seems you have several options. I chose 'Keep Both'. I suggest that you proceed with your search.
Ciao.

Thinking about using Time Machine for the first time...

I just assume that updates are inherently good to have, regardless of what it's for. I figure that the developers know a lot more than I do regarding the optimization or improvement of their own software, so I simply allow their download. I'm thinking about using my Time Machine for the first time and reverting back to the pre-9.1 install, if that's even possible. Things were working fine for me and now there are all kinds of issues with communication between my Axiom Pro 61 and Logic. Nothing responds through Hypercontrol anymore, and I don't expect any updates from M-Audio until at least 2012. Anyone else thinking about taking this route?

Yes, I did. I opened that version immediately after I discovered that 9.1 had that effect and the controller was still inoperative. Of course, I still have MIDI input and PB/Mod wheel control, but that's about it. Everything else would need to be manually loaded, which the Pro series is supposed to do automatically. I haven't restarted my iMac yet, nor have I tried removing the keyboard from the computer altogether and perhaps reconnecting it. Maybe that would reset it...

Using Time machine for the first time.

2 questions.
1) Can I have more than one time machine ( 3 internal HD > 3 Time Machine for example) on the same computer?
2) Can I assign two different HD to the same Time Machine?
Thanks
MP

Yes, but if you are using Snow Leopard you will need to manually switch between configurations.
Yes, you can backup multiple drives to the same Time Machine backup drive.
Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

Running Time Machine for the first time, how that I make sure that some information I have in the external drive does not get erase in the prosess

Running Time Machine for the first time, how that I make sure that some information I have in the external drive does not get erase in the prosess

1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Note: This is now your Library. It's not a Back Up, and you need another disk for backing up.
Regards
TD

Time Machine for shared group folders

Hi,
I would like to set up time machine for a shared group folder on the server. I would like users to be able to use time machine from clients to see backup history of files in the group folder. Is this possible? How?
Gregor

+...would like users to be able to use time machine from clients to see backup history of files in the group folder. Is this possible? How?+
Yes. This is possible, but it isn't touted as one of the features that sells Mac OS X Server. The advertised Time Machine server solution is to host an AFP share point on the Mac OS X Server system which clients then use as a Time Machine backup destination, similar to Time Capsule.
But, what I think you're going for is something like this: You have a share point where multiple users can read and write, and you'd like the server to be able to backup that share point via Time Machine, but also allow its clients to connect and see those backups. This is kind of like "Time Machine for a sharepoint." Again, this isn't really touted, but it's possible. Here is an example which shows you how.
For starters, let's say that your server's disks are well-organized. You have one volume for the server's operating system (Boot), one volume for the share points (Data), and one volume for backup (Backup). Other scenarios could work, but this configuration will make this how-to easier to understand. Let's also agree that your server's hostname is junglecat.amazon.private.
Let's say that the share point (group folder) that we want backed-up is at /Volumes/Data/Group-Folder on the server. Let's also agree that your group members already have access to this folder - e.g. it is already a share point with an ACL entry that grants the group members read and write access.
You'll need to configure Time Machine on the server itself first, just as if it were a client. Open System Preferences, and use the Time Machine pane to choose the Backup volume as the server's backup destination. You'll want to make sure that only the contents of the Data disk (the disk housing the Group-Folder) are backed up. Skip anything on your boot disk, as you're using Time Machine to back up just the share points. Let the server at least start its first backup, which will create the following directory:
/Volumes/Backup/Backups.backupdb/junglecat.amazon.private
...where the server's Time Machine backups will be stored.
Now use Server Admin's File Sharing section to make the /Volumes/Backup disk a share point, with these properties: Share the folder via AFP, and enable it as a Time Machine backup destination. (Your clients will not really be backing up to the folder, but they will be needing to see it as a place that Time Machine can keep a backup. This creates the .com.apple.timemachine.supported file on the share point.)
It's also a good idea to disable guest access and add an ACL deny rule to the share point (/Volumes/Backup) which denies delete and delete_child for everyone:
chmod +a "everyone deny delete,delete_child" /Volumes/Backup.
This prevents people from storing other data next to the Backups.backupdb folder. The Backups.backupdb folder already contains an ACL deny rule that limits its access to read-only.
Back on a client, mount the newly-shared Backup share point. The client's Time Machine may ask permission to use this as a backup location (because it was defined as such), but don't let it. The important thing is that the client recognized it as a backup location.
To browse the server's Time Machine history, the client must right-click on the Time Machine icon in the Dock (or use the Time Machine menu extra) and choose "Browse Other Time Machine Disk," where the user can choose the server's backup volume. Now the client can go back in time on the server, star-field and all. If the user needs to restore a file, Time Machine will ask him/her where to save the restored copy; it will not overwrite the copy on the Group-Folder share point.
Hope this helps!
--Gerrit

Can I use two Time Capsules? one as an extension of my laptop (for music and video storage) and the other one to back up everything from the laptop and Time Capsule (for music and videos)

Can I use two Time Capsules? one as an extension of my laptop (for music and video storage) and the other one to back up everything from the laptop and Time Capsule (for music and videos)

Not via Time Machine. It cannot back up from a network location.
The 3rd-party apps CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSync may be workable alternatives.
EDIT: And, if you're going to do that, you could back up from the Time Capsule to a USB drive connected to the TC's USB port. Second TC not required.
Message was edited by: Pondini

HT3275 I get the following message - "Time Machine could not complete the backup." "Unable to complete backup." "An error occurred while creating the backup folder.""

I get the following message - "Time Machine could not complete the backup." "Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup folder.""
This MAC is partioned with Windows 7 with only 50 gig devoted to Windows so my son can play Flight Simulator X on the machine.
I have a WD Passport External Hard Drive for the Back Up
I have spoken with WD Tech Support and they have been fantastic but I still keep getting this message. Any thought?
Maxx

Reboot the TC.. it sometimes gets lost on the network.. are you still actually using 10.6.8 as the problem is more prevalent on Lion and ML it seems is no better.
You might find reset of the TC is needed. change the names to short, no spaces pure alphanumeric.
Reset the TM to the new name.. use the A4 in Pondini's great KB.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

5 PCs in the house, is Time Machine for me?

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