Back To My Mac to a Time Capsule through a 3Com Router not working

I have a Mac Book Pro (10.5.7), Time Capsule (7.4.1), 3Com Office Connect Wireless Router (3CRWDR101A-75), a trial subscription to Mobile Me and a 2.5G iPhone (2.2.1).
I have been unable to get BTTM from my Mac on a remote wireless connection to my Time Capsule working - hence this post.
The set up of the Time Capsule was quite straightforward (as I would have expected from Apple) and I quickly established local and remote iCal / Address Book sync between my Mac, www.me.com and my iPhone. I have enabled and am the 2.4 and 5GHz bands on the Time Capsule and the wireless air interface on the 3Com router has been turned off. All of internet and email services on my Mac work well locally and Time Machine work. So far so good.
However, I am unable to 'see' my Time Capsule in Finder from any WiFi network that is not my home network. When at home I have full access to Time Capsule's disk.
My 3Com Office Router 3CRWDR101A-75 is not on the list of supported routers (nor is any other 3Com Router) but it does provide UPnP and NAT as required according to Mobile Sync notes including http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1552 and http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1552. Despite my best efforts, I have been unable to find out from Apple's MobileMe support if there are any minimum requirements for any router to work with Back To My Mac so can't check to see if my 3Com router will ever work with BTTM or not.
Does anyone have any similar experience with setting up a 3Com Office Connect router to work with Back to My Mac?
Do I need to check / Can I check if my Time Capsule has been registered with the Mobile Me servers?
Do I need to enable any specific ports on my 3Com Office Connect router?
Basic settings:
Time Capsule: green light - all OK
AirPort Utility>Internet: Connection Sharing: Off (Bridge Mode)
AirPort Utility>Advanced>Mobile me: account set up
AirPort Utility>Advanced>IPv6: IPv6 mode = Node, at the request of Apple Mobile Me support
System Preferences>Mobile Me>BackToMy Mac: On (green light).
3Com Office Connect Router: DCHP server: On
3Com Office Connect Router: Firewall level: High (default)
3Com Office Connect Router: Disable NAT: Off (default)
3Com Office Connect Router: Enable Universal Plug & Play: On
3Com Office Connect Router: Enable IPSEC-NAT pass through: ON, at the request of Apple Mobile me support
Com Office Connect Router: DMZ: enable 1-to-1 NAT: Off (default)
Any ideas?
Thanks.

Quick update on troubleshooting BTTM (or rather Back To My Time Capsule)...
Surprising;y, no 3Com products listed in http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1304. 3Com tech support stated that no OfficeConnect products have been qualified against BTTM and my specific router does not support IPv6 over IPv4 encapsulation.
MobileMe support were not able to help, citing the fact that I had an unsupported router.
I have made no change to my modem/router config since first posted but since an upgrade of my TC to 7.4.2 I have been able to use BTTM with my TC (bridge mode) and my OfficeConnect modem/router (802.11b WiFi disabled).
I have made limited testing from other remote locations from my MBP and also proved that it worked over a 3G/UMTS connection on the UK's 02 network also
MobileMe still reporting uPnP / NAT problem on my MBP when working remotely though.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9733258 confirms that this has been solved and, apart from the anomalous Mobileme status message, I can agree.
Good news so now do not need to swap out my 3Com router. Also shows that this 3Com product does meet BTTM connectivity requirements.
Message was edited by: Elise49
Message was edited by: Elise49

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Issues:
— to ensure one doesnt "out backup the other" - AND since it isnt possible (practically) to Partition the HDD within the Time Capsule
or in other words: to prevent 1 computer from taking more space for itself by providing an equal amount of backup space to each computer)
*Without manually removing the HDD inside the Time Capsule, docking it and partitioning it in DiskUtility and then remounting it into the Time Capsule...
I understand that it is possible to restrict the size of the SparseBundles, so in theory, one could make at 2TB Time Capsule have a 1TB a sparsebundle for EACH computer, and thus would leave each computer with a maxium 1TB each of backup space.
Following Pondini's instuctions for SparseBundle editing here:
http://pondini.org/TM/A8.html
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Thanks
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PS - Manditory complaining moment: Why can't Apple just enable a Partioning option in AirPort Utility so we dont have to worry about this?!

The disk space is not adequate for the operation.. archive off the existing backup if you need it.. then start a new backup from each computer.. once you have a new clean backup then set one to 1TB (remember a 2TB only formats to 1.8TB though, so you really should set one sparsebundle to 800GB.. and leave the other one to fill the remaining space.. the disk must have 10-25% free space remaining for backups to work.
Note what Pondini says..
It may not "stick" on Snow Leopard 10.6.3 and 10.6.4, and on some occasions, Mountain Lion.
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http://pondini.org/TM/27.html
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Time Capsule Drive on WAN + NAT not working.

Hi I'm having trouble setting up my TC.
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I know that! The problem was not that simple..... You can't be in a DMZ and share your TC drive over the web at the same time.
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So instead I took the mini out of the DMZ and set the TC to always give the same ip address to my mini by using a DHCPClient ID instead of using the default host.
I could have used the MAC address of the ethernet port in the access control list on the TC but that would have limited me to ethernet only. Sometimes I move my mini to under the tv to watch movies but that's not got ethernet......
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Message was edited by: Stephen Medway

HT1175 Backing up a PC and a Mac to a Time Capsule

Can I back up two computers to a Time Capsule if one is a PC and one is a Mac? How do I do this if a Time Capsule cannot be partitioned?

You can do it.
Should you do it, I cannot answer.
The TC does not need partitioning.. indeed cannot as you say be partitioned.
The Mac will create its own special virtual disk, called sparsebundle. That will keep it isolated from PC backup.
For PC simply create a new directory under the main data directory.. call it something obvious. PCbackup, and use that for backup software you use.
Here is my TC.. it has my MBP laptop backup sparsebundle.. and my wife's PC backup.. suitably named.
Bad things happen when the drive gets near full so make sure it never even gets close.
There is some warnings here you should know beforehand.
http://pondini.org/TM/TCQ3.html
One very good idea there is to set a max size for the sparsebundle.. say you have a 2TB disk TC.. set the sparsebundle to 1TB.. as soon as you do the first backup as that will reserve the space for it.
Never tried but I will have a go..

Can we share our photos in the family on different mac´s with Time Capsule?

Can we share our photos in the family on different mac´s with Time Capsule?

It depends on the size and number of photos you are sharing around.
Nothing wrong with putting a copy of the photos on the TC if that works for you. Each person can access the photo just fine like that.
I am not saying don't.. just beware of the risks so do it prudently..
But if the library is too large, you will steal space on the TC that should be used for backups.. if all the computers in the network are backing up to it, don't use too much of the spare space.
Better to buy a firewire drive (or USB but firewire 800 are much faster) and connect it to a computer that is regularly turned on. Share that drive to the network. It will then also be backed up correctly to the TC although again be careful of the amount of files, and still keep a straight copy backup somewhere else.
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Can anyone recommend an external storage device to supplement my mac book air? I already have a time capsule but want the new device to replicate the data on that so ideally would like a device that i can connect to the time capsule through a cable.

Can anyone recommend an external storage device to supplement my mac book air? I already have a time capsule but want the new device to replicate the data on that so ideally would like a device that i can connect to the time capsule through a cable.

Hi CJR
I'm not sure how Time Capsule can be replicated onto your external drive but there is a USB port on the back of TC that can be hooked up to any recent external drive.
Another thing to think about , besides a Time Capsule failure, is the theft of your Time Capsule, so it might be a good idea to consider separating any redundant back-up from your Time Capsule or both my be stolen.
TC will back up until full and then begin deleting the oldest back-ups. Mine is a 2TB Time capsule.
My back-up plan is as follows:
1. Macbook Air back-up on Time Capsule though Time Machine backs up everything - I think it's about every 30 min or so.
2. Contacts, reminders, appointments, notes, email are backed up through iCloud.
3. iTunes and non-itunes purchased music is on iMatch (and no need to back-up) and any non-iTunes music is backed up on an HP external drive (in case Time Capsule dies)
4. Photos are on my MacBook Air and are backed up on my HP external drive.
5. Office documents (Excel, Powerpoint, Access etc) are stored in a Skydrive app (like iCloud) and Skydrive syncs these docuemnts with the MS cloud and my old PC and does not alter their native format like storing in iCloud would do.
Cheers

How do i move my tv shows, movies and books from my mac to my time capsule to free up space on my mac?

how do i move my tv shows, movies and books from my mac to my time capsule to free up space on my mac?

Probably the easiest way is to drag the files from the iTunes window to the external drive. Make sure they have copied. Delete them from iTunes. Hold down the option key and drag the copied files back to iTunes. This will add them back but mapped to their new location and the option/alt key will stop the files from being copied to your Media folder on the internal drive.
In future if you are adding a batch of files in one go you can set preferences temporarily to store media on the external drive, then change back again. See also: iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19507

What is the best way to auto back up from a pc to time capsule?

IN MY HOUSE WE HAVE ONE MAC AND THREE WINDOWS PCS/LAPTOPS. I AM LOOKING FOR THE BEST WAY TO AUTOMATICALLY BACK UP THE PCs TO THE TIME CAPSULE.

windows 7 will not back up to a time capsule. because windows backup demands ntfs, and time capsules aren't true nas devices (they don't include the ability to fool windows into thinking its an ntfs partition)
i thnk your going to need another back up utility for your windows computers, like maybe acronis or paragon or rdrive, etc etc
theres nothing stopping you from copying files back and forth from a windows computer to a time capsule, but when it comes to windows backup it won't work

Back To My Mac to a Time Capsule through a 3Com Router not working

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