How do I use Time Machine with a NAS drive?

I was hoping to use a USB drive with my new Netgear router to do Time Machine backups, but I have since learned that the router only supports Windows or FAT formatted drives.
Will a NAS drive work with Time Machine? If so, can someone give me a crash course on how to set one up and use it?
Thanks!
For the record, I have a Netgear N300 DSL Modem/Router combo, and I'm running 10.6.8 on a Macbook Pro.
Here are links to two drives I was looking at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136745 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822165198

I don't think Time Machine is supported on anything other than Time Capsule. That being said, TM works fine on my WD 2TB MyBookLive NAS. The specs on the one I bought specifically said it would work with TM. Neither one of the links you posted mentioned TM so I would be leary.
...JER
Message was edited by: ...JER

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How can i use time machine with a network drive

I have a Western Digital Net N900 wireless router with a 2TB internal H/D. How can I get Time Machine to reconize it?

Relying only on TM to me is iffy but I would bet you have clones in addition to TM like I do. I agree with everything you said but to the OP question, it is possible. A time capsule or AEBS+HD are pretty similar but one is officially supported while the later is not.
Since I'm rambling a bit I will add this. I only use TM for the times I delete something and then wish I had it back. All my restores or migrations are done from my clones. One clone is made weekly and is a snap shot of my system. One clone I keep remotely located and is updated monthly.
My system:
Internal 1TB
Ext HD1 2TB (1TB data, 1TB clone)
Ext HD2 2TB time machine backup (internal + HD1 data, not the clone)
Remote 1TB clone
I'm fully redudant with my method and it has saved me before.

How to use Time Machine with an external drive?

Hi…I’m new to this, I hope someone can help me=)
I’m trying to back up my Macbook Pro 10.6.8 using Time Machine with an external drive Seagate Backplus Slim. I’ve tried several solutions that I’ve found through different forums but still wouldn’t work.
Every time I opened Time Machine, it has this appearance:
Then when I click “Select backup Disk”, it goes on like this:
And after I click “Set Up Time Capsule”, it has this:
It keeps saying that it couldn’t find AirPort wireless, even though I have good WIFI connection.
Anyone know what I should do? Please help….Thanks everyone

Ayuphie ~ In your Time Machine Preferences panel, slide the OFF-ON switch to the ON position:

HT204057 is there a way to use time machine with a backup drive connected to my AirPort?

is there a way to use time machine with a backup drive connected to my AirPort Extreme?

Unfortunately, this is not officially supported by Apple......if you still have the 4th Gen AirPort Extreme that you list in your equipment profile.
However, the new "tower" shaped version of the AirPort Extreme does now officially support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port of the device.

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.
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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.
Do you want to provide feedback on this User Contributed Tip or contribute your own? If you have achieved Level 2 status, visit the User Tips Library Contributions forum for more information.

Hi, Nubz!
Yes, I just saw that, and am still chuckling.
Maybe that will mollify the Jive gods?
Thanks again,
Jim

How do you use Time Machine with more then one mac

I just bought a new external hard drive and want to back up my iMac & MacBook Pro using Time Machine. But I do not want to use my airport network.
I will keep the hard drive connected to the iMac, but want to, as needed, plug my MacBook Pro into the Hard drive to back up.
Is this possible? Do I have first partition the new backup hard drive?
Any help is appreciated... Jim

Ok... I am back again.
I decided to plug my backup drive into the USB port on the Airport extreme.
On my Macbook Pro, which I connect wirelessly, I was able to start Time Machine... Time Machine saw the backup drive and did a backup.. Yes it took a long time Anyway all is cool with that.
My iMac is connected to the Airport Extreme by Ethernet. On the iMac when I started Time Machine, it does not see the backup hard drive. I can see and share the hard drive... works fine. But no luck with TM seeing the hard drive on the iMac.
Questions is will Time Machine work with a computer that is connected to airport extreme by ethernet. If yes how o you set it up and what might be wrong??
I might mention that the reason I have the iMac connected with an ethernet cable and not wirelessly is because the iMac does not stay connected well to the internet and when it is connected has a very slow connection. My MacBook Pro is all the way across the house and has a great connection.
I have guessed the slow connection was because the Airport Extreme sits right next to the iMac and maybe there is some kind of interference.
Thanks.... any help is appreciated.

Using Time Machine with a network Drive

I recently bought a WD My Book Live network drive to use as my Time Machine backup. I was previously using a USB external HD for Time Machine with no problems. I have set up the new network drive but when I go in to Time Machine to select it as the drive to back up to, it is not showing up. The only drive I see is my old USB external HD. I have the latest firmware for the network drive and I am running Mac OSX10.5.8. Any suggestions?

If you bought the WD in a USB enclosure it probably came formatted with NTFS (Windows). Time Machine can't use NTFS drives or SMB (Windows) network shares as a backup destination because that format does not allow the proper permissions to be set. If this is the case with your drive, open Disk Utility and reformat your new drive (NOT you system drive!!) with HFS+ aka 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' and then the drive should show up as a target selection in Time Machine.

I can't use Time Machine with a USB drive plugged into an Airport Extreme.

I connected an external drive to the USB port of an Airport Extreme, intending to use it with Time Machine and one of the laptops in the Wi-Fi network (call it Laptop). The drive is visible from the Disks tab of each computer’s Airport Utility but from nowhere else, in particular not to Laptop’s Time Machine preference.
Laptop is relatively new and arrived with Mavericks. Time Machine used to work on Laptop before I upgraded the rest of the network (a desktop Mac Pro and another laptop) from OS X 10.6 to Mavericks.
The drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I have tried other external hard drives, with the same behavior. The desktop correctly use Time Machine to back up its internal drive to another internal drive. Another possibly relevant factor is that our DSL connection has recently been upgraded, and now uses a 2Wire modem that provides its own router, so Airport Utility’s Network Router Mode is set to “Off (Bridge Mode)”.
I would be grateful for suggestions of what to try next.

Here is one from Pondini, who was the foremost Time Machine expert in the world.
http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
And another from Apple. Info near the bottom.
AirPort base stations: About USB disks
And another miscellaneous from Apple:
AirPort base stations: Time Machine hard drive compatibility

Can i use time machine with a hard drive connected to the airport extreme?

Just wondering if there is any news on this since the last post was in 2008.
The Apple website info regarding the Airport Extreme mentions attaching a hard drive to the Airport Extreme, but I can't see whether that could be used for a Mac using Time Machine.

You can attach a hard drive, but Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port at the AirPort Extreme are not supported by Apple, so it's not possible to say what your actual results might be.
If you decide to try this, it would be wise to have a secondary backup plan in place as well.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html

How can I use Time Machine with my existing network attached storage drives

I am a new mac user switching over from windows and have an extensive amount of existing equipment including 2 network attached storage devices (Buffalo Technologies). I would like to use these with Time Machine, but can not figure out how to do it. When I enter time machine setup it does not show these drives while the Finder does.

As of right now we are all SOL unless you own a Time Capsule. At the very least I wish apple would offer some kind of trade-up if they are not going to release a software update.
It really doesn't make any sense why we can't do this with a standard AEBS. Any fix should just be a matter of software, and while technically apple covered its butt with that little "subject to change" disclaimer on the leopard preview page, pulling it at the last minute and expecting those who believed their advertisement to buy another device that does the exact same thing for more money is just wrong. Give us a break apple, tell us your at least working on a fix, its the right thing to do.

Using Time Machine with 2 hard drives in an iMac...

If I get the iMac configuration with an SSD and a 2TB HDD drive inside, will Time Machine easily back up both? I guess I'm wondering if Time Machine backs up more than one drive automatically. Thanks.

About TM "Backup Drive is Full"
TM only deletes older files if they have been deleted from the source and when TM needs space on the backup drive for a new incremental backup. Time Machine "thins" it's backups; hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first of the day; those "daily" backups over 30 days old, except the first of the week. The weeklies are kept as long as there's room.
So, how long a backup file remains depends on how long it was on your Mac before being deleted, assuming you do at least one backup per day. If it was there for at least 24 hours, it will be kept for at least a month. If it was there for at least a week, it will be kept as long as there's room.
Note, that on a Time Capsule the sparsebundle grows in size as needed, but doesn't shrink. Thus, from the user's view of the TC it appears that no space has been freed, although there may be space in the sparsebundle.
Once TM has found it cannot free up enough space for a new backup it reports the disk is full. You can either erase the backup drive and start your backups anew or replace the drive with a larger drive.
Having a sufficiently large enough backup drive doesn't prevent this problem but it can help provide a longer period of time before the problem occurs.
If this is something of concern for you then you should opt to use a different type of backup utility and a different backup strategy.
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
SuperDuper!
Synk Pro
Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.

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.

Using Time Machine with External Hard Drive

Hey everyone,
I had a few questions about Time Machine that I hope someone could answer for me.
I bought my first external hard drive in August, the 1 TB WD My Book for Mac and when I set it up, I configured it to Time Machine, and not the WD software.
I have an extensive music collection, which was my main reason for buying the external hard drive in the first place.
Anyway, when I plug in the hard drive and let Time Machine do the back up, I've noticed that it's backing up the same files every single time, and is eating up a lot of space on the hard drive.
Since I am mainly using this drive to store my music, I was wondering if there was an easier way to do things:
-Is there a way to not back up my documents, photos, applications, etc, every single time I plug in my HD?
-Is there an easy way to find my music on the drive? For example, some Time Machine back-ups have different files on them... i.e. my back up from August 10th has certain music files that do not exist on my backup from November 10th, as I deleted them from my computer after they were backed up to the external HD. I'd love to be able to see all of my music in one place, rather different versions of my music folder on different days.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot.

Hi,
1. Your Time Machine should should do the full backup of your computer just once and then only diffrences between backups - whenever you plug in the drive.
If that's not the case something is misconfigured.
2. You can exclude folders (documents, pictures etc) from being backed up. This is in in Time Machine Options (right bottom corner.
3. The drive is (most likely) indexed by Spotlight. However, provided those are backup files I would advise against browsing and searching them directly. This can damage the backup itself.
4. I cannot work out the exact scenario you are using - but the ideal (proper one) would be to have all your music library on your computer and only backup on your external drive. This you should not have to browse and use until you need to restore files.
5. If you keep your music library solely on the external drive - it should be not in the backup files.
Also such practice is risky as all drives crash sooner or later and you will lose your music.
Best would be to keep all music on the computer and backup onto your external drive.
Or
if the music library is too big for your computer you may keep it externally - but Isuggest you get one of the external hard dirves with RAID1 or higher. This will keep your music safer lest one of the drives packs up.
Let me know if you want me to elaborate on any of the aforementioned.
TZ

HT201250 If using Time Machine with an external drive, can I just use it occasionally for back up, say once per week and have it disconnected in between backups?

When using TM with an external drive, can I connect and use it occasionally for backup and disconnect it between backups, say one backup per week? Or does it need to be connected all the time when the computer is on?

TimeMachine works better if it's nearly always connected.
For addtional backup like what your needing, consider a bootable clone in addition to TM.
Most commonly used backup methods

Can't use time machine with a network drive anymore

I am not able to use my network drive any longer now that I loaded Lion OS. Does anyone have have a work around. I tried the sharing of a folder trick that I had for snow lepard. I have a HP media smart server and 2TB of storage available it seems like a big waste not to be able to backup to a safe place.
Al

Here is one from Pondini, who was the foremost Time Machine expert in the world.
http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
And another from Apple. Info near the bottom.
AirPort base stations: About USB disks
And another miscellaneous from Apple:
AirPort base stations: Time Machine hard drive compatibility

How do I use Time Machine with a NAS drive?

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