Airport Extreme + USB HD + Time Machine

I've had a recurring problem with my Airport Extreme for several years. Any time I update the firmware on the base station to the latest available, I have issues accessing my USB hard drive plugged in to it for general usage or Time Machine backups. I believe the latest firmware that works trouble free for me is 7.3.2, which I'm having a hard time tracking down now that I've upgraded to 7.4.2.
Basic problem: Time machine back ups and access to the HD plugged in to the base station work fine immediately after the update. I put my computer to sleep, and upon wake up it can't communicate with the disk drive any more. The only thing that fixes it is to restart the base station. Then everything's fine again until another sleep or restart cycle my computer.
Like I said, everything works great on the older firmware (which I'm currently trying to track down again). But every updated base station firmware update Apple has released in the last few years has broken it.
Airport Extreme (purchased in 2007) running 7.4.2 firmware
Macbook (Black 13" purchased in late 2006) running OSX 10.6.3

Hello elehto. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
Like I said, everything works great on the older firmware (which I'm currently trying to track down again). But every updated base station firmware update Apple has released in the last few years has broken it.
Since Apple does not support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks, I don't think firmware changes will make any difference to the issues you are describing. (ref: Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Extreme AirPort Disks)

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Is it possible to use NAS storage (which is wired via LAN to AirPort Extreme) as a Time Machine destination?

Is it possible to use NAS storage (WD My Cloud EX2 or WD My Cloud EX4) which is wired via LAN to current AirPort Extreme, as a Time Machine backup destination?
There are two reasons I came up with this question.
- Connecting via Ethernet should be faster than USB 2.0 connection
- 8TB NAS storages are slightly cheaper than 8TB USB HDD
If it is impossible, I am planning to buy My Book Thunderbolt Duo 8TB and wire it for MacBook Pro directly for the purpose of Time Machine backup.
I have a concern with my primal idea of backing up via WiFi, as I tend to handle big files when doing music production or movie editing. I wonder if this affect the performance of MacBook Pro, as it might take more time to complete each backup via WiFi.
Many thanks for your advice in advance,
Masa
MacBook Pro Retina 15 inch (Mid 2012)
Processor 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3

I would appreciate any advice which could include aother sollition of secure and practical backup.

Airport Extreme + USB HDD = Time Capsule?

Hi!
(Sorry for my poor English, I hope it's possible to understand my problem/question).
I bought a MacBook in January 09. It's connected to the Internet via WLAN and a Fritz.Box (Wireless Router with built-in DSL Modem, unfortunately it uses the old slow LAN and WLAN protocol and a USB1-Port).
I want to backup my files with Time Machine via WLAN. I tried to connect a USB-Drive to my Fritz.Box but it was terribly slow (USB1...)
It's important, that the backups go automatically when I'm at home and connected to my WLAN.
Now I think of buying something that's more useful. I have three ideas and I'm not sure what to do...
1) Buying the Time Capsule. Pro: I think, it will work perfectly. I don't need to worry about a thing. Contra: It's terribly expensive. In Germany 1TB will cost about 600$. (Maybe I should buy the 500GB-Version and update it by myself to 1GB or 2GB).
2) Buying the Airport Extreme. Unfortunately I'm not sure if a Airport Extreme + USB-HDD is the same as the Time Capsule. Apple writes: "Time Machine in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard can be used to back up to many kinds of Mac OS Extended-formatted drives, but you cannot choose AirPort Extreme's AirPort Disk as a Time Machine backup volume. " On the other hand some Users wrote that they managed to get their TM-Backup on a AE-HDD (but did this work via WLAN?). With the Airport Extreme it would be easy to manage a itunes-stream-server (the Airport Express is not too expensive). And the Airport Extreme isn't too expensive as well.
3) Using a Network-HDD. It would be not too good, since I had to use my slow WLAN-Connection and since this wouldn't be supported by Apple at all. On the other hand this would be the least expensive version.
What should I do? Is it possible to work with the Airport Extreme and an external USB-HDD via WLAN and without any problems (like mounting the drive manually each time I connect to my Network).
It would be much more fun, if everything ran automatically, when I got in reach of my Network...
Thanks in advance! Gerrit

A couple of pointers.
The hard drive must be specifically formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to work with the AirPort Extreme's USB port. Check the documentation that came with the drive to find out how it is formatted at the present time.....it is likely formatted to work with Windows, which is not compatible with the AirPort Extreme.
Unfortunately, even if the drive is formatted correctly, Apple does not officially support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme, so that will be the next hurdle to deal with.
Some users actually do seem to be able to make this work, but overall, it is not a reliable method to backup your data if it is important to you.

USB drive attached to Airport Extreme as a time machine backup?

I have a WD 750gb external USB drive that I was using as a "time machine" with my iMac. My Airport Extreme has a USB port and I want to move the WD over to there, but continue to use it as time machine. Possible to do this? If yes, then how?
Thanks much

You can, but Time Machine uses a disk image file for the Time Machine archive (instead of a folder) when a network drive is used. Therefore, you may have to start your Time Machine archive over again.
If you have one Mac to back up with Time Machine, it is better to leave the drive attached directly to the computer over USB. Your initial and hourly Time Machine backups will complete faster.

6th Generation Airport Extreme Freezing During Time Machine Backups using LaCie 1TB Hard Drive

I recently upgraded from a 4th generation Airport Extreme (short, dual band n) to a new 6th generation Airport Extreme (tall, dual-band ac) in the hopes of having quicker backups and better WiFi performance (I also just got a 13" retina MacBook Pro).
The upgrade has gone poorly, to say the least. Initially, I set up the new Airport Extreme as I had for the old one. Then I plugged in the same hard drive I was using (a LaCie 1 TB d2 Quadra USB2 drive that I bought in June of 2009). I decided to setup my wife's Time Machine backup first (she has a 2010 MacBook Air). I removed the "old" disk (the one associated with the old base station) from her Time Machine configuration, and set up her Time Machine configuration to backup to the same disk on the new Airport Extreme. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it picked up her existing Time Machine backup and incrementally synchronized to it (the backup size was about 300 MB). A few days later, she warned me that Time Machine told her that backups were not working. When I went to look, it was indeed failing.
I tried a few things that didn't work, and I suspected that maybe the backup "transfer" hadn't gone so smoothly as it seemed, so I decided to erase the drive using Disk Utility and start the backup over again. To my disappointment, I found that the backup got about 200MB-1.5GB into the backup and "froze." I left it overnight, and it was at exactly the same place the next morning. The light on the disk connected to the Airport Extreme flashed constantly all the time, and I could hear it spinning, but nothing happened at all.
When I tried to stop the backup, it took a very long time. In the logs, I would see a message like this (this log is from my machine, not my wife's, but it looks the same):
11/19/13 9:40:59.276 PM com.apple.backupd[93334]: Forcing deep traversal on source: "***-mpbr" (device: /dev/disk0s2 mount: '/' fsUUID: 7356274E-D28F-3BC0-9CA8-7F1AA21830B4 eventDBUUID: 99941F9A-AD5F-4FAF-94D2-701C94CA9581)
11/19/13 9:41:57.609 PM com.apple.backupd[93334]: Total content size: 148.2 GB excluded items size: 17.16 GB for volume ***-mpbr
11/19/13 9:41:57.610 PM com.apple.backupd[93334]: Found 674166 files (131.05 GB) needing backup
11/19/13 9:41:57.611 PM com.apple.backupd[93334]: 152.52 GB required (including padding), 498.67 GB available
11/19/13 9:41:57.625 PM com.apple.backupd[93334]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
11/19/13 9:59:22.407 PM UserEventAgent[11]: com.apple.backupd-auto launchd job disabled
11/19/13 10:00:15.103 PM com.apple.backupd[93334]: Cancellation timed out - exiting
Looking at the Airport Extreme in Finder, I saw that it got stuck, either "Connected as" me, or "Connecting...". The Airport Extreme wouldn't respond to the "Disconnect" or "Connect As..." buttons (depending on the context), and the eject button for the Airport Extreme itself in the sidebar was also unresponsive. Eventually, after 2+ minutes, I got a dialog saying "Couldn't connect to [my base station name]" with instructions to "check its IP" and contact my system administrator if the problem persists. During this time, Finder can seem frozen and unstable.
Through all of the above, the hard disk kept spinning and the light flashed constantly. The drive was warm to the touch in the morning.
I also found that when all this happened, I was unable to connect to the Airport device using Airport Utility. I I couldn't administer it, but the Internet continued to work for all connected devices. Unplugging the disk and plugging it back in worked immediately to bring the system back to a working state. I didn;t even have to power-cycle or reset the Airport Extreme.
I tried a number of things to correct this behavior:
Disabled Time Machine, removed disk, restarted machine, reconfigured Time Machine, and retried.
Tried backup on my 13" Retina MacBook Pro and my wife's MacBook Air.
I actually tried with TWO new 6th Generation Airport Extremes. The first one was a refurbished one. I returned it to Apple and purchased a brand new one. Both of them exhibited the behavior I described above.
Workaround:
Finally, I switched the drive out for a spare that I have (an older Western Digital MyBook and used it for a backup. This drive "Just worked."
So, I have switched to that for backup for now, and re-purposed the LaCie as a drive that I use for making periodic images of my hard drive using SuperDuper. The drive seems to work perfectly (and worked perfectly for several years with older Airport Extreme base stations), so I can only assume there's a bug in the USB driver of the current 6th-generation Airport Extreme.
I hope this helps someone else who's as confused as I was. If anyone has had a similar experience, I would very much like to read about it. I will be reporting this problem to apple right after I post this topic. Please do the same if you experience this issue.

As Bob says, backing-up that way isn't supported.
It's also unreliable. It may work for a while, but this forum, and the Time Machine forums, have many, many posts like this:
*"I've been backing-up via an Airport Extreme for* <some number of days, weeks, or months> *and all of a sudden my backups are corrupted beyond repair."*
In my case, it's happened about 4 times in a year. And that's with a desktop Mac, about 12 feet from the Airport, with the exact same hardware in exactly the same place and no interference.
It is very convenient, especially with laptops. If you want to take the risk, see [Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Airport.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
But do yourself a LARGE favor and take the prominent advice to keep secondary backups, and update them frequently. Sooner or later, you're probably going to need them.

Airport exteme +usb HD Time machine question

I want to make sure that I do this right. I have 2 macs, and airport extreme. I have a USB hub plugged into the AIR Extreme. When I plug in a 1TB USB drive into the HUB, will I get the dialog box to use the drive as TIME Machine? Since I have two macs and want to back them both up over the network, do I have to configure both computers from the airport software, or will it automatically recognize 2 computers and start a backup?

Sorry, but Apple still does not support AirPort Disks for Time Machine backups. (ref: Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Extreme AirPort Disks)

How can i change my internet connection from Airport Extreme to my Time Machine

My laptop is connected to my Airport Extreme on the third floor.
If i take my laptop to the first floor to my Time Machine, my connection is lost with Airport Extreme.
It looks very logical to me that my laptop will automatically be connected to my Time Machine.......
But it does not......
What am i doing wrong..........has anybody an answer for me?
Thanks in advance
Regards
Patrick

Are both of your Apple routers configured for an extended or roaming network?

How to Backup FROM (Not TO) Airport Extreme Disk via Time Machine

I'm running 10.5.2 and all the latest updates to Airport Extreme. I know there are problems backing up with Time Machine TO an Airport Extreme attached HD, but can I backup FROM one via Time Machine.
When I attach a drive to A. Ex. I can see it fine on any Mac on my LAN, but Time Machine doesn't show it in the area where I can choose to exclude items, making me question whether it would be backed up at all.
Any comments/suggestions?
Thanks...
DHK

Configure the AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) to act as a bridge. That will put the computers connected to the D-Link on the same subnet as those connected to the AEBS.

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.

AirPort Extreme USB Connected Disk Drive Not Visible To Time Machine

My AirPort Extreme USB connected disk drive is visible in the Finder and desktop. It is not visible to Time Machine. When I open Time Machine and bring up the "Choose Backup Disk" the AirPort Extreme USB connected disk drive is not visible.
What am I missing here?

Hi Pete Mackie-
Nope. You aren't missing anything.
Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Disks
Luck-
-DaddyPaycheck

Using an Airport Extreme and a Time Capsule at the same time

Guys I have had an Airport Extreme and a Time Capsule running together for nearly a year now and over the last few days the TC has been behaving badly. I changed its settings and now I'm in a mess. No, I can't remember the previous settings
Does anyone have a definitive list of the settings I need please? I have an ethernet cable modem, and the Airport Extreme is plugged into that as the main router. Two computers and the Time Capsule are plugged into the Airport Extreme using ethernet. The Time Capsule at the moment is just used as a network drive for Time Machine, but at some point I want to move it, with a long ethernet cable, and use it for extending the wifi in the house.
1. Should I connect the TC using its WAN port or one of the other ethernet ports? At present it's one of the other ones.
2. What TC settings should I use to have it function purely as a hard drive? At the moment there's some kind of conflict and my internet connection drops every 30 minutes.
3. Then later, what settings will I need to get the ethernet connected TC to extend the range of my wifi?
I read the Apple doc about WDS and tried setting the TC up that way. Then I discovered there is no WDS option in the AE Wireless settings. Only "Create a wireless network" or "extend a wireless network". The same setting on the TC has these options: "Create a wireless network" "Participate in a WDS network" or "extend a wireless network". Both devices have firmware 7.5.2. It didn't work with only the TC set for WDS, of course, but after that I can't get it back the way it was - which wasn't reliable anyway
Any help in exactly what the Wireless and Internet settings should be would be massively useful. Thanks!

If you use the extreme as a router then the tc should be connected via its wan port to one of the lan ports on the extreme. Tc should be set up in bridge mode. Basically you could set it up to create another wireless network beside the one created by the extreme. There is no need to use WDS or extend the other network.
Use the same SSID and password for both machines. Computers will connect to the strongest signal.

Airport Extreme and a Time Capsule - config recommendations?

Hi!
So I find myself (in a fortunate position?!) with a new Airport Extreme and a Time Capsule.
I have very few requirements - I would like to be able to connect to the Internet wirelessly, and I'd like to be able to backup a couple of Macs using Time Machine (also wirelessly). I realise that the TC can provide me with that functionality nice and easily, but since I have an AE and a TC, I figure it would be good to make use of both, and so I wanted to ask if anyone had any recommendations for a useful configuration?
I think there are 2 basic options I could make use of (have I missed any?!):
1) Use AE as base station and connect the TC to it as an external HD
2) Use AE as base station and also make TC available for back up wirelessly
Does anyone have any thoughts on the above? If you'd recommend 2), what would be your suggested approach as I think I'm right in saying that 2) could be done in several ways? Roaming? WDS? Just setup TC as a stand-alone wireless box with no internet connection? (does this latter approach mean I could connect to the internet and backup at the same time - I'm guessing not?)
If 1) is the way to go, is it just a case of putting an ethernet cable between the 2 boxes?
Any thoughts would be hugely appreciated!
Many thanks

I would use the Time Capsule as the wireless base station connected to the modem. Then I'd use the Airport Extreme to extend the network or to create a roaming network (ethernet cable betwee the units), whichever worked best in the premises. Naturally, Time Capsule would be used for backups of all machines equipped with Time Machine. Have never hooked up any Apple equipment but from my understanding of it, this is what I'd try.

I'm trying to setup a printer go wireless through my airport extreme, but every time I try to print the printing file gets paused. I'm in loop. PLEASE HELP! (The printer is a Brother 7020 monochrome)

I'm trying to setup a printer go wireless through my airport extreme, but every time I try to print the printing file gets paused. I'm in loop. PLEASE HELP! (The printer is a Brother 7020 monochrome)

I had the exact same problem
It turns out I was using a 20 foot USB cable between the printer and the Airport Extreme and the signal had become to weak to work. Try using nothing more than a 6 foot cable or try a new cable

What is the best way to hookup my airport extreme with my time capsule ?

what is the best way to hookup my airport extreme with my time capsule ?

It sounds like you have the AirPort Extreme configured as the "main" router on your network.
If that is the case, connect an Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on the AirPort Extreme to the WAN "O" port on the Time Capsule
Power up the Time Capsule
Connect another spare Ethernet cable from your Mac to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule
Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click on the Time Capsule, then click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab below the row of icons and make sure that the setting for Wireless Mode = Off
Click the Internet icon, the click the Internet tab
Insure that the setting for Connect Using = Ethernet
Insure that the setting for Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode)
Click the Update button at the lower right of the window and wait a full minute for the Time Capsule to restart
Then power cycle the entire network by powering everything off....order of power down does not matter
Wait a minute
Power up the modem first, and let it run a few minutes by itself
Power up the AirPort Extreme next and let it run a full minute
Power up the Time Capsule next and let it run a full minute
Keep starting devices one at a time about a minute apart until the entire network is back up
You will need to reset the backup path from your Mac to the Time Capsule to get backups going again
Open System Preference (gear icon on the dock)
Open Time Machine
Click Select Disk
Click the Time Capsule to highlight it
Click Use for Backups or Use Disk and backups should begin again in a few minutes
If you do not want to leave the Mac connected to the Time Capsule by Ethernet, remove the Ethernet cable from the Mac to the Time Capsule, then log on to the AirPort Extreme wireless network

Internet - AirPort Extreme (b/g) - Time Capsule - File Server

I've got a small office network where files are served off a Mac mini, and iMacs connected via 802.11n wifi to the wired mini via Time Capsule. I have a spare AEBS (b/g) that I was thinking of setting it up for iPhone and guest access of internet. To keep the mini and iMacs secure, the set-up would be:
Internet -> AirPort Extreme (b/g) -> Time Capsule -> Mac mini and iMacs
The only issue I'm contemplating - the slower Ethernet ports on the Extreme - which I don't think is a problem for connecting to the Internet. Is there anything else I should be concerned about regarding network performance?
Thanks in advance for the collective wisdom!
Message was edited by: openarchitecture

That would work. The Ethernet ports on the AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) is faster than your internet connection so you shouldn't have a problem.

Airport Extreme + USB HD + Time Machine

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