Bootable Backup / Owners Enabled, Info Needed!

I have a 750 GB Firewire drive +(also has USB & ESATA interfaces)+ i want to make into a bootable backup of my internal drive which is 250 GB. In preparation, i used Disk Utility to create two volumes on the FW drive; one big enough to back up my boot drive, and one to use for general storage. As i was preparing DU, i noticed it said something about the partitions being bootable.
Even though i've searched here and elsewhere and read quite a bit, i've not seen precisely what i'm looking to find out, or i'm getting conflicting information.
*• Can a bootable backup be created with Disk Utility?*
*• If i want to use something more automated, what's a good app that will do the job simply and isn't pricey?*
*• What determines whether a drive will have "Owners Enabled"?*
*• How can that state be altered?*
+DU is reporting *"Owners Enabled: no"* on my new partitions, which seems like a bad thing for a boot drive, and i don't want it on any other drive either.+
!http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5186/scottdartve1.png!

1. Using the restore function. Draw back is that it can't do incremental updates.
2. Carbon Copy Cloner (donationware, free to education types) and SuperDuper! ($29; free for clones like #1) are the top two. Both do the job 1-2 times faster than #1.
3. They aren't enabled. However, you can ignore or not ignore. ignoring is usually automatically bypassed when cloning. You don't want to ignore them.
4. Select the volume, CMD+I, and option's on the bottom, but highly recommend you don't select it.
I have no idea why DU's reporting that, but it might have something to do with #4.

Similar Messages

What is a bootable backup and do i need one? what are partitions good for?

hello,
please excuse my ignorance...
i just got a new lacie external firewire hard drive and it has some software which i was wandering if i have any use for... - SilverKeeper and LaCie Backup Software. i'm not sure if they can give me anything that time machine doesn't do better... SilverKeeper gives the option of cloning a bootable backup. i'm not exactly sure what's the advantage of this and in what case i may need it.
when i got my last computer i was able to transfer everything from the old computer, including applications, to the new one without having to find all the serial numbers and reinstall them. i thought that time machine will be able to do the same thing if i lose all the data on my computer. is that not so? is that what a bootable clone is for? or what is it for?...
my other question is what are the advantages of making partitions in my new drive (i understand i have to if i want a bootable backup, but is there any reason to partition otherwise?
thanks!
dannah

SilverKeeper gives the option of cloning a bootable backup. i'm not exactly sure what's the advantage of this and in what case i may need it.
A bootable backup is an exact copy of your hard drive's contents on another drive, that can be used for booting up the machine. The advantage of a bootable backup is that, in the event something bad happens to your internal drive, you can very quickly get up and running with the backup drive, and can copy that back to a replaced/fixed internal drive very quickly. Time Machine backups are not bootable.
The disadvantage of a clone of any kind, bootable or not, is that there's only one version of any particular file stored. So if a file gets damaged and then backed up, you're pretty well screwed with the clone, while Time Machine stores many versions of the file, so you just "roll back" to the last working copy.
when i got my last computer i was able to transfer everything from the old computer, including applications, to the new one without having to find all the serial numbers and reinstall them.
Bad idea... while this will work for most apps, different machines have different architectures, so some apps may not be installed correctly for the new machine, plus you may not have properly copied some components. You should have reinstalled them.
i thought that time machine will be able to do the same thing if i lose all the data on my computer. is that not so?
If you have Time Machine back up the entire hard drive, without excluding anything, then Time Machine should be able to restore your drive to exactly the way it was at any particular moment in time at which it made a backup, including apps, system files, preferences, etc.
my other question is what are the advantages of making partitions in my new drive (i understand i have to if i want a bootable backup, but is there any reason to partition otherwise?
You do not have to partition to make a bootable backup. However, you'll be using the entire drive... trying to store additional files on the same drive as a bootable clone is confusing at best. Using a partition allows you to create multiple "virtual" drives... say, one for a bootable backup, one for a Time Machine backup, one for movie files, etc. Of course, this is only advisable if the drive is much larger than the one you're backing up, and note that if you store original files on a partition (like a bunch of movie files), you need a backup of those somewhere else.
Time Machine will want it's own full drive or partition to play with, which should be larger than the drive being backed up, and will eventually fill it. A bootable clone probably also should go onto its own partition, but you wouldn't need to make this partition larger than the drive being cloned. Other than that, don't worry about partitioning unless you have a specific need.

Do I need to partition my external hard drive for a bootable backup

Hi - First, I apologize for asking a question that's already been discussed so much. I did try to read everything I could, but I remain confused. Here is my precise situation:
I have an iMac, and I purchased a year's worth of Carbonite's online backup and breathed a sigh of relief. Then I read some people have problems with Carbonite, and the best advice was to buy an external hard drive, which I did. It just arrived, I plugged it in, and Time Machine backed up my computer on it...so I breathed another sigh of relief.
Then I read that my wonderful new 2T external hard drive isn't good enough, that I should partition it so as to have one backup, and one "bootable backup." Is this really necessary? And what is the difference between a backup, and a bootable backup? If it is necessary, how do I do it? Is it a problem that I've already used it to create a backup on Time Machine?
I use my computer for things like email, Facebook, pictures, eBay, stuff like that. I have no unusual needs. My computer is an iMac OS X 10.6.8.
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!

I prefer a clone/bootable backup ovver Time Machine myself.
For TM you need a running OS, then time to restore, with a clone you can boot from that & keep working while doing the other when time is better. And you can test a clone before you need it.
Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
Or SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
You would need to Partition your drive though.
How to format your disks...
http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/partitioning_tiger.html
(To Install OSX on an IntelMac the Drive it needs the GUID Partitioning scheme mentioned at the bottom.)
Thanks to Pondini, Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks...
http://Pondini.org/OSX/DU.html

Do i need to re format my external drive if i am planning on using super duper for my bootable backups or does super duper do that for me?

do i need to reformat my external drive if i am planning on using superduper for my bootable backups or does superduper do that for me? thanks

You need to format a external drive using Apple's Disk Utility
Partition 1
Option: GUID
Format: OS X Extended Journaled.
Before OS X can be installed or cloned onto the drive, or else it can't be booted from.
Formatting a drive erases all data on it, so backup up any data you want to retain off the drive.
I really do not advise SuperDuper for the fact that it doesn't copy the RecoveryHD partition and restore it, as this is needed to reinstall a fresh copy of OS X from Apple's servers.
Erase, formatting, OS X installs on Mac's
A better, more powerful and more intelligent tool is Carbon Copy Cloner.
See the cloning section of my User Tip here
Most commonly used backup methods

Need help setting up automatic bootable backup

Hello
I need to set up a bootable backup on a second drive on a G4 XServe running OS X Server 10.3.9. This has to run automatically when no user is logged in to the server, so as far as I can tell, commercial backup software will not run. I'm hoping there's a command line way to do this, that can be invoked as a cron job. In poking around, perhaps ditto or rsync can be used for this, but I'm not familiar enough with these commands to even try. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
G4 XServe Mac OS X (10.3.9)

You can use rsync for sync'ing or ditto for a complete clone (among other options)
But here's an anternative.
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
This new vesion of SuperClone is a good solution (previous versions were more limited in use)
It handles smart-updates (syn) and scheduling just fine.
Here's the only catch when running it on a server.
It creates the schedule by adding a user cron job which calls an Applescript.
Because this is a user cron job, it only works when that user is logged in.
The author tells me that if you create the schedule while logged in as the root user, that it will work just fine without a user logged in. (cron job is root)
You could probably do the same by just moving the cron from user to root.
Jeff

When Time Machine tries to back up to my Seagate HD before the HD is fully on, it fails. Then Time machine thinks it needs to back up the entire drive and there's not enough room. It won't just do the backup of new info now. Any thoughts?

When I try to do a Time Machine backup with my Seagate HD, and if I accidentally have Time Machine automatically on, it will fail if the HD is not fully on and recognized by the computer yet. But the problem is that when this has happened (twice now), it seems it loses all knowledge that it has backed up using Time Machine before and it will only try to back up the entire Mac HD to the Seagate. The Seagate already has 147 GB of data from prior Time Machine backups and I only need to backup the latest stuff since my last backup, but it won't let me do that. It tries to do the whole drive and it says it can't because there is only 135 GB of space left and it needs to backup 147 GB. Anyone know how to fix this and get it to start backing up again without erasing the drive and starting over? That's what I did last time. I erased the Seagate and then reset it as my Time Machine drive and it started working fine again until it failed and reverted to the problem. Thanks

These instructions must be carried out as an administrator. If you have only one user account, you are the administrator.
Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar.
Enter the word "Starting" (without the quotes) in the String Matching text field. You should now see log messages with the words "Starting * backup," where * represents any of the words "automatic," "manual," or "standard." Note the timestamp of the last such message that corresponds to an abnormal backup. Now
CLEAR THE WORD "Starting" FROM THE TEXT FIELD
so that all messages are showing, and scroll back in the log to the time you noted. Select the messages timestamped from then until the end of the backup, or the end of the log if that's not clear. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.
If all you see are messages that contain the word "Starting," you didn't clear the text field.
If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don't post many repetitions of the same message.
When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
Some personal information, such as the names of your files, may be included—anonymize before posting.

Bootable backup software

First of all, what's a bootable backup? I have a WD 320GB Mybook (fire wire/usb) backup drive. WD said that their included software doesn't create a bootable drive. I asked them because I told it to back up everything and it did except for 168 files. I guess I want a bootable drive because if I lost everything, I could restore everything? What do you recommend? Is WD backup software enough? If I need a bootable backup software, what free or low cost one would you recommend? Hope that all makes sense?

Hello! AS has been mentioned a "bootable backup" is a "clone" or "exact copy" of your main drive and one that will be bootable in an emergency. It can be on an external firewire drive or it can be on a separate "volume" of your main drive or reside on a secondary physical drive. SD and CCC have been mentioned but you can also use the Apple Disk Utility to produce one following Kappy's advice. Tom
Kappy's Steps to Produce a bootable clone
Prep external FW drive:
1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
2. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list.
3. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
5. Select the backup or destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
6. Select the startup or source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
8. Select the destination drive on the Desktop and press COMMAND-I to open the Get Info window. At the bottom in the Ownership and Permissions section be sure the box labeled "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked. Verify the settings for Ownership and Permissions as follows: Owner=system with read/write; Group=admin with read/write; Other with read-only. If they are not correct then reset them.
For added precaution you can boot into safe mode before doing the clone.

Owners Enabled - No

Hi!
I was looking at the info for my iPod's disk, and noticed that under "Owners Enabled", it said "No". So what I'm wondering is, should permissions be turned on for iPods? Why, or why not?

Permissions should not be enabled for iPods; there is little or no need to do so, and the disk can be set to ignore them from the Get Info window in the Finder. Permissions are always off for Windows formatted iPods, as FAT32 doesn't support them.
(32589)

"Owners enabled: No" - Is this a problem?

Hi. I have encountered problems trying to install Snow Leopard. Three or four attampts all led to the following message:
"An error occurred when installing MacOSX.
Install failed. MacOSX could not be installed on your computer.
(-triangle with exclamation mark-)
The installer could not copy the necessary support files. Click restart to restart your computer & try installing again."
After looking through the menus at the top of the installer page I came across some installation log files, which mentioned that the MacOSX Install DVD was read only(!) Obviously this is suggestive of a faulty disk.
However before going down that route I'd just like to clarify one thing in particular. I am trying to install the OS after having installed a brand new hard disk in my MacBook. After formatting the disk with a GUID partition & looking around the partition info (& after reading through another support thread) I clicked on 'Disk info' & got the following readout:
Writable: Yes
Number of files: 2
Number of folders: 3
Owners enabled: No
Can turn owners off: Yes
Can be formatted: Yes
Bootable: Yes
Supports journaling: Yes
Journaled: Yes
Disk number: 0
Partition number: 2
Having seen one or two other readouts quoted in another thread I noticed that they had "Owners enabled: Yes".
Being a Mac novice I don't know what this means, but I suspect it might be causing a problem. Is that the case, & if so how should I rectify it?
Many thanks!

Being a Mac novice I don't know what this means, but I suspect it might be causing a problem. Is that the case, & if so how should I rectify it?
That is not the problem. Nor is the DVD being read only a problem. Your Snow Leopard DVD comes with telephone support from Apple. I suggest that you call them. I suspect you have a faulty DVD.

Mac Pro 5,1 Start up disk preference Internal bootable backup

Hi,
I have a Mac Pro 5,1 running yosemite. My OS is installed on a PCIe SSD and I am trying to make a bootable backup of the OS to an internal HDD in one of the standard HD bays.
No matter how I make the backup (time machine or chrono sync), once a backup of the OS is present in the system my Mac won't boot and I get stuck on the white screen with no apple logo. Deleting the backup resolves the issue.
I have tried reselecting the Startup Disk, as well as resetting PRAM etc.
Has anyone seen this issue before?
Is it bad practice to have a backup on an internal drive?
Thanks,
Danny

Oh wow, thanks for this info. You've actually just provided info for another problem which I had given up on finding a solution to...
I have two PCIe sata cards (one single & one double), and through this thread I have identified the single card as Apricorn - I was unsure what make it was...
SLOT 1 - ATI graphics card
SLOT 2 - Apricorn Velocity Duo x2 (OS on Angelbird 250gb SSD + OWC Mercury Electra 6G SSD)
SLOT 3 - Firewire 800/400 card
SLOT 4 - Apricorn Velocity solo x 2 (empty - no drive)
All backup drives are HDDs in the traditional bays.
I had experienced HEAPS of problems with OWC drives and the Apricorn cards. The OWCs were unable to boot when on an Apricorn card by themselves. For some reason, having the Angelbird and OWC on one card lets the system boot. Seems I might need to update the firmware of the Apricorn cards.
If you have any other info on the backup problem though it would be of great help!
Thanks,
Danny

Laptop to run bootable backup

I have an Intel iMac running 10.6.8. I've made a bootable backup using CCC that connects via USB. I'm looking for a used or refurbished laptop that can start up and run from the bootable backup. Does the laptop have to be running 10.6.8? What other specifications does it need to meet? TIA

Okay, things are becoming clearer - but also not because: what you are wanting to do actually violates the SLA (software license agreement) which states that you can run it on one computer and are allowed a backup. However, if you want to use that backup to run another machine, it then becomes a violation. And, according to the ToU here, we are not allowed to discuss anything like that, sorry.
2. Permitted License Uses and Restrictions.
A. Single Use License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, unless you have purchased a Family Pack or Upgrade license for the Apple Software,you are granted a limited non-exclusive license to install, use and run one (1) copy of the Apple Software on a single Apple-branded computer at a time. Youagree not to install, use or run the Apple Software on any non-Apple-branded computer, or to enable others to do so. This License does not allow the AppleSoftware to exist on more than one computer at a time, and you may not make the Apple Software available over a network where it could be used by multiplecomputers at the same time.

"Account Info Needed" and Calendar entries disappear

This is a side problem in conjunction with the perpetual "Install Update" problem (see here: http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/BlackBerry-Link/10-1-0-4181-won-t-stop-trying-to-load-and-now...
The BBQ10 device stops connecting to my desktop Outlook (calendar, contacts, tasks)
Symptoms:
Calendar entries disappear after a simple screen refresh.
"Account Info Needed" keeps repeating.
When updating the Account, this error appears: "There was an unexpected error and the operation was canceled"
The only way to temporarily fix this is to delete my account on the device and recreate it. I've done that three times just today. The data comes back fine then disappears again.
Any tricks on making the account stay put?

It's been 24 hours with neither of these 2 symptoms occuring. What did I do? I deselected the "Turn on wireless connections to my computer".
Wth the bluetooth still enabled, my PC connects to the device as a storage device (which is all I really need for data/file transfer anyway). The Calendar entries are perfect - back and forth.
I'd be interested in hearing from others if this helped them.
(NOTE: the DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION BSOD still happens when the device is connected to the PC for any time longer than the backup or sync. That's an altogether different issue.)

Owner enabled: No

I have an external hard drive that I keep all my music and iTunes Media on. I back it up once a week, using SuperDuper - ag reat app. It has a Smart Update funcntion that only copies files that have been added or changed since last update. It usually takes very short time - 15-20 minutes. Until recently, when I got a new (larger) harddrive for the media-files. Suddenly it was as if it checked AND copied everything, taking up to 7 hours to back up 520gb. From an external USB2 to another USB2 drive. I've corresponded with the (very helpful) guy who created SuperDuper and part of the problem (if not the whole problem) is that Ownership of media-drive is set to No (when I look in Disk Utility). When I select the drive and Get Info, I can't choose the option "Set (Me) as owner. It's greyed out. I've reformatted the drive, made sure it's GUID and it's still not set to Yes in Owners enabled. Also it say that there are, I think 8 or 9 files on it taking up 82? mb. I've tried using TinkerTool to remove hidden files but it didn't hange Disk Utility's info.
Can anybody recognize this, and help me solve the problem?
Thanks in advance for any help
Carsten

If it is set to ignore permissions, I wouldn't know where to look, how it would've been set to that or how to change it. Here's what Terminal said in copy-pasting your command and following the instructions. Just for the sake of it; Mechatronic III is my internal harddrive and imac is my user/home. The disk (one of the disks) in question is NeoDeus:
Last login: Sun Jan 30 15:19:10 on console
You have mail.
Mechatronic-III:~ imac$ ls -aleO@ /Volumes/NeoDeus
total 256
drwxrwxr-x@ 21 imac imac - 782 26 Jan 16:27 .
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxrwt@ 6 root admin hidden 204 30 Jan 15:18 ..
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
0: group:everyone deny addfile,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,onlyinherit
-rw-rw-r--@ 1 imac imac hidden 21508 25 Jan 17:51 .DS_Store
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
0: group:admin allow read,write,append,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x+ 3 imac imac - 102 19 Jan 17:33 .Spotlight-V100
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x@ 3 imac imac hidden 102 20 Dec 10:32 .TemporaryItems
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x@ 4 imac imac - 136 30 Jan 15:19 .Trashes
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
-rw-rw-r--@ 1 imac imac hidden 54118 19 Jan 21:05 .VolumeIcon.icns
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
0: group:admin allow read,write,append,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
-rw-rw-r--@ 1 imac imac - 0 20 Dec 10:18 .com.apple.timemachine.donotpresent
com.apple.TextEncoding 13
0: group:admin allow read,write,append,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
-rw-rw-r--+ 1 imac imac - 0 16 Jan 19:21 .com.apple.timemachine.supported
0: group:admin allow read,write,append,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x+ 7 imac imac - 238 30 Jan 00:49 .fseventsd
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x+ 5 imac imac - 170 6 Apr 2008 Billeder
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x+ 19 imac imac - 646 16 Jan 14:47 Kassettebånd
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x+ 15 imac imac - 510 17 Jan 14:01 Lyd Backup
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
-rw-rw-r--@ 1 imac imac - 21662 16 Dec 22:06 Screen shot 2010-12-16 at 22.05.58.png
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemIsScreenCapture 42
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemScreenCaptureType 51
0: group:admin allow read,write,append,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
-rw-rw-r--@ 1 imac imac - 23394 8 Jan 01:26 Screen shot 2011-01-08 at 01.26.05.png
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemIsScreenCapture 42
com.apple.metadata:kMDItemScreenCaptureType 51
0: group:admin allow read,write,append,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x+ 32 imac imac - 1088 25 Dec 21:59 Telefon
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x+ 11 imac imac - 374 6 Okt 18:12 cs3
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x@ 13 imac imac - 442 30 Jan 15:31 iTunes
com.apple.FinderInfo 32
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
drwxrwxr-x+ 61 imac imac - 2074 22 Dec 21:59 uni
0: group:admin allow list,addfile,search,add_subdirectory,deletechild,readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity
Mechatronic-III:~ imac$

I want a new and more powerful (non-Apple) wireless router but I still want to use my existing Time Capsule to continue with my Time Machine backups and I still need the Time Capsule's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features and capabilities

THE SHORTER STORY
My goal is to successfully use my existing Time Capsule (TC) with a new and more powerful wireless router. I need a new and more powerful wireless router in order to reach a distant Denon a/v receiver that is physically located in a master bedroom some 50 feet away from my modem. I need to provide this Denon a/v receiver with an Internet connection so that it can obtain its firmware updates and I need to connect this Denon a/v receiver to my network in order to use its AirPlay feature. I believe l still need the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features because I am not sure if the new wireless router will provide me with the NAS like features / capabilities I need to share files between my two Apple laptops with OS X 10.8.2. And I know that I absolutely need my TC's seamless integration with Apple's Time Machine (TM) application in order to continue to make effortless backups of my two Apple laptops. To my knowledge nothing works with TM like Apple's TC. I also need the hard disk storage space built into the TC.
I cannot use a long wired Ethernet cable connection in this apartment and I cannot use power-line adapters. I have read that wireless range extenders and repeaters are difficult to successfully set-up and that they will reduce data speeds, especially so when incorrectly set-up. I cannot relocate my modem and/or primary base station wireless router.
In short, I want to use my TC with my new and more powerful wireless router. I need to stop using the TC to connect to the modem. However, I still need the TC for seamless TM backups. I also need to use the TC's built in hard drive for storage. And I may still need the TC's NAS capabilities to share files wirelessly between laptops because I am assuming the new wireless router will not provide NAS capabilities for OS X 10.8.2 (products like this/non-Apple products rarely seem to work with OS X 10.8.2/Macs to provide NAS features and capabilities). Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone please advise on how to set-up my new Asus wireless router with my existing TC in such a way to accomplish all of this?
What is the best configuration or set-up to accomplish my above goals?
Thank you in advance for your assistance!!!
THE FULL STORY
I live in an apartment building where my existing Time Capsule (TC) is located in my living room and serves many purposes. Specially, my TC is at least all of the following:
(1) Wi-Fi router connected to Comcast Internet service via Motorola SB6121 cable modem - currently the TC is the Wi-Fi base station that connects to the modem and has the gateway address to the Internet. The TC now provides the DHCP service for the Wi-Fi network.
(2) Wireless router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to several Wi-Fi clients - two Apple laptop computers, an iPod touch, an iPad and an iPhone all connect wirelessly to the Internet via the TC.
(3) Wired Ethernet router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to three different devices - a Panasonic TV, LG Blu-Ray player and an Apple TV each use one of the three LAN ports on the back of the TC to gain access to the Internet.
(4) Primary base station in my attempt to extend my wireless network to a distant (located far away) Denon a/v receiver requiring a wired Ethernet connection - In addition to the TC, which is my primary base station, I am also using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. I cannot use a wired Ethernet connection to continuously travel from the living room to the master bedroom. The distance is too great as I cannot effectively hide the Ethernet cable in this apartment.
(5) Time Machine (TM) backup facilitator - I use my TC to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops using Apple's Time Machine (TM) application. However, I ran out of storage space on my TC and therefore added external storage to it. Specifically, I added an external hard drive to my TC via the USB port on the back of the TC. I now use this added external hard drive connected to the TC via USB as the destination storage drive for my TM back-ups. I have partitioned the added external hard drive, and each of the several partitions all have enough storage space (e.g., each of the two partitions used by TM are sized at three times the hard drive space of each laptop, etc.). Everything works flawlessly.
(6) Network Attached Storage (NAS) - In addition to using the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) capabilities to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops via TM, I also store other additional files on both (A) the hard drive built into the TC and (B) the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB (there are additional separate partitions on this drive for these other additional and non-TM backup files).
I use the TC's NAS feature with my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Again, everything works wirelessly and flawlessly. (Note: the Apple TV is connected to the network via Ethernet and a LAN port on the back of the TC).
The issue I am having is when I try to listen to music via Apple's AirPlay in the master bedroom. This master bedroom is located at a distance of two rooms away from the TC's current location in the living room, which is a distance of about 50 feet. This apartment has a long rectangular floor plan where each room is connected to the next in a straight line. In order to use AirPlay in the master bedroom I am using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. This additional base station connects wirelessly to the WiFi network provided by my TC and then gives my Denon receiver the wired Ethernet connection it needs to use AirPlay. I have tried moving my iTunes music directly onto my laptop's hard drive, and then I used AirPlay on this same laptop to connect to the Denon receiver. I always get a successful connection and the song plays, but the problem is that the connection inevitably drops.
I live in an apartment building and all of the many wireless routers in this building create a great deal of WiFi interference on both the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands. I have tried connecting the Netgear product to each the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, but neither band can successfully maintain a wireless connection between the TC and the Netgear product. I also attempted to maintain a wireless connection to an iPod touch using the 2.4 GHz band and AirPlay on this iPod touch to play music on the Denon receiver. Again, I was able to establish a connection and successfully play music, but after a few minutes the connection dropped and the music stopped playing. I therefore have concluded that I have a poor wireless connection in the master bedroom. I can establish a connection, but it is intermittent with frequent drops. I have verified this with both laptops by working in the master bedroom for an entire day on both laptops. The Internet connection in this master bedroom proved to drop out frequently - about once an hour with the laptops. The wireless connection and the frequency of its dropout are far worse with the iPod touch and an iPhone.
I cannot relocate the TC. Also, this is an apartment and I therefore cannot extend the range of my network with Ethernet cable (I cannot drill through walls/ceilings, etc.). It is an old building with antiquated wiring and power-line adapters are not likely to function properly, nor can I spare the direct power outlet required with a power-line adapter. I simply need every outlet I can get and cannot afford to block any direct outlet.
My solution is to use a more powerful wireless router. I found the ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router which will likely provide a better connection to my wireless Internet in the master bedroom than the TC. The 802.11ac band of this Asus wireless router is totally useless to me, but based on what I have read I believe this router will provide a stronger connection at greater distances then my TC. And I will be ready for 802.11ac when it becomes more widely available.
However, I still need to maintain the TC's ability to work seamlessly with TM to backup my two laptops. Also, I doubt the new Asus router will provide OS X 10.8.2 with NAS like features and capabilities. Therefore, I still would like to use the TC's NAS capabilities to share files on my network wirelessly assuming the Asus wireless router fails to provide this feature. I need a new and more powerful wireless router, but I need to maintain the TC's NAS features and seamless integration with TM. Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone advise on how to set-up my existing TC with this new Asus wireless router in such a way to accomplish all of this?
Modem
Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem
Existing Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Apple Time Capsule
Apple Time Capsule MC343LL/A 1TB Sim DualBand (purchased June 2010, likely the Winter 2009 Model)
Desired New Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Non-Apple Asus
ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router
Extended Wi-Fi Base Station - Provides an Ethernet Connection to a Denon A/V Receiver Two Rooms Away from the Modem
Netgear Universal Dual Band Wireless Internet Adapter for TV & Blu-Ray (WNCE3001)
Addition External Hard Drive Attached to the Existing Apple Time Capsule via USB
WD My Book Studio 4TB Mac External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0
Existing Laptops on the Wireless Network Requiring Time Machine Backups
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012) OS X 10.8.2
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010) OS X 10.8.2
Other Existing Apple Products (Clients) on the Wireless Network
iPod Touch (second generation) is model A1288.
iPad (1st generation)
Apple TV (3rd generation) - Quantity two (2)

Thanks Bob Timmons.
In regards to a Plan B, I hear ya brother. I am already on what feels like Plan Z. Getting WiFi to a far off room in an apartment building crowded with WiFi routers is a major pain.
I am basing my thoughts on the potential of a new and more powerful router reaching the far off master bedroom based on positive reviews on cnet.com, pcmag.com and pcworld.com. All 3 of these web sites have reviewed the Asus RT-AC66U 802.11AC wireless router as well as its virtual twin cousin 802.11n router. What impressed me is that all 3 sites rated this router #1 overall in terms of both range and speed (in both the 802.11n and 802.11AC flavors). They tested the router in real world scenarios where the router needed to compete with a lot of other wireless routers. One of the sites even buried this Asus router in a media room with thick walls and inside a media cabinet. This Asus router should be able to serve my 2.4 GHz band wireless clients (iPod Touch and iPhone 4) with a 2.4GHz Wireless-N band offering some 50 feet of dependable range and a 60 Mbps throughput at that range. I am hoping that works, but it's borderline for my master bedroom. My 5 GHz wireless clients (laptops) will enjoy a 5GHz Wireless-N band offering 150 feet of range and a 200 Mbps throughput at that range. I have no idea what most of that stuff means, but I did also read that Asus could reach 300 feet and I got really excited. My mileage may vary of course and I'm sure I'm making some mistakes in my interpretation of their data. However, my Winter 2009 Time Capsule was rated by cnet.com to deliver real world performance of less than that, and 802.11AC may or may not be useful to me someday. But when this Asus arrives and provides anything other than an excellent and consistent wireless signal without drops in the master bedroom it's going right back!
Your solution sounds great, but I have some questions. I'm using OS X 10.8.2 and Airport Utility (version 6.1 610.31) and on its third tab labeled "Wireless" the top option enables you to set "Network Mode" to either:
Create a wireless network
Extend a wireless network
Off
Given your advice to "Turn off the wireless on the TC," should I set Network Mode to Off? Sorry, I'm clueless in regards to how to turn off the wireless on the TC any other way. Can you provide specific steps on how to turn off the wireless on the TC? If what I wrote is correct then what should the rest of this Wireless tab look like, or perhaps it is irrelevant when wireless is off?
Next, what do you mean by "Configure the TC in Bridge Mode?" Under Airports Utility's fourth tab labeled "Network" the top option "Router Mode" allows for either:
DHCP and Nat
DHCP Only
Off (Bridge Mode)
Is your advice to Configure the TC in Bridge Mode as simple as setting Router Mode to Off (Bridge Mode)? If yes, then what should the rest of this "Network" tab look like? Anything else involved in configuring the TC in Bridge Mode or is it really as simple as setting the Router Mode to "Off (Bridge Mode)"?
How about the other tabs in Airport Utility, can they all stay as is assuming I use the same network name and password for the new Asus wireless router? Or do I need to make any other changes to the TC via Airport Utility?
Finally, in regards to your Plan B suggestion. I agree. But do you have a Plan B for me? I would greatly appreciate any alternative you could provide. Specifically, if you needed a TC's Internet connection to reach a far off corner of your home how would you do it? In the master bedroom I need both a wired Ethernet connection for the Denon a/v receiver and wireless Internet connection for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Power-Line Adapters - High Cost, Blocks at Least One Wall Outlet and Does Not Solve the Wireless Need
I actually like exactly one power-line adapter, which is the D-Link DHP-540 PowerLine AV 500 4-Port Gigabit Switch. This D-Link power-line adapter plugs into your wall outlet with a normal sized plug (regular standard power cord much like any other electronic device) instead of all of the other recommended power-line adapters that not only use at least one wall outlet but also often block the second outlet. You cannot use a power strip with a power-line adapter which is very impractical for me. And everything about my home is strange and upside down. The wiring here is a disaster and I don't have faith in its ability to carry Internet access from the living room to the master bedroom. And this D-Link power-line adapter costs $90 each and I need at least two to make the connection to the Denon A/V receiver. So, $180 on this solution and I still don't have a dependable drop free wireless connection in the master bedroom. The Denon might get its Ethernet Internet connection from the power-line adapter, but if I want to use an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch to stream AirPlay music to the Denon wirelessly (Pandora/iTunes, etc.) from the master bedroom the wireless connection will not be stable in there and I've already spent $190 on just the two power-line adapters needed.
Extenders / Repeaters / Wirelessly Extending the Wireless Network
I have also read great things about the Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Range Extender (Repeater) SR20000G and the My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender. The former is very powerful and the latter is easier to install. Both cost about $150 ish so similar to a new Asus router. However, everything I read about Range Extenders points to them not being very effective for a far off corner of your house wherein it's apparently hard to place the range extender in the sweet spot where it both gets a strong enough signal to actually effectively extend the wireless signal and otherwise does not reduce network throughput speeds to unacceptable speeds.
Creating a Roaming Network By Hard Wiring with Ethernet Cable - Wife Would Say, "**** No!"
Even Apple seems to warn against wirelessly extending your network (see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145#) and otherwise strongly recommends a roaming network where Ethernet cable is used to connect two wireless base stations. However, I am in an apartment where stringing together two wireless base stations with Ethernet cable would have an extremely low wife acceptance factor (WAF). I cannot (both contractually and from a skill prospective) hide Ethernet wire in the walls or ceiling. And having visible Ethernet cable running from room-to-room would be unacceptable, especially to the wife.
So what is left? Do you have a Plan B for me? Thanks in advance for your help!

Creating a Bootable Backup in ML

I've been doing a bit a reading here, but I am still unsure of what I need to do. I recetnly upgraded from Snow Leopard to ML, but I want to create a bootable (mirror) backup on an external drive. I have always used SuperDuper to do this. Super Duper claims that it's latest version will create a bootable backup of ML. My backups in the past have been a bootable mirror of my drive and not the OS alone. Am I better off just redownloading ML and creating a bootable thumb drive of ML or would I be ok mirroring my drive with ML on it as a bootable backup. I hope this was clear...
My backup system has been like this:
Two 1tb bootable HDs (mirrored) that I swap out every week - the one not in use goes into a fire safe
One 2tb for TM
Cloud backup for important stuff.
Thank you!!

The Lion Recovery Disk Assistant is an app. When you Open it, you have the opportunity to create a Recovery HD on a thumb drive for whichever OS X you're currently booted into. Just the Recovery HD and not the entire installation of OS X. The Recovery HD is created and hidden when you install OS X. SuperDuper! doesn't clone this. Here is some reading for the Recovery HD in Mountain Lion. It's the same for Lion. If the Recovery HD isn't on your system, you won't have the ability to boot into it for recovery purposes. So the Recovery Disk Assistant gives you this ability via a thumb drive.
The main difference between creating a Mountain Lion Recovery HD and Lion Recovery HD is the Reinstall Mac OS X option in the Utilities menu. The Lion Recovery HD ONLY downloads and installs Lion. The Mountain Lion Recovery HD ONLY downloads and installs Mountain Lion.
For example, if you create the thumb drive while in Mountain Lion, its Recovery HD is put on the thumb drive. And when you boot from that thumb drive, you get the Utilities menu of selections with the ability to download and install Mountain Lion. So, you can't use that thumb drive to download and install Lion. Hope this makes sense.

Bootable Backup / Owners Enabled, Info Needed!

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for