Can Time Machine use a local server as a back up location

We have this really nice D-Link NAS with 4 drives set to Raid 5....and would LOVE to let Time Machine use it as a backup location.
Will Time Machine allow a server to hold its back up files?
Many thanks.

Time Machine does not back up to network drives, except Time Capsules or USB drives connected to an Airport Extreme, or a drive on a Leopard server.
Here's the official word: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1733
You may find some "hacks" that might make it work, in some cases, to a degree. But use them at your own risk.
First, since this is *unsupported by Apple,* there's nowhere to go when there's trouble.
Second, you're risking a future update preventing it from working, and perhaps rendering your backups useless.
If you still think this is a good idea, do yourself a favor before you bet your backups on it: be sure it really works, at least for now:
1. Get a copy of CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! or the like, and make a full bootable clone of your internal HD, on an external disk. Test it by booting from it. Then reboot from your internal HD.
2. Let TM do it's first, full, initial backup.
3. Attempt a full system restore (like you'll need when, not if, your internal HD fails), via the instructions in item 14 of the +Frequently Asked Questions+ post at the top of this forum.
Again, even if it works now, tomorrow is another day . . .

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If my backup HD is not large enough, can Time Machine use more than one destination HD?

Hi, I have about 0,8 Tb on my Mac + 0,9 Tb in an external HD + 2,5 Tb in another external HD.
I have plenty of other HDs with 1-2 Tb that I could use as backup. Can I use them in Time Machine? Can Time Machine split all the data from my Mac and source HDs in more than one destination HD? I would love it if I could avoid buying large 6-10Tb HDs; they are still expensive... I'll appreciate your kind inputs!

Technically, you could store parts of your backup on different drives, but it would require you to be constantly changing the items excluded. It is designed to be a single backup, which you can do the entire backup to more than one drive.

Can Time Capsule use another local network for backup?

Our LAN has a a separate wireless network solely for backup. The machines on the network use ethernet for routine operations and wireless to access backup disks. Can a Time Capsule access this backup LAN or must the machines all tune into its own wireless network?

Yes, you can. Just mount the disk you want to backup onto and select it in the Time Machine preferences. The backups are deadly slow wirelessly, so you'll want to backup with your mac getting it's internet over FireWire from the computer with the disk attached. But restoring works well wirelessly. As you can probably tell by my description here, I backup to a network volume myself. I do know that you can't backup to the same backup scheme both with a local disk and network volume (same disk).
Hope this helps,
Alex

Can time machine use iCloud as it's backup destination?

I read how photos , music, contacts, etc. get automatically backed up by using icloud, but can I use it for a complete backup of everything via Time Machine?

Unfortunately not.
Time machine should be written to an external drive by preference and if not to a network drive.

Can Time Capsule be used as a time machine on a Windows Server. Is this possible, and how do i configure this?

I like to use the new TC in my office as a time machine on a Windows Server. Is this possible, and how do i configure this?
In fact my plan is to make the first back up by connecting to the server via an ethernet cable, but thereafter i like to bring the TC to my home and perform the incremental backups over the internet. This is for safety reasons, in case for example the office is broken into, or flooded, or fire (god forbid).
I sincerely hope it is possible, and not complicated.
Alternatively i would not mind replacing our current Windows server 2003 with an Apple server, but all computers in the network (except mine) are Windows 7 or 8. Would it work?
Thanks in advance.
Paris

I will consider the WD My Cloud device.
It is a NAS.. it is designed to provide a cheap centralised file storage.
What is NAS?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage
A file server like windows uses heaps of power to do very little.. in your setup.. In most setups like SBS it will do exchange server and provide a heap of useful connectivity to your clients.
Since you are not using the windows server in anything but simple file serving you can replace with a NAS..
Problem with the TC is, it is a router with a hard disk inside.. designed specifically for Time Machine.. it fails to provide what a NAS does.. easy access to any clients, local or remote.. TC is designed by apple for apple and the rest of world is not really invited to the party.
It provides no backup.. no data protection.. and is so specifically apple orientated I do not think it works at all well with windows.
For a simple example.. windows will have file issues with large files.. because it is only NTserver FAT32 to windows.. bad luck if you have large files.. !!
Plainly if you use active directory in windows that facility is gone.
I just like Apple products, find them more stable than Windows and easier to use. Plus i can access the server from home if it is an Apple Server.
If you only need remote access for yourself that is fine.. too bad for the windows clients I guess.
Or you open it up to the world and bad luck for security.
Apple do not design for mixed environment.. in fact with the TC there is no provision for windows access officially at all.. so anything you do is a fudge.
You can use the TC for your Mac backups within the network.. that is fine. Apple provide no software at all to help with your windows clients.

Can Time Machine be used to back up my server?

I've got 10.6 Server running on an Xserve. I was told that Time Machine can't be used on a Server, but I do have the TM icon on my dock. Does TM work with server or not - are its backups flawed in some way for Server?

Michael
Whoever told you that you can't use Time Machine on OSX Server was not wholly wrong or wholly correct. As ever it all depends on what roles you want your Server to perform. It is not recommended to use Time Machine to back up OSX Server if it's an OD Master and/or a Mail Server and/or running a SQL Database. This is because those databases are more likely to be constantly changing - think about it. Most people would say the 'sensible' thing to do is to stop the Services - or curtail in some way access to those databases during the backup - effect the backup and then re-start the Services or allow access to the databases again. This is something Time Machine does not know how to do. As ever it's not so much backing up that's the problem. The problem generally arises if you have to recover data after a Server or Drive failure. More often than the recovered databases exhibit all sorts of problems and corruption. Probably because the databases were 'mangled' by Time Machine when they were backed up.
If all you want from your server is simple file sharing, iCal, iChat and Web Services then you can use Time Machine and safely recover from the backups. In my experience this works for me consistently well. As ever YMMV.
HTH?
Tony

Can time machine be used to back up one external drive to another external drive?

I use the photography program Lightroom to organize and develop digital photos. All my photos are stored on my iMac internal drive. The internal drive is almost full so I want to move my photos to a new external drive. At present, I have an external drive devoted to backing up my iMac using time machine. I have no need to change this arrangement. I would like to use a new external drive to serve as the primary location for my pictures, which I will move from the internal drive. Then I would like to backup that drive to a third external back up drive. Can time machine be used to automatically back up the second drive to the third drive as well as for continuing to provide ongoing backups to my internal drive as it is currently doing?
Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Jeffery t wrote:
Thanks for the links, but I don't see in the pondini links, the scenario I am asking about.
Time Machine can easily back up multiple internal and/or directly-connected external drives and partitions simultaneously (but Time Machine cannotback up data that's on a network).
From the first link.
Jeffery t wrote:
... Please note that my iMac internal drive is backing up to external drive number 1 using time machine. I want my pictures on external drive two and those backed up to external drive three. So are you saying that if I have 500 GB of pictures on drive number 2, I will need a third drive that is at least 1 TB?
the confusion starts in your above statement...
There should be Only One Time Machine Drive.

Can time machine and carbon copy cloner use the same backup drive?

Can time machine and CCC use the same esata backup drive?

Yes, but you will need to first partition the drive so that TM and CCC will backup to their own respective volumes. This way the CCC volume can accommodate a bootable clone.
Be sure the TM volume has adequate space. A TM backup volume should have about twice the capacity of the volume it backs up.

Can Time Machine be used to back up iTunes?

I use Time Machine to back up my computer, and recently used it to set up my new computer. But I always exclude iTunes because my current library is at 1.41 TB, running off an external drive. I would like to make a regular back up of our iTunes library, say every week or so. That's why the DVDr route is not appealing, it's not fluid enough. Can Time Machine be used in this way? If I set up another dedicated external, and set it up with TimeMachine, but told it to exclude everything except the iTunes external, and made sure I did this every week, would it work? Thanks.

I'm not sure I understand your question, but there's no reason why you should treat the iTunes library any differently than other data for backup purposes. The first TM snapshot that includes it will take a long time and a lot of space, but once that's done, the files won't change and therefore won't need to be copied again.

Why can I no longer backup to Time Machine on OS X Server?

We have a Windows Server and a Mac Server. The OS X Server is basically only for backups from workstations via Time Machine and as a Software Update Server.
I can no longer backup from my MacBook to the Server. If I try to add the location again in Time Machine Prefs, it asks for username and password. I try my AD account, but it fails. Guest doesn't work either. Any suguestions? When I set up the Time Machine service on the server, it was very easy. What did I miss?

You have to enter the name and password of an administrator on the server.

Can Time Machine be used as a normal router?

Sorry my ignorance on this type of Apple's products.
My question is simple:
Can Time Machine be used as a router? I know it backs up files, but I'm not sure about this function.
Thanks in advance!

Yes, it does function as a "normal router".
In addition to its ability to function as a "normal router" (ie a device to share a cable/DSL internet connection) the Time Capsule will also:
1. function as an a/b/g/n wireless access point
2. network attached storage device, for Time Machine backups as well as general purpose file storage
3. point of attachment of one or more USB printers, which can be shared with all computers on the network
4. point of attachment of an external USB hard drive, for storage space additional to the built in hard drive

Can´t upgrade to mountain Lion because says that my HD is only for Time Machine use

Can´t upgrade to mountain Lion because says that my HD is only for Time Machine use, what can I do?

The installer is probably finding a file called backups.backupdb
That is where Time Machine stores it backups so it figures it can't install there
The Time Machine backup should never be done to the system drive but another drive instead
Allan

How can I make Time Machine use the ethernet cable to Time Capsule instead of the wireless connection? Wireless is too slow; has been taking 40 hours to create an initial 142 GB backup.

How can I make Time Machine use the ethernet cable to Time Capsule instead of the wireless connection? Wireless is too slow; has been taking 40 hours to create an initial 142 GB backup.

Plug in ethernet .. in the computer.. turn off wireless.

I have reinstalled my OS without time machine (using the disc). I want to restore some pictures in the iPhotos which are already in the time machine i was using previously. How can I restore iPhoto from previous time machine?

My mac book was incredibly slow. When I went to Mac store, they asked me to reinstall the OS with CD and not with the time machine. I reinstalled the operating system. But when I opened the applications, all those started as fresh applications as usual. I have the backup of all other data in another hard disc. But unfortunately, I forgot to copy the photos before reinstallation. I have those photos in my time machine back up. But when I opened time machine, it started like a fresh (very new) time machine and it started backing up my present OS (the reinstalled one). I cannot open the previous time machine, which is in the same hard drive. I wish to open the previous time machine to get the photos which are backed up previuosly. When opened the time machine disc (manually by clicking the icon), i can see all the thigs which I had previously in my macbook. But unfortunately, i cannot access those through time machine! Can anybody help me please?

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Can time machine be use like an external hard drive

like to put a windows partition on time machine use it for more espace

305Sebas wrote:
like to put a windows partition on time machine ..
Do not do this... TM works best on its Own Dedicated Hard Drive.
Would suggest another EHD for your windows usage.

Can Time Machine use a local server as a back up location

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