Can Time Machine backup a USB drive connected to Airport Extreme?

Hi all,
I have an airport extreme that I used to run a shared USB drive for the family. I have a network drive attached to the airport extreme which I used for Time Machine backups, how do I tell Time Machine to back up the USB drive also?
All help very gratefully recieved.

Thanks for your reply,
When I open Time Machine preferences I can either select a different disk to use as the backup disk or exclude items from the back up. I cannot find an option to add the USB drive attached to my airport extreme. Apologies if I am being a little dumb.

Similar Messages

Time machine backup from USB drive connected and backing up to Time Capsule

Hi all forum virgin here, so be gentle.
I'll get straight to it. Much net trawling hasn't resulted in a definitive answer on this which surely I'm not alone in
I have: MBP networked to TC (where TM resides) and USB drive connected.
A- I simply want to TM backup not only MBP but USB drive on network as well?
As far as I can see there is no way of selecting this and after TM back has finished the only way I can check is
to enter TM (fancy space screen view) and obviously idrive doesn't appear in finder view.
I have tried connecting to MBP and obviously TM backs it up too and I can see in Enter TM. But I need this
drive on network so a further 2 things here:-
B- when I remove from MBP and TM backs up again will it see it's not there and delete as a change?
C- will it keep in previous backups if I cycle back to that particular one?
Andy help here would be most welcome

Slymon2000 wrote:
B- when I remove from MBP and TM backs up again will it see it's not there and delete as a change?
Sooner or later, yes, as LaPastnague says. It depends on when the backups are done. The first backup of each day is kept for a month; all others are deleted after 24 hours. After a month, the first backup of the week is kept as long as there's room, and the others deleted.
Obviously not a reliable solution.
A better method might be to use a different app to back it up to the TC's internal HD, but that presents another problem. See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for an explanation and some possible workarounds.
The 3rd-party apps CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSynch can do network backups (others probably can, too).
So you might be able to "reserve" some space on the TC's HD and use one of those apps. As LaPastnague says, though, that will be relatively slow.
If there isn't enough room on the TC's internal HD, you could get another USB drive and connect it to the TC also (via a powered USB hub) and back up to it. That will be even slower, though.

Corrupted time machine backup on external hd connected to Airport extreme?

I have an Airport extreme 11n (not gigabit) and a Lacie external hard disk connected to the usb port. Time machine is set up to make backups wirelessly from my laptop to this external disk. It used to work fine, but no I have the following problem all the time: Time machine complains that it cannot perform the backup. When this happens, I cannot access the drive from the finder (normally I can). I check the drive physically and I notice that it's LED show that it is constantly reading/writing (is yellow instead of red). The solution is (as also suggested by Apple support) to use disk utility and perform a repair on the drive. This solves the problem, but... only temporarily. After one or two successful backups, the same problem: no backup possible, drive not accessible in finder, disk utility finds problems. What can i do?

Somehow I thought that with OS X 10.6 Time Machine did support disks connected to Airport devices, but I guess I'm wrong.
The LaCie disk has indeed its own external power supply brick. Is this relevant?
I found this article http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1550
which is not about airport disks, but I checked my LaCie disk and it has a Master Boot Record Partition Scheme. Should I change that?
It is also formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I thought that this was the recommended format, but checking in the Help of OS X 10.6, I found an article "Disks that can be used with Time Machine" which says: "The most common format for a Time Machine backup disk is Mac OS Extended format, but Time Machine also supports Mac OS Extended (Case sensitive, Journaled) and XSan formats"
implying that the Extended format is more preferable than the Journaled format, right?
I don't think the disk drive is defective: I after "repairing" it with disk utility, I could back up again, at least one time, before the problem reappears.

Using Time Machine with 3rd party drive connected to Airport Extreme

In Snow Leopard, I connected a G-Tech drive to my Airport Extreme via USB and used that with Time Machine for backups. It worked flawlessly most of the time, although my understanding is that this technique has not been supported by Apple since Snow Leopard was released. Is anybody using this method in Lion? If so, does it work OK?
I got a little worried reading about the issues some folks have had doing Time Machine backups in Lion so instead of trying that method, I got another drive and connected it via FireWire to my MacBook Pro for backing up in Time Machine. The first backup took a little over an hour. The second one took just a few moments. I do notice that my hard drive stays mounted on my desk top even when Time Machine is inactive. Is this normal?

Lots of people do this, but it is not supported and there have been reports of data corruption even if things appeared to be working for quite some time. The question you have to ask yourself is whether it is worth the risk. This is a backup, after all. An unreliable backup is worse than no backup (because you think you have one when you may not).
What you have experienced with your external drive is all normal. The first backup takes quite a while because it is both large and there are lots of small files to copy. (Copying lots of small files is slower than copying a few large ones.) Subsequent backups will usually be much faster. One hour for the initial backup is actually very fast. Finally, external drives remain mounted even when Time Machine is not using them, unlike network drives which are only kept mounted while the backup is active.

Can't Delete Files on USB Drive Connected to Airport Extreme

I'm trying to delete some files on a USB drive connected to my Airport Extreme, but I keep getting a error message that I don't have sufficient privileges to do so. I've tried super deletion applications like FileXaminer, without any success. What other methods are there?

Thanks for the info.
Were you using the drive for Time Machine backups, by chance? Time Machine backups are stored in a different format when the disk is connected directly to a computer. So, you won't be able to continue to use the old backups when the drive location is changed.
You might want to check the drive by connecting directly to your Mac and running Disk Utility to "Verify Disk" and "Repair Disk" if indicated.
Even if the drive has it's own power supply, a powered USB hub is usually needed on the AirPort Extreme because the power at the USB port is quite limited.
Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

Using Time Machine w/external hard drive connected to airport extreme

I hooked up an external hard drive on my airport extreme. I see it in sharing, however, Time Machine doesn't recognize it as a back-up drive unless I have it directly connected to my MacBook Pro. How do I get Time Machine to recognize the external drive when it's connected to the airport?

FWIW, the AEBS has known problems sharing a directly connected HD. Take a look over in the AEBS forums, and you'll see that this is a very common problem. Perhaps Apple will update the firmware and rectify this problem.
Cheers,
Andreas

Can Time Machine back up a USB Drive connected to Airport Extreme?

If I connect 2 USB drives to an Airport Extreme via a USB hub, can I use Time Machine to back one up to the other? I've found multiple discussions about how to use an Airport Extreme disk as a Time Machine backup disk, but nothing on this. I want to use one disk as network storage (i.e. use the Airport extreme as a NAS), but I need a backup solution for that disk.

That's disappointing. I actually have a separate NAS already, configured for RAID1: a ZyXEL NSA220. Worked fine when I only had windows machines, but isn't reliable with my MACs, and doesn't support extended journaled format, so I need a different solution. I was hoping to just use a USB drive attached to my airport extreme to replace it, but I can't do that if I can't back up that USB drive.
Can anyone recommend a good backup solution? Surely this can't be that uncommon a scenario?

Time Machine doesnt see my USB drive, connected to Airport extreme =(

Hello,
I've been trying to figure this one out for almost 3 weeks now, but with no luck. I have a usb hard drive, connected to airport extreme. I've clicked on "setup time machine", select "choose disk", there is no disk to select. So I click on the "set up time capsule, it takes me to airport utility. I then click on the "disk" button and file sharing is enabled.
I can mount the disk through the finder, just fine and able to transfer files back and forth, however time machine cant seem to pick up the drive. Would love to be able to use time machine to do backups, So can someone please help?
osx 10.5.5 with airport utility 5.3.2
Thanks in advance!

Well this has worked for me. I have a Freecom 500Gb usb hard Drive connected through an unpowered 4-way USBhub to an Airport Extreme Base station. After mounting the Air Disk hard drive on my powerbook, I then dragged the disk to my user folder, thereby creating an alias. I have put that alias in my login items and now TimeMachine works beautifully. I've repeated it on a Mac Mini (also using OSX 10.5.5) and that seems to be fine too. Admittedly the back-ups take a long time over airport, but fine via Ethernet.
Good luck everyone who struggles with this.
David

Can Time Machine backup USB Drive connected to Airport Extreme Base Station

I need a new N based wireless router. I would prefer to get just the $179 Base Station and not the $299 Time Capsule. I already have a nice external USB 500GB drive that I would connect to the AEBS. So, once I have this new wireless router/base station installed at home and I have the external USB drive connected to it, can my new Macbook Air with a USB connected 400GB drive be used to backup what is on the Macbook Air and also backup the 500GB USB drive info that is connected to the extreme base station?
Thanks
tj

I found this when searching Apple's web site but it is old, October 2007, and said it could not be done. Has this changed since then?
Here is what I found.
Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Disks
* Last Modified on: October 26, 2007
* Article: 306833
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 it does not support AirPort Extreme's AirPort Disk feature.
Time Machine can back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, or to a Leopard Server volume, or an Xsan storage device.

What's the most recent opinion about Time Machine backups to Hard Drives connected to the USB port on the Airport Extreme Base Station (5th generation)?

I have been searching the Apple communities and Internet for a final answer. I just bought an Airport Extreme Base Station (5th generation) and LaCie d2 quadra 1TB external drive as a replacement for TWO failed Time Capsules, neither of which Apple would replace due to failed power supplies. I formatted the 1TB drive using Disk Utility (Mac OS extended (journaled)) from my MacBook Pro, and then plugged into the Airport Extreme Base Station USB port. The Airport Extreme Base Station see the Hard Drive, and my MacBook Pro sees the Hard Drive in my finder under shared resources. Time Machine, however, does not see the drive. Is there a solution for this problem? If Time Machine will not work, is there another software product out there that will work, like Carbon Copy. Having to plug the backup drive into the USB port of your laptop every evening kind of defeats the purpose of having a laptop. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Keeping in mind that this is not supported by Apple, I have been successful at doing the following:
1) Format the entire drive (1 Partition) as Mac Extended (Journaled). You must click in Options and set it as a GUID Partition Table (first option)
2) Plug drive via USB to AEBS
3) Using Airport Utility, use Manual Setup, then under Disks, select the new Disk and click File Sharing, then Enable File Sharing and Secured Shared Disks (recommended, of course). Other settings are up to you.
4) IMPORTANT: you will NOT see this Disk in Time Machine until you open Finder and double-click on it. You will not need to do this again (hopefully).
5) Now it should appear in Time Machine. Remember to exclude any large files like Virtual Machines, since they will be re-backed-up (is that a word?) every time it changes in any way.
6) Remember that the first backup (over WiFi) is the longest. Leave the computer alone during this period.
Good luck, and let us all know how it went for you!

Using Time MACHINE with a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme

Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software products that may be mentioned in the topic below. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information below at your own discretion.
Please click here:
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Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme AirDisk
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Note: If you got here by clicking a link that looks like this:
_. . . discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2299608#Q1_
Note the number at the end, after the +*pound sign,+* (#) and click the corresponding item below:
Please pardon the inconvenience.
|
QUESTIONS
*Q1. Can I use the USB drive(s) for Time Machine backups AND other data?*
*Q2. How do I set up Time Machine to back up to a USB drive connected to my Airport Extreme?*
*Q3. How do I delete backups?*
*Q4. How do I back-up my backups?*
If you don't see your question here, try Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
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PROBLEMS
*P1. The Backup disk image could not be created.*
*P2. Time Machine could not complete the backup . . sparsebundle could not be accessed. (Error 109).*
If you don't see your problem here, try Time Machine - Troubleshooting
This is the 3rd version of this tip. It was submitted on May 16, 2010 by Pondini.
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Hi, Nubz!
Yes, I just saw that, and am still chuckling.
Maybe that will mollify the Jive gods?
Thanks again,
Jim

Mountain Lion Time Machine backup to USB drive super slow

I recently upgraded the MacBook Air to Mountain Lion. The time machine backup is SUPER SLOW even when doing it on a USB 3.0 Drive. It currently showing 2 days for 100GB backup. I was able to copy the same 100 GB of files on to the same hard disk in less than 1 hr. This is so slow that i might be better off managing back ups manually or just writing a small script to do it. But before I do so wanted to check if anybody else has the same issues.
Regards
Uddhav
Update:
Turning off the spotlight on the external hard disk helped improve the speed dramatically. Brought it down from 1 GB in 1 hr to almost 1 GB / minute.
System Preferences --> Spotlight
Add the Drive to the exceptions list. It will say this is a time machine disk so except the time machine folder everything else will be added to the exception list. Say Yes and thats it !!!
Now says 19hrs still a lot according to me but much better than 2 days.
Any body has any additional tips /tricks please share !!
Regards
Uddhav

uddhav wrote:
Turning off the spotlight on the external hard disk helped improve the speed dramatically.
That may indicate a damaged index. Keep an eye on subsequent backups -- if they take a long time, and/or show "indexing backup" on the Time Machine preferences panel for very long, you may need to delete it, so OSX can recreate it. See the pink box in #D2 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting for instructions.
It will say this is a time machine disk so except the time machine folder everything else will be added to the exception list.
Is there anything else on the drive (in the same partition)? If so, that's usually not a good idea. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #3 for an explanation.
Now says 19hrs still a lot according to me but much better than 2 days.
Yes, that's quite slow, especially if your Mac supports USB 3.
If it doesn't, it should be running at USB 2 speeds, which for a full backup should be, very roughly, 40-50 GB/hour.
See the rest of #D2 in the Troubleshooting link for other causes of slow backups.

Don't see files on USB Drive connected to Airport Extreme

I just connected an external drive to my Airport Extreme via USB. It appears as a shared device in the finder sidebar. When I select it, none of the files that reside on the drive appear. It is a 1TB drive with 600GB of files on it, but none of the files show up, only a folder with the drive name. I open the folder and it is empty. The folder window shows 300 GB available. How do I make the existing files visible?

Thanks for the info.
Were you using the drive for Time Machine backups, by chance? Time Machine backups are stored in a different format when the disk is connected directly to a computer. So, you won't be able to continue to use the old backups when the drive location is changed.
You might want to check the drive by connecting directly to your Mac and running Disk Utility to "Verify Disk" and "Repair Disk" if indicated.
Even if the drive has it's own power supply, a powered USB hub is usually needed on the AirPort Extreme because the power at the USB port is quite limited.
Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

Time Machine clueless about external HD connected to Airport Extreme

This is not my first post about HD connected to Airport Extreme. Just came back from Apple store. Spoke to Geniuses there in tech support desk and they are clueless.
Here is situation: have 7 Macs in the house connected to Airport Extreme wirelessly. In that respect things are working fine. Last week I purchased brand new WD My Book external HD and connected it to Airport Extreme using USB (it also has Fire Wire but that is not a point here).
As per forum advices I re-formated drive using disk utility to Mac Extended journaled, GUID. here is result:
iMAC x 3, with Tiger - see, mount and use My Book easily, shows on desktop as mounted drive
MacBook Pro w. Tiger - same as above, back up every day to My Book
MacBook with Leopard x 2 - no My Book on desktop, Time Machine doesn't see it
Mac Mini with Leopard - same as above, no trace of My Book, Time Machine doesn't see it
* This problem evolved from me having regular 160 GB FAT32 HD connected to Airport Extreme. Again Tiger machines were using that drive every day no sweat.
* Then I decided to upgrade all Macs to Leopard for one single reason only - Time Machine. (Good that I didn't do it but rather decided to introduce new, bigger and better USB drive first).
* Western Digital My Book is being sold in Apple stores as "drive that is recognized by Time Machine" so I bought 1TB unit.
* All Macs and Airport Extreme are up to date.
Any suggestions? Thank you in advance,
Zack

I cannot tell you why your Apple Genius told you what he did, but he/she was dead wrong. Apple sells its Time Capsule product, so they are not interested in making the AEBS a product competitor.
I will give you a little secret for which you will forever be indebted to me.
Open your Terminal application in the Utilities folder and at the prompt enter or paste the following command pressing RETURN after:
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
Miraculously your problem will be Solved.

USB drive connected to Airport Extreme becomes read-only

Hello
I have a USB drive connected to my Airport Extreme 802.11n (2nd generation, firmware v7.6). To access the drive, I've set secure shared disks to "with accounts" then defined a user account with read/write access. I connect to this drive using two Windows 7 SP1 64-bit computers.
Reading and writing to the disk is fine. However, after a day or so, I can read from but cannot write to the disk! I then have to restart the USB drive to write to it again. This has been happening for a while.
Also connected to the Airport Extreme (using Ethernet) is a Lacie NAS drive (which runs a cut-down version of Linux). This works fine: I've never had any problems with it! It too is password protected.
Please help!
Thanks
Praful

Tried what you suggested last night - no change. What is odd, though, is that I can create a new folder on the external USB HDD (through the Hub) and copy a file into it. While I can then close Finder, re-open and see the Folder and file I copied, I still can't see all the data that is currently stored on the drive...Is this a delete and re-copy scenario?
Thanks!

Can Time Machine backup a USB drive connected to Airport Extreme?

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