How do I use time machine back up with airport extreme

I want to use my airport extreme to back up with time machine, I am not that good with computers, so could some one please explain to me how to do this.
Thanks
Ben

Unfortunately, Apple does not support Time Machine backups to a hard drive at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme due to corruption issues.
Despite this, some users who have tried this have success with this, some limited success and some no success.
Our recommendation would be to connect the hard drive directly to your computer and use Time Machine that way.
To do this, you would need to make sure that the hard drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or buy a hard drive that has been pre-formatted for Mac. Then connect the drive to the USB port on the Mac.
After that, you would open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock), then open Time Machine to turn it ON, click Select Disk to select your hard drive and then click Use For Backup. That will get Time Machine backups going.

Similar Messages

Time Machine over WiFi with Airport Extreme

I have had an iMac for 5 years with a WD 500 gb drive hardwired (Firewire 400) into the machine for use with Time Machine. I just got a new Macbook Pro 15". When I opened the machine, I migrated everything over from my old iMac using the Time Machine Backups drive. Everything was working fine and TM recognized all of my old backups.
A couple days later, I wanted to up the portability of the laptop so I plugged my drive in USB to my Airport Extreme. The Macbook immediately recognized the shared drive and every put a little "Time Machine Backups" icon mounted on the desktop. I went into the Time Machine preferences and designated the network drive as my backup drive. It seemed to be working but the first time it went to backup, it created a new .sparsebundle file, even though I still have the Backups folder full of the old backups. It then tried to create another .sparsebundle file with the same name as my computer but with a 1 at the end.
I went to my local Genius bar and the guy plainly said "Time Machine does not work wirelessly unless its a time capsule. (Sarcastically) The only people who can answer that question are the software engineers who designed Time Machine".
The fact that Time Machine and the MBP immediately recognized the wireless drive as a backup disk tells me that its possible to do it. Is there anyway to tell Time Machine to include all of the backups on the drive and not to start from scratch??
Thanks.

iliv4apl wrote:
But I was not using a new backup drive, it was the same drive, just different connection. How do I tell it to incorporate the backup files on the drive into the time machine program?
You can't. Time Machine stores it's backups differently when they're done over a network, and you can't switch between the two.
You might be able to copy the "local" backups to be used over the network. See #18 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
And you need to know that backing up with Time Machine to a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme is "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+* See Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).

Time Machine in combination with Airport Extreme and an external disk

I have a MacBook upgraded from Tiger 10.4 to *Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.1.* I'm now using *Time Machine* to make back-ups on a *MiniMax external drive* through an USB connection. However, I wish to make wireless back-ups by connecting the external drive to my *Airport Extreme*. I learned that this wasn't possible until the recent release by Apple of the software update "*About Time Machine and AirPort Updates v1.0*". The minimum system requirement for this software update is OS X 10.5.2. I should think this requirement is met because I have upgraded to 10.6.1. But when I try to install the software I get the message that the system requirement is at least 10.5.2. and as a result *I can't continue installing*. Apparently my OS update is not recognized by the software. Is there a solution for this problem? Many thanks.

GJinAmsterdam wrote:
I have a MacBook upgraded from Tiger 10.4 to *Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.1.* I'm now using *Time Machine* to make back-ups on a *MiniMax external drive* through an USB connection. However, I wish to make wireless back-ups by connecting the external drive to my *Airport Extreme*. I learned that this wasn't possible until the recent release by Apple of the software update "*About Time Machine and AirPort Updates v1.0*".
this has been possible for a long time, since about February 2008 when those updates came out.
The minimum system requirement for this software update is OS X 10.5.2. I should think this requirement is met because I have upgraded to 10.6.1. But when I try to install the software I get the message that the system requirement is at least 10.5.2. and as a result *I can't continue installing*. Apparently my OS update is not recognized by the software. Is there a solution for this problem? Many thanks.
you don't need to install those updates. they are for leopard, not snow leopard. you should be fine as is. do keep in mind that TM backups to air disks are not "officially" supported but they have worked for a long time. also, keep in midn that you'll need to start a new backup sequence once you move the drive to AEBS as remote backups are stored differently from directly attached ones.

Hard Drive for Time Machine for iMac with AirPort Extreme??

I just switched back to Mac after too many years with a PC. I bought an iMac 24" 2.8GHz with 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM and 750GB Serial ATA Drive.
I'm planning on adding an external hard drive for Time Machine to attach to my AirPort Extreme. From reading information posted on the Apple site and my AEBS I understand that it needs to be connected to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme.
While I may be opening up a technological "can of worms," I'd like to know what will be the most dependable drive 1TB, USB 2.0 that I can buy. Noise and bright lights are not a consideration here. I just want a drive that I can depend on to work with Time Machine. The "original" data will be stored elsewhere. I've heard of, read about and experienced so many hard drive failures that I'm getting "gun shy" about this subject. Please feel free to let me know what's good and bad. Thanks.

Here is a quote right from Apple's site today:
Quote:
AirPort Extreme lets you turn your external USB hard drive into a drive you can share with all the >users on your network. It’s called AirPort Disk, and it’s a simple and convenient way to share files >among everyone in your family, office, or class.
I tried to return my AEBS to Apple but I was a few days beyond their 14 day limit on returns (limit is bases on shipping date of the item in question, not when all parts of the shipment are received). Part of my reasoning with the Apple Store CS was the posts like yours saying that this couldn't be done. The Apple Store rep. and the tech. rep. that he claims that he spoke to said it could be done. The only way I could return the AEBS, according to the Apple Store CS rep., and get a new Time Capsule would be if I bought a hard drive and discovered that my AEBS would not work with the hard drive. No, I'm not a happy new customer. So, I want to buy a good, reliable hard drive and want to know which one to get.

How do i use my own dhcp server with airport extreme

I just bought an airport extreme and I'm trying to replace my linksys router and another access point.
I have my own dhcp/dns server and I want to continue using it. So far, I was not able to find the way to use NAT without DHCP (like I'm doing now with my current setup).
I want to give the device another chance before I return it to the store. Is there anything I can do?
Thanks

I thought that you could figure out the answer for yourself, but if you need more confirmation.....the choices/options that you need do not exist on an AirPort router.
Cisco or Netgear might be brands to look at. Good luck in your quest.

I upgraded my imac hard drive to a 2tb drive. how do i use time machine to get my computer back to normal?

i upgraded my imac hard drive to a 2tb drive. how do i use time machine to get my computer back to normal?

Thank you. I followed the faq#14 (using setup wizard from the osx install disk). Everything went just as planned until I woke up this morning and noticed there was no progress on the "transferring documents" meter. It stopped about 1/4 of the way. I can hear the computer working and the bar is somewhat animated like it is advancing but it's not.
Should I cancel and restart or should I wait it out? It already been about 13 hours since I started the process. Do you think it is my time machine or my iMac? Maybe the time machine file is corrupt or something.
Anyway, any help is appreciated. Thanks.

HT1338 Purchased a used macbook pro with Mountain Lion. My old Mac runs Snow Leopard is backed up to Time machine. How do I register the operating system to me and how do I use Time Machine to move my files to the new used computer?

Purchased a used macbook pro with Mountain Lion. My old Mac runs Snow Leopard is backed up to Time machine. How do I register the operating system to me and how do I use Time Machine to move my files to the new used computer?

If you look at the User Tips tab, you will find a write up on just this subject:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4053
The subject of buying/selling a Mac is quite complicated. Here is a guide to the steps involved. It is from the Seller's point of view, but easily read the other way too:
SELLING A MAC A
Internet Recovery, and Transferability of OS & iLife Apps
Selling an Old Mac:
• When selling an old Mac, the only OS that is legally transferable is the one that came preinstalled when the Mac was new. Selling a Mac with an upgraded OS isn't doing the new owner any favors. Attempting to do so will only result in headaches since the upgraded OS can't be registered by the new owner. If a clean install becomes necessary, they won't be able to do so and will be forced to install the original OS via Internet Recovery. Best to simply erase the drive and revert back to the original OS prior to selling any Mac.
• Additionally, upgrading the OS on a Mac you intend to sell means that you are leaving personally identifiable information on the Mac since the only way to upgrade the OS involves using your own AppleID to download the upgrade from the App Store. So there will be traces of your info and user account left behind. Again, best to erase the drive and revert to the original OS via Internet Recovery.
Internet Recovery:
• In the event that the OS has been upgraded to a newer version (i.e. Lion to Mountain Lion), Internet Recovery will offer the version of the OS that originally came with the Mac. So while booting to the Recovery Disk will show Mountain Lion as available for reinstall since that is the current version running, Internet Recovery, on the other hand, will only show Lion available since that was the OS shipped with that particular Mac.
• Though the Mac came with a particular version of Mac OS X, it appears that, when Internet Recovery is invoked, the most recent update of that version may be applied. (i.e. if the Mac originally came with 10.7.3, Internet Recovery may install a more recent update like 10.7.5)
iLife Apps:
• When the App Store is launched for the first time it will report that the iLife apps are available for the user to Accept under the Purchases section. The user will be required to enter their AppleID during the Acceptance process. From that point on the iLife apps will be tied to the AppleID used to Accept them. The user will be allowed to download the apps to other Macs they own if they wish using the same AppleID used to Accept them.
• Once Accepted on the new Mac, the iLife apps can not be transferred to any future owner when the Mac is sold. Attempting to use an AppleID after the apps have already been accepted using a different AppleID will result in the App Store reporting "These apps were already assigned to another Apple ID".
• It appears, however, that the iLife Apps do not automatically go to the first owner of the Mac. It's quite possible that the original owner, either by choice or neglect, never Accepted the iLife apps in the App Store. As a result, a future owner of the Mac may be able to successfully Accept the apps and retain them for themselves using their own AppleID. Bottom Line: Whoever Accepts the iLife apps first gets to keep them.
SELLING A MAC B
Follow these instructions step by step to prepare a Mac for sale:
Step One - Back up your data:
A. If you have any Virtual PCs shut them down. They cannot be in their "fast saved" state. They must be shut down from inside Windows.
B. Clone to an external drive using using Carbon Copy Cloner.
1. Open Carbon Copy Cloner.
2. Select the Source volume from the Select a source drop down menu on the left side.
3. Select the Destination volume from the Select a destination drop down menu on the right
side.
4. Click on the Clone button. If you are prompted about creating a clone of the Recovery HD be
sure to opt for that.
Destination means a freshly erased external backup drive. Source means the internal
startup drive.
Step Two - Prepare the machine for the new buyer:
1. De-authorize the computer in iTunes! De-authorize both iTunes and Audible accounts.
2, Remove any Open Firmware passwords or Firmware passwords.
3. Turn the brightness full up and volume nearly so.
4. Turn off File Vault, if enabled.
5. Disable iCloud, if enabled: See.What to do with iCloud before selling your computer
Step Three - Install a fresh OS:
A. Snow Leopard and earlier versions of OS X
1. Insert the original OS X install CD/DVD that came with your computer.
2. Restart the computer while holding down the C key to boot from the CD/DVD.
3. Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu; repartition and reformat the internal hard drive.
Optionally, click on the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
4. Install OS X.
5. Upon completion DO NOT restart the computer.
6. Shutdown the computer.
B. Lion and Mountain Lion (if pre-installed on the computer at purchase*)
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because
it is three times faster than wireless.
1. Restart the computer while holding down the COMMAND and R keys until the Mac OS X
Utilities window appears.
2. Select Disk Utility from the Mac OS X Utilities window and click on the Continue button.
3. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the left side list. Click
on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
4. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on the Security button
and set the Zero Data option to one-pass.
5. Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
6. Quit DU and return to the Mac OS X Utilities window.
7. Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
8. Upon completion shutdown the computer.
*If your computer came with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed then you are entitled to transfer your license once. If you purchased Lion or Mountain Lion from the App Store then you cannot transfer your license to another party. In the case of the latter you should install the original version of OS X that came with your computer. You need to repartition the hard drive as well as reformat it; this will assure that the Recovery HD partition is removed. See Step Three above. You may verify these requirements by reviewing your OS X Software License.

How do I restart Time Machine back-up from scratch?

How do I restart Time Machine back-up from scratch? I have a MacBook Air that was my wife's - now given to my daughter for school. My wife never used Time Machine to back up (she simply copied files to an external drive), so before clearing her files off the Mac HD, I tried using Time Machine for the first time with an external HD. However, the Time Machine back up repeatedly failed after about 2GB of 28GB of files. I manually copied my wife's 28GB of files to another external HD and deleted all the files off the Mac HD. I then reformatted the external Time Machine drive. But when I try to use Time Machine to back up the MacBook Air as it is now with my daughter's files on the Mac HD to the external TM drive, Time Machine acts as if the 28GB of my wife's deleted files are still on the Mac HD and fails back-up after counting to about 2GB, even though there aren't even 2GB of files on the Mac HD now and nothing on the external TM drive. I don't need to save any back-ups of how the MacBook used to be - I just need to start from scratch with how the computer is now. Can anyone please tell me how to get Time Machine to think the MacBook is a brand new computer and act as if it's a first time ever back up? I tried updating to Yosemite, and tried renaming the computer in System Preferences>Sharing, plus (as noted above) deleting all the old files off the Mac HD and reformatting the external Time Machine drive - none of that worked. All I can do at the moment is manually copy my daughter's files to an external HD - very frustrating.

Hmmm.. Office is not hard to restore.
You have something major wrong (Yosemite being the primary one).
Do a verify of the source drive.. to do that you will need to boot to the recovery.. and run the disk utility from there.. it sounds like your main disk is corrupted.
Once that is complete, delete the current setup of TM and try again.. use the widget to find out why it is failing..
See Troubleshooting.
A1, A4 and A5 for further info.
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
Good luck with it..
I would also download carbon copy cloner.. it is $40, but you can use it free for a time.. forget if a week or a month??.. to try out.. and make a proper backup before you start.. CCC is far more reliable than TM.. and in fact you might decide to simply forget about TM if it works and pays the $40.. because you can produce a bootable clone on the external drive which is a heck of a lot easier to use than TM.

How can I delete time machine back up from my computer hard drive

How can I delete time machine back up from my computer hard drive?

How to Delete a Time Machine Backup - YouTube
If you want to remove an entire Time Machine backup on a backup drive, then the easiest way to do that is to erase the backup drive using Disk Utility. However, this will delete everything on the disk:
Drive Erase Snow Leopard and Earlier
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
If you are preparing an external or a non-startup drive, then open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select the volume you wish to format from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.

How do I use time machine to backup to an external hard drive plugged into my airport extreme

How do I use time machine to backup to an external hard drive plugged into my airport extreme? I used to be able to but now time machine will not recognize my hard drive to select as a backup when plugged into my airport extreme. I'm not sure what happened or changed. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

First thing to do is go to the Pondini tips page, then follow the link to his full TM site for all the details.

Getting a new macbook to replace old one...how do i use time machine to res

my current mac book is acting strange
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9527774#9527774
i bought a new one i should get tomorrow
how do i use time machine to restore my email, safari book marks etc?
thx

ironknee wrote:
caroly do you ever sleep?
I thought i clicked on the link... this link no??
vk yes i bought a white macbook just like my old one with more stuff
i'm just a designer... i have no idea wht u are talking about
there are two ways to restore your data from a TM backup.
the first is the one I described. you don't need to do anything, just follow the instructions during the setup assistant when you first turn the computer on. it will ask you if you want to import your data from a TM backup. say yes and follow the instructions. this method only restores your user data and applications but does not touch any system files.
the second method is different and it was suggested by the other posters. it wipes the hard drive and restores the entire computer including system files and everything to the exact state it was in at the backup time. this should only be used when restoring on the same computer or on the same EXACT hardware model. the fact that your new computer is also a macbook is not enough. the processor and the graphics card may have been upgraded since you bought your old computer. this happens all the time. if they did then the old install will lack necessary drivers for the new hardware and it will not work if you restore the entire system from the old computer to the new one.
Bottom line is, unless you are absolutely sure that your new computer has exact same specs and exact same hardware as the old one, use method one outlined above.

HT201250 How do I get Time Machine back on my dock? I made a mistake and removed it from dock, somehow ended up in trash, what do I do

How do I get Time Machine back on my dock? I made a mistake and removed it from dock, somehow ended up in trash, what do I do?

Uh…you're saying two entirely different things here. If you removed Time Machine from the Dock, it could not be in the Trash. But if you removed it from your Applications or Utilities folder and put it in the Trash, that's a problem.
So, which one did you really do?

Before downloading lion, i want to backup my computer with time machine and a G-DRIVE Slim. But how can i use time machine to only backup my system once?

Just wondering, how can i use time machine to only backup my system once? Just this once and not on a weekly basis?

Upgrade. My three year old Mac Pro and year old MacBook Pro have no problem. Both seem faster.
And there's your problem reading entirely subjective views on forums, from people that might or might not have decently maintained systems, good operating practices, or whatever....
Strangely, when most companies issue new software, it is because they believe (and believe they have checked) that it is better than the previous version.

Do time machine back up with HD attached to mac, then change HD location?

I want to do my first time machine back up with the HD directly attached to mac (faster) then take that HD and connect it to my Airport Extreme (dual band) 802.11n router for subsequent periodic back ups (as future back ups, unlike the first one, will be far smaller, obviously).
Is that possible?
If not, what else should I do?
Ethernet directly to the router (a pain for my situation, but possible)

BreeBrizzle wrote:
I want to do my first time machine back up with the HD directly attached to mac (faster) then take that HD and connect it to my Airport Extreme (dual band) 802.11n router for subsequent periodic back ups (as future back ups, unlike the first one, will be far smaller, obviously).
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
Is that possible?
Not without a lot of hassle. Time Machine manages backups on a locally-connected disk completely differently from how it managed backup on a network disk. It's possible to convert between the two schemes, but it's not easy.
If not, what else should I do?
Ethernet directly to the router (a pain for my situation, but possible)
I'd back up to the disk while it's connected to the AirPort Extreme, but connected via Ethernet for the first backup. It might minimize the pain if you do that overnight.

Nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

Time Machine has been working just fine, but in the last week or two it has given up the ghost. I reset the connections to the drive, and it will basically save a few bytes of data and then hang.
Although Apple originally announced, prior to the release of the first 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations (AEBSn), that it would support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks, they removed that option before they did finally release the base station for sale.
Since then, Apple has posted (as you have noted) that they DO NOT support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks. As far as I know, they have not changed from that position and those who do these backups find that they become corrupted over time. Sorry, but it sounds like you just confirmed that for yourself.
1) Has one of the recent updates either on the AE (firmware) or OSX disabled this function?
No. Again, this feature has never been supported by Apple for every generation of AEBSn released.
2) Are there any changes I can make to get this working again?
If your data backups are critical to you, then you will want to use a different solution for your Time Machine backup destination drive strategy. I would suggest that you connect your WD My Book directly to your Mac in the mean time.
Your other options would be to either use a Time Capsule (which interestingly does support TM backups to AirPort Disks) or a non-Apple solution like the Drobo FS or HP MediaSmart server.

How do I use time machine back up with airport extreme

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for