AirPort Extreme/Time Machine/Ext Disk

So the wife and I have iMacs, an older white Airport Extreme and an Airport Express (just used to extend the distance of network in 3 story house). My iMac is one of the early 20" intel machines. The wife's iMac is one of the last 17" Power PC's just before the intel machines came out. We run a home based business and want better more secure backup and hopefully a way to speed us up. I just upgraded everyones memory. We run Leopard but have not moved to Snow Leopard largely because the wife's machine will not run it.
The 1 TB Time Capsule option is about the same price as buying two USB 1TB ext. drives. I understand that Apple does not support "other" ext hard drives running time capsule, but I have also read that it works. I author and maintain our RapidWeaver web site form my machine and plan to make some short movies to use in the near future. The wife just has lots of music and pictures that need to be protected. A good friend who manages a corporate network suggests that we put our pictures, music and any movies on an external drive to protect them and speed up our systems.
Will one 1TB USB ext handle us for now, thats what my buddy is using? If I buy just one should we be able to attach it to the Airport Extreme and both use it or do we attach it directly to my computer? I think I could physically attach a new drive to the wife's system long enough to copy her pictures and music so she has a back up then leave it on mine. The wife probably does not add enough new content to her system regularly for it to be a huge issue. But maybe I should just buy two 1TB USB drives and put one on each computer? I am guessing that a Time Capsule attached to the Airport Extreme and serving both computers would be the slowest option?
I should add that I am an "old" computer guy and can probably just do manual physical file transfers if need be.
Thanks for the help,
Mitch

Duane,
Thanks for the reply. I did not understand exactly how this all plays out and you are helping.
At the same time, in an attempt to not get too long winded, I did not mention all the options I am considering. Our business is on 12 acres with 200+ feet of steep hill and woods separating our home and dog training/club building. So far our wireless network is not reaching the work building. We have been considering purchasing a newer AEBS since the one we have is probably due to be replaced and we understand the antenna on the newer AEBS will reach twice as far. We use AT&T DSL but we are too far from the "office" to get quality service. We are waiting for Clear or U Verse to become available on our street. I use to run an inter and intra state data communications network, attended AT&T's Data Communications school... I may go postal trying to get through AT&T's phone system and get some answers. Ultimately we hope to have wireless service available for us and our clients at the work building. We might have up to 6 total users for a while on a busy day. I can plan backups and web site updates for off hours.
So it sounds like I can just order one 1TB USB drive and connect it to my computer for now. If I understand correctly you are using Time Machine to backup your iBook to your external drive over your network? If that is the case then the wife should be able to backup her files to the external drive on my computer through Time Machine? Assuming that works then we can figure out whether to go for a new AEBS or 2nd ext UBS hard drive for the wife later?

Similar Messages

Airport Extreme Base Station as Extender to Airport Extreme Time Machine

I have tried this a few times, but to no avail: Tonight I purchased an Airport Extreme Base Station (AE) to set up as an extender to my Airport Extreme Time Capsule (AETC). The Airport Utility finds the router and goes through set-up seemingly fine, with green lights on both. Then shortly after (within a minute) the AE reboots on it's own, followed by the AETC rebooting (again, on it's own) and this occurs repeatedly. I reset the AE completely and run through the set-up and the same thing occurs. I've also done soft resets to the AETC. Long and short of it - the restarting discontinues once I unplug the power cord from the AE. Then the AETC resumes as it has - providing fine wifi and speed. It appears the AE rebooting on its own makes the AETC reboot. Any ideas? Thanks!

howto - extending airport 802.11n networks
Pre-Requistites
1) Ensure all have most recent firmware - 7.7.3 for AC devices, 7.6.4 for 802.11n devices
2) Have most recent Airport Utility (OS X 10.7 thru 10.9, use 6.3.2, IOS6/7 use 1.3.3)
3) Only have the Primary Airport/TimeCapsule powered on for now
Set up the Primary/Anchor Airport Base Station
1) Do this over ethernet - ensure that the Modem and TimeCapsule/Airport is connected on the WAN port
2) You'll be prompted by Airport Utility to name the Network and the Base Station
Network is the SSID of the Wireless LAN
BaseStation is the name of the Airport/TimeCapsule
3) You'll be prompted for a password - this will be for both the WLAN and the Base Station on initial setup
Note here - there are at least three passwords to worry about post setup
a) BaseStation Management - in this how-to, this will be carried thru to the extended basestations
b) WLAN Access
c) Disk Access for TimeCapsule and AirDisk
They can be same or unique, up to you...
Configure the Airport/TimeCapsule for WiFi/Network
4) Select the named BS in Airport Utility - click the 'edit' button
5) Review 'Base Station' Tab
5a) BaseStation Name
5b) BaseStation Password - you can change this now if desired, this does not affect WLAN password
6) Review Internet Tab
6a) set as appropriate for your network - e.g DHCP or other depending on needs
6aa) focus here is getting the primary BS set up first
6b) Click Internet Options - this is IPV6 setup - for now...
6ba) Set to Link-Local Only, click save, you can go back and change this later if needed
7) Go to Wireless Tab
7a) Set Network Mode to "Create a wireless network"
7b) Check Wireless Network Name
7c) Wireless Security - recommend WPA2 Personal - this is important as you'll need this later
7d) Wireless Password - the password entered in step 5b above is what is used here, feel free to modify or not - if so, note this
7e) disregard Enable Guest Network for now
7f) Click Wireless Options
7g) ensure 5Ghz network name is unselected
7h) Country as appropriate - since I'm in California, I choose United States
7i) Leave 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Channels as "Automatic" for now, click save if needed
8) Click Network Tab
8a) if this is your primary router - use DHCP and NAT
8b) Click Network Options
8c) DHCP Lease - I use 12 hours
8d) IPv4 DHCP Range - every here is a bit different, but my recommendation for most folks
192.168.1.100 to 150
Use what works for you, keeping in mind that the AP Extreme, TimeCapsule, and 2012 Airport Express can handle 50 clients, max
8e) Ensure that Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol is selected
8f) can worry about Enable default host at: [] later, this is the DMZ'ed host
8g) can choose to enable IGMP Snooping or not - doesn't affect the primary setup
8h) click save
TimeCapsule Only - for Airport Extreme, worry about AirDisk later
This is TimeMachine support, along with FileShares
9) Select Disks - you should see a partitiion named "Data"
9a) ensure that Enable file sharing is selected
9b) ensure that Share disks over WAN is unchecked for now
9c) Secure Shared Disks:
Choices here -
device password - noted in step 5b above
disk password - this will be for all LAN clients that can see the Data Partitiion
accounts - you can set up separate users and passwords - this is beyond scope of this how-to
Recommendation if using as TimeMachine only, use a disk password - note this as you'll need it for timemachine on the clients
Save Settings to the Airport/TimeCapsule
10) Click the "update' button
The Airport/TimeCapsule will restart
Everything now should show green and shiny - open a web browser and attempt to go to Apple/Google/Yahoo, to ensure that you've got network connectivity
Reviewing things in the Airport 6.3 utility, you should see your base station and the Internet - both with green status
Once done here, let's extend the Wireless Network
Note - again, it helps to be connected to the primary base station on ethernet, wireless makes things, erm, challenging
11) with another decive - Mac/iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch or PC, ensure that Wireless LAN is working on the primary AP/Basestation
Once this is done, then proceed to the next step
Enable the "Extended" Airport - can be another TimeCapsule, Airport Express or Airport Extreme
For purposes of this discussion - assume all ore 802.11n capable at a minimum, so this applies towards more recent gear
a) Airport Extreme AC (2013)
b) Airport TimeCapsule AC (2013)
c) Airport Express 2012 Dual-Band (Looks like AppleTV)
d) Airport Extreme 802.11n 5th Gen, TimeCapsule 4th Gen
e) Airport Express 802.11n - similar to the 802.11g variant, looks like a MacBook Pro power adapter
Assumptions here is that the extended airport is factory defaults - see link below for more info:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3728
Once this is done, plug in the Airport that is intended for extending the wireless network
after about a minute or so, you should see a blinking orange light, this is normal...
In Airport Utility, you should see in the upper left hand, "Other Wi-Fi Devices (1)" - click this, if you don't see this, exit and restart Airport Utility
12) clicking on the button, you should see an entry menu as "Airport Extreme xxxxxx", select this
13) Once selected, you'll see "This Airport Extreme/Express/TimeCapsule will be set up to extend "Primary Base Station"
14) Enter the name for this base station - it should be unique from the name of the Primary noted in step 5a
15) Click "next"
16) Should see "setting up this base station to wirelessly extend..."
you'll see some progress messages.. this is the two basestations handshaking....
If successful, you'll see the BaseStation named in step 14 as "is now wireless extending "base station named in (step 5a)"
STOP - the Airport is now extended, repeat steps 11 thru 16 for each addtional Airport
For advanced features - such as port forwarding, DMZ, IPv6 Tunnels, Back to my Mac, etc - perform this only on the Primary Base station outlined in steps 1 thru 8h
Good Luck!

Using AirPort Extreme Time Machine for OSX/WIN Backup

I bought the AirPort Extreme 2tb time machine over the weekend as my old router decided to retire. I'd like to be able to backup my Mac and my Windows machine to this Time Machine. Is this possible? If so, what are the steps?
Some steps I've already taken:
Using disk utility I partitioned the time machine in to 2 partitions. The first partition I set to No Journaling. The second partition I left as free space thinking I could then use the PC to grab that free space and format it to NTFS.
My problems is that the PC does not see the partitions. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

We get confused when you use the wrong names.
Time Machine is software in your Mac only.. it is not hardware.
There is a Time Capsule which has a 2TB (or 3TB) disk and you can buy an Airport Extreme and plug a standard USB drive into it.
I gather you have done the later.
The disk must be partitioned and formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) also called HFS+
So pull the hard disk of the Airport Extreme and redo the format.. both partitions should be the same.. Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
The PC can never see the internal format of the disk.. it is the AEBS that has to read and write to the disk so the format of the disk must either be FAT32 or HFS+. The PC will work ok as the AEBS will present the hard disk to the PC using SMB.. windows network protocol.. and to the Windows computer it will appear as NT server.. and probably FAT32. ie the format of the disk as it is handled by a network resource is irrelevant to the device actually writing or reading files to it.
Keep all names short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. Including the partition name of the disk. And all names in the AEBS.
Load the airport utility for windows into the PC. This is not 100% necessary but it helps loads.
Then in windows explorer give the actual address of the AEBS.
ie
\\AEname.local or \\AEIPaddress. (where you replace the AEname with your new base station name.. or AEIPaddress with the normal ipv4 dotted address).

How do I use a Mac Mini + Airport Express + Time Machine disk to backup another iMac

How do I use a Mac Mini + Airport Express + Time Machine disk to backup another iMac?
The question pretty much says it all.
I have a Mac Mini with an attached 3TB Hard Drive used for Time Machine Backups.
I have an Airport Extreme base station which services that machine plus several others.
I would like to backup my new iMac and a MacBook Pro to the Mac Mini.
What do I need to do on the mini to export that hard drive so that it can be used as a Time Machine target from the other systems?
All systems are running 10.6.8.

Well you would have to do backups over a network which is much slower and has highest chance of becoming corrupt. I think your best option would be to get an apple time capsule to act as a network and back if thats how you wanna do that

Regarding the product time capsule...is the modem the same as airport extreme and is the disk drive always running? I'm worried about it lasting for at least five years.

Regarding the product Time Capsule... is the modem the same as the Airport extreme and is the disk drive always running??? I'm worried about it lasting at least five years.

John,
I'd pay good money to bet it wouldn't last 5 years... I don't rate the in built power supply and as for "server grade hard disk" - Hmmmm..... The failure rate of all HD's on the market after 3 year is 60%.
Regards,
Shawn

2TB airport extreme time capsule says it's 'full'?

I am unable to complete a time machine back up to a 2TB airport extreme time capsule because it is 'full' - what is going on? I thought time machine automatically deleted the oldest back up so there is always room? Also I don't understand how I could fill 2TB? Thanks!

That's what I thought too. Just tried again & I get "Backup Failed - there isn't enough space on airport". When I click on 'details' it suggests I "Select a larger backup disk or make the backup smaller by excluding files." Any suggestions?

Time Machine Backups disk not automatically unmounting after backup completes in Lion

I am using Time Machine over WiFi on a 3rd party USB drive shared as an AirDisk through an Airport Extreme router. Ever since switching to Lion (clean install), I have noticed that the Time Machine backup disk will not automatically unmount after a backup is completed. This creates a problem when my MacBook Pro comes back from sleep. Specifically, the WiFi notification icon in the Finder toolbar indicates that WiFi is connected, even though it's not connected to a network, and I am unable to connect to any networks for what seems like several minutes until the Time Machine backups disk disappears from the desktop and WiFi actually connects.
Since the disk was not cleanly unmounted, Time Machine then keeps complaining that the sparse bundle file is locked and cannot be mounted every time it tries to do a backup. I have to either disconnect/reconnect the USB drive physically from the router, or restart the router every time this happens to resolve the issue. That is getting really annoying to have to do every time. I suppose I could manually unmount the Time Machine disk after every backup but it's ridiculous to have to do that every time I want to put the computer to sleep.
Is anyone else experiencing this issue and is there a fix?

For others who might be having this problem - I was able to resolve it by connecting my backup disk to my mac via USB, completely erasing it, and starting over from a new backup. Disk Utility was not reporting any errors when I verified the disk, but I went ahead and repartitioned it and started fresh. The disk now automatically unmounts after backups complete.

Airport and Time Machine difficulty

Does anyone know of any recent problems with AirPorts, AirPort software, Time Machines, or Time Machine software? I am experiencing problems with both and cannot diagnose the problem.
Airport: I have 3 cameras in my home that I have been able to view form outside the house (and Network) flawlessly for over a year. All of a sudden I cannot view the cameras from outside the house but when I am home and the wireless network is in range they work fine. I checked all of the settings and nothing seems different. I feel it may be a setting in the AirPort that is blocking me but I cannot prove that.
Time Machine: In an attempt to fix the problem above I planned on going back to a "good" point in the Time Machine to correct the issue. Apparently the Time Machine has not saved a backup since May 2013. It always appeared that it was working but I never really checked until now. I called support and was instructed to erase the drive and perform a fresh backup. The process never completes because it either locks up or claims that it will take thousands of days to complete the backup. I've tried this process several times as well as performing a more extensive erasing process. Same results. I just purchased an external drive and I am still having the same extended time problem. Before trying the external drive I was convinced that the Time Machine drive was bad. Now I am starting to think there is a Time Machine software issue.
Any insight or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

HDD = Hard Disk Drive.
I just wanted to make sure what you have. If I understand you correctly you then have a Time Capsule; an AirPort Extreme with a built-in HDD. If this is correct, then of course, it support Time Machine as a backup destination.
I am not aware of any current software issues for Time Machine; however, anything is possible.
At this point I would recommend that you check out Apple Support Communities Time Machine expert Pondini to go through some of his troubleshooting techniques.

HT204057 new help with my mac air and airport extreme time capsule dont know how to save to time capsule and use as a external hd

i just bought a new mac air and the new airport extreme time capsule im would like to know how to use the time capsule as storage for my pics and videos as the mac are has low storage space can any one walk me through this process?

See the info here about sharing or using the TC for data.
Q3 http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
It is extremely important you realise.. the Time Capsule was never designed for this.
It is a backup target for Time Machine.. that is the software on the computer that does backups.. it has no direct connection to the Time Capsule.
It has no ability to back itself up.. unlike all other NAS in the market. It is therefore likely one day you will lose all your files unless you seriously work out how to backup.
The TC is slow to spin up the hard disk and fast to spin down. iTunes and iPhoto will continually lose connection to their respective libraries.
iPhoto in particular is easy to corrupt when you move photos over wireless into the library.. once corrupted all is corrupt. A single photo will ruin it all.. so backup is utterly essential.
Time Machine cannot do backups of network drives. ie the TC. You will need a different backup software like CCC. You will then need another target to backup to..

New help with my mac air and airport extreme time capsule dont know how to save to time capsule and use as a external hd

new help with my mac air and airport extreme time capsule dont know how to save to time capsule and use as a external hd would like 2 store my home videos and pictures on the time machine (ONLY) as the MAC AIR has storage space limited space please help. THANK YOU.

See the info here about sharing or using the TC for data.
Q3 http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
It is extremely important you realise.. the Time Capsule was never designed for this.
It is a backup target for Time Machine.. that is the software on the computer that does backups.. it has no direct connection to the Time Capsule.
It has no ability to back itself up.. unlike all other NAS in the market. It is therefore likely one day you will lose all your files unless you seriously work out how to backup.
The TC is slow to spin up the hard disk and fast to spin down. iTunes and iPhoto will continually lose connection to their respective libraries.
iPhoto in particular is easy to corrupt when you move photos over wireless into the library.. once corrupted all is corrupt. A single photo will ruin it all.. so backup is utterly essential.
Time Machine cannot do backups of network drives. ie the TC. You will need a different backup software like CCC. You will then need another target to backup to..

Airport Extreme (time capsule model) internet speed EXTREMELY slow.

Hello, first thank you for any help on this as it is a bit frustrating for me.
I recently noticed my internet speed was running significantly slower on both my MacBook Pro and on my wifes MacBook.
I had my ISP come and check out the problem. They hooked my MacBook Pro directly to the modem and my speed went from under 1 mb to over 5mb.... he then had me hook up directly to the lan port on the airport extreme and my speed was once again back down to the 1 mb range. He concluded that it must be a problem with the speed once it hits the Airport Extreme.
He ended up giving me a different modem, its a 2wire wireless. I have since connected my airport extreme to the new modem and am still pulling down the same speed, but now I have connected directly to the new 2wire wireless modem and am getting my 5 mb speed.
Can anyone give me any help or advice on what I can do with my airport extreme time capsule so that I can get the speed I should be getting from it.
Thanks again.

More information. I have a separate router for ISP connect/DHCP. I only use my Airports to create a WDS and bridge onto my home network. I have never allowed 2.4GHz or 5GHz phones in the house, just to limit interference. I live way out in the country so interference from neighbors is negligible to nonexistent. Speed testing done with Speakeasy.net/speedtest
I moved all the hard wired machines from the TC to my switch. Which will impact the speed of my backups, but it helped with internet throughput for those machines.
Then I split my WiFi into 2 separate nets, each with a connection to my home network switch. I created a b/g network with my ufo Extreme and my Express (NET 1). I left my TC set for n/b/g (NET 2). As long as my MacBook was powered off internet speed were nice and fast. As soon as I turned on my MB the speeds were impacted, not as bad as before.
I then changed NET 2 to be n-only 5GHz and retested. These was a small but noticeable impact for wireless machines but I have concerns because my ISP is wireless and runs at or near 5GHz.
I then changed NET 2 to be n-only 2.4Ghz and retested. Again a small impact for wireless machines whenever my MB was connected to NET 2.
I then had my MB join NET 1 and speeds were nice and fast all around. My solution, shutdown the wireless on my TC and use it as just a network drive while I use my old reliable b/g hardware for WiFi.
Maybe someday this Draft version of 802.11n will be finalized and have no issues.
Message was edited by: Gregory Daniel

Verify Disk failed for Time Machine backup disk

Thread <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7930301&#7930301> discussed a similar issue, but it was closed without an answer so I'm opening a new one.
After a power failure I ran Disk Utility to Repair Permissions on my boot disk and Verify Disk on another that I use to store media files; neither had significant problems. Then I ran Verify Disk (verify, not repair; and disk, not permissions) on my Time Machine backup disk. It started spitting out the errors shown below. The time remaining counted up to 16 minutes, but wasn't coming down very fast so I left it running overnight. My machine is set to not sleep or spin down the disks. The next evening it was down to 12 minutes left, and was still spitting out the same errors. The second evening it was done, having failed out as shown in this log file excerpt:
2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400: Verifying volume “Backup”
Starting verification tool: 2009-06-20 22:25:48 -0400
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Extents Overflow file.
2009-06-20 22:25:50 -0400: Checking Catalog file.
2009-06-20 22:35:21 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
2009-06-20 23:08:17 -0400: Checking Catalog hierarchy.
2009-06-20 23:16:59 -0400: Checking Extended Attributes file.
2009-06-20 23:18:34 -0400: Checking multi-linked directories.
2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 3763501)
2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: 2009-06-20 23:31:05 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
2009-06-22 15:14:54 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:14:57 -0400: Incorrect owner flags for directory hard link (id = 7746623)
2009-06-22 15:14:59 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:00 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:15:02 -0400: (It should be 0x2 instead of 0x0)
2009-06-22 15:20:35 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
2009-06-22 15:20:37 -0400: Checking volume information.
2009-06-22 15:20:39 -0400: 2009-06-22 15:20:41 -0400: The volume Backup needs to be repaired.
2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown. Upon the 2nd restart the system booted and seems to be OK, but I'm leery of running another Verify Disk.
What's going on? Are those errors anything to worry about? Is it possible to run Verify Disk on a Time Machine backup disk? What about Repair Disk?

John Seal wrote:
2009-06-22 15:20:43 -0400: Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed.2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400:
2009-06-22 15:20:44 -0400: Disk Utility stopped verifying “Backup” because the following error was encountered:
Filesystem verify or repair failed.
At that point the whole system was extremely sluggish, and the access light on the backup disk was flashing steadily. The pmTool process seemed to be running away, but the system wasn't responsive enough for me to do much about it, so I held down the power button to shutdown.
Any time Disk Utility says you need to repair a disk, you need to repair it. Period.
So run it. If it fails to repair everything, run it again (and again) until it either repairs everything or can't repair any more. If it can't repair it, post back and we'll discuss options.
There's no point in running +Verify Disk+ on an external drive; just run +Repair Disk.+ The only time +Verify Disk+ is needed is for your internal HD (because you can't repair the disk you're running from).
And you need to do that again because of the forced power-down. Any time there's an abnormal shutdown, it's possible the file system on your internal HD can be damaged. Usually it isn't, but it's possible. If that says you need to repair it, you'll have to boot from your Leopard Install disc and use it's copy of DU. Post back if you need to do this but don't know how.

Can't connect to a Time Machine backup disk

I have erased my TM via Airport Utility
AirPort Utility 6.x: Erase an AirPort Time Capsule disk
So far so good...But now, I am unable to open TM, when I do it opens momentarily, then closes with message "Can't conect to a Time Machine backup disk".
I have turned off TM as I do not want to use the TM as backup..I want to use it as an EHD and transfer data to the disk manually (not by automatic TM backups).
How can I do this?

No. It is not in Finder at all..only I can see the Airport Capusle (on the left side) under "Shared"...but this does not allow for any data transfer.
It should show under "Devices", and allow for data transfer....don't know how to fix this one..

How to change file ownership/permission on Airport Extreme Time Capsule

I have a 3TB Airport Extreme Time Capsule that currently have a folder with a number of files. The problem is it won't let me delete some of these files because I don't have permission. On a mac it would be trivial to either take ownership or change my permissions. Any ideas on how I can do this on the TC?

niblettes wrote:
I only know what OSX tells me -- so my information is only as good as its messages.
Locked files seem like a good possibility though.
Your first post seemed to say that some specific files couldn't be deleted. If you know any of their names, see if one is locked. if not, that isn't the problem. If it is, unlock it and try to delete. If it still won't delete, that's not the problem, either (or at least not all of it).
How can I just make all file unlocked since I have no idea which of the tens of thousands of file are at fault?
I know in OSX its easy to change permissions on a folder and then propagate that change to all child foders and files. Does locking/unlocking work the same?
If you don't know of any specific files, try creating one, locking it, then seeing if you can delete it.
There doesn't seem to be any way to unlock all files in a folder.
Do you want to delete everything on the TC? If so, just erase it with Airport Utility -- only takes seconds.
EDIT: These files wouldn't be in Time Machine backups, would they? If so, you can only delete entire backups via the Finder, not individual files or folders. But the message OSX usually sends when you try that says so fairly clearly.
Message was edited by: Pondini

HT3275 message: "Your Time Machine backup disk can't be found." Mountain Lion. Western Digital "MY Book" "Home edition"

Intalled Mountain Lion. Now get message: "Time machine backup disk can't be found. Using Western Digital "My Book" "Home Edition"

Wow, I feel really stupid. I spent a couple of days trying to troubleshoot this problem.
1. Open TM prefs.
2. Click "Select Disk..."
3. Select "None" and apply changes.
4. Click "Select Disk..." Select your disk and apply changes.
*5. When the password prompt appears, MAKE SURE THE NAME IS THE NAME OF THE AIRPORT BASESTATION, and not the name of your Mac.
6. Run a backup.

AirPort Extreme/Time Machine/Ext Disk

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