Issues with Airport Extreme and Time Machine

I have a Airport Extreme that is connected to a cable modem, that airport extreme is then hardwired connected to a time machine.
Recently, I have had trouble connecting wirelessly to the airport extreme. Even more troubling is that I can no longer can connect via ethernet to the time machine directly. In other words, the only way I can connect is by directly connecting to the airport extreme.
Any help would be great. Oh I have a MBP with the latest updates and a MB that is not connecting to the time machine or wireless to the extreme

angelop wrote:
I have used the following for about two years.
-MBP, Airport Extreme, External HD (1TB) for my time machine.
You probably know, that's "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+* See the Using Time Machine with a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
To get around this issue, I have switched off the Time Machine, and am only turning on once a week or so, to grab any changes or additions I've made. I've been doing this for about 6 months now with no problems.
Now whenever I do this, (It should only be backing up an album or two from iTunes,) it tries to back up my whole system again. EVERY TIME. It did not do this before.
If you go too long between backups, Time Machine will do a new, full backup. And once it decides to do that, it will keep trying until it succeeds. There are some other possibilities as well. See #D2 in the Using Time Machine with a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.
If none of those seem to explain it, see #A1 there; download the TM Buddy widget, copy and post the messages here.
Why are you only backing-up once a week? Time Machine was designed to back up changes hourly, as long as your Mac is awake and the TC is in range. It will protect you best that way, and unless there's a problem, those backups will usually be very quick.
But if you're only going to back up once a week or so, then Time Machine is not the best app for you. See Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.

Similar Messages

Problem with Airport extreme and Time machine

I recently purchased a 320gig external hard drive for Time machine. I connected it to my Airport extreme but it is not being recognized for some unknown reason. If I directly connect it to my iMac it works perfectly. I've updated with the latest firmware and it should work via USB with Airport extreme. Any suggestions why it is not working?

angelop wrote:
I have used the following for about two years.
-MBP, Airport Extreme, External HD (1TB) for my time machine.
You probably know, that's "iffy" and +*not supported by Apple.+* See the Using Time Machine with a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
To get around this issue, I have switched off the Time Machine, and am only turning on once a week or so, to grab any changes or additions I've made. I've been doing this for about 6 months now with no problems.
Now whenever I do this, (It should only be backing up an album or two from iTunes,) it tries to back up my whole system again. EVERY TIME. It did not do this before.
If you go too long between backups, Time Machine will do a new, full backup. And once it decides to do that, it will keep trying until it succeeds. There are some other possibilities as well. See #D2 in the Using Time Machine with a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme *User Tip,* also at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum.
If none of those seem to explain it, see #A1 there; download the TM Buddy widget, copy and post the messages here.
Why are you only backing-up once a week? Time Machine was designed to back up changes hourly, as long as your Mac is awake and the TC is in range. It will protect you best that way, and unless there's a problem, those backups will usually be very quick.
But if you're only going to back up once a week or so, then Time Machine is not the best app for you. See Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product.

Trouble with Airport Extreme and Time Capsule

Just got a new 2TB time capsule and added it to my network (existing Airport Express and Airport Extreme). All devices are hard-wire back-hauled to Linksys router. Set up was straight forward with no issues and initiated a time capsule back up without a problem. Within hours I noticed that the TC was no longer reachable in Finder.. Opening the AirPort utility, I saw that both the Extreme and the TC were "lost". Still had (green) internet connectivity, but the base stations were showing as off-line in the Airport utility.
Tried rebooting and checking from multiple other devices and no luck. Occasionally will find them both on-line in Airport utility, but seem to lose one (usually TC) after a short period. All are running the most up to date version of firmware (7.7.3). Prior to installing the TC, I had experienced 0 issues with Airport Express and Extreme.
Has anyone else seen similar issues? Are there settings that need to be accounted for in some way to avoid these frustrating "lost devices"?
thanks

Thank you for your quick answer, smorkerz. However, I did it and it doesn't work.
I tried to check separately the time capsule and the airport extreme, switching one off when using the other one. The result is that each one works alone but when I use them both, just time capsule appears, works well, and I can't use the airport to print for instance.
Do you understand anything ?

Cisco router RVS4000 with Airport extrem and Time capsule.

Problem droping connection to internet when is Time capsule in extended wifi mode. When I turn off wifi on time capsule Airport extreme work fine.
Airport extreme and Time capsule is conected via ETH.
Any idea ?
Thaks
B.

If you use ethernet to connect the AE and TC .. you must NOT extend wifi.. you use Create a wireless network. And setup with same name and security. You are using roaming network.. not extended wireless.. if you want to use extended wireless no ethernet
see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260

I'm having a hard time setting up my external hard from with my AirPort Extreme and Time Machine Backups.

I have been using a Mac Mini with an external hard and Time Machine. I bought an Airport Extreme and have had problem setting up the hard drive using the USB port on the Airport Extreme. I also just recently bought a Mac Book Air and hope to have both computers back up to the external hard drive using Time Machine and Airport Extreme. I have been using the optical drive from the Mac mini to load programs into the Mac Book Air. I think I'm just getting confused in Finder. I am just not seeing the hard drive. I ended up plugging the hard drive back into the Mac Mini and that is work fine again. How do I setting the external hard drive up to the AirPort Extreme and use for both computers? Or at least to start with the Mac mini.

It's critical to understand that Time Machine (TM) stores backups differently between local and network drives. That would mean the TM backup on your locally attached USB hard drive will not be directly useable when it is connected to the AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS). There is a way to copy a local version to a network version, but it is not fool-proof. When you do connect this drive and point TM to it, TM will start a brand new backup, leaving your existing backup as is.
If your current backup is critical to you, you may want to consider getting a second USB drive to attach to the Extreme and use your existing one as a backup ... or use TM's multi-backup process to backup to more than one destination drive alternatively.
So, at this point, you may want to make a decision on how you want to go forward to help provide a solution for you.
To directly answer your question, when you go to select a destination for a Time Machine backup, the drive(s) that show up under "Backup Disks" are those that TM already recognizes and has backed up to. Those listed under "Available Disks" are drives (either local or on the network) that TM can back up to.

Airport Extreme and Time Machine. Despite now being officially supported, does it work?

The subject says it all. After purchasing the new tall Airport Extreme and connecting a WD 2TB drive (as I had with the earlier AE) I have yet to have a backup execute properly. It will be fine for a few days then TM will announce it's done a verification and a new backup is required. Thank goodness I have offsite backup since TM is doing absolutely SFA for me at the moment.

Yuri van Hoof wrote:
Now I connected this USB External Disk to the Airport so I can use it as an network disk. This is working as well. I can get it mounted and read and write on it. Nice...so far.
Now I want TIme Machine to update/compleet my latest back-up, and here the problems start.
I hate to have to tell you this, but backing-up that way is unreliable and not supported by Apple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.
But then I got the message; disk is full. Hmm?
Yes, because Time Machine stores backups differently when done over a network, it doesn't see the ones made while directly connected. See the blue box in #17 of Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.
Does anybody now how to get the old 'Backups.backupdb' connected ore recognized as the ONE which TM should compleet?
Realistically, you have two choices:
Knowing the considerable risks, as detailed in the first link, if still you want to back up wirelessly, connect the disk to your Mac and erase it. Then connect it to your Airport and let Time Machine start fresh.
To return to backing-up while directly-connected, delete the <Computer Name>.sparsebundle from the top level of the drive.

Issue with Airport Extreme and 100mbps connection

Hi,
I have just upgraded my connection to 100mbps. Using a ARRIS TM 502G cable modem and the Airport Extreme I am able to get the 100mbps connection via either ethernet or wifi on my main MacBook Pro. However, the Mac Mini in the loungeroom (10 metres away from the Airport Extreme) is only getting speeds of around 25mbps.
Does anyone know why this might be or what I can do to resolve it?
Thanks,
Matt

The Mini was connecting at 20 - 25mbps via wifi.
The Macbook Pro was connecting at 80 - 90mbps via wifi (when in same room as Airport Extreme) and getting anywhere from 80 to 140mbps via a wired connection.
I've moved the Airport Extreme so it has the best "line of sight" to the Mini, and also disconnected a cordless phone I had in the room which was interfering with the signal.
After these changes I'm able to get speeds of 30 - 45mbps on the mini and similar speeds on my macbook if I move it next to the mini. It looks as though that's the best I'm going to be able to get without hard wiring the mini - which is disappointing ... unless of course you clever people have any other ideas?

Discovery issues with airport extreme and issues with airport utility

I lost about 3 hours with connection issues while trying to add a second airport express. The airport Utility couldn't find any of the units anymore. After aging a couple of years and checking lots of forums (many suffered the same problems) I found this link
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1406#
Which seemed to help me reset the units and find them again. Though I can't be certain if it was just luck, the airport utility and detection and resetting of the express and extreme seemed solved.
I would add that this is an area that should be looked at by apple. It is not the first time that I have problems with the airport utility or the extreme.

Check the cabling to the Base Station - make sure the modem is plugged into the Base Station's ethernet WAN port (ie the port labelled with the "circle of dots" icon).
With the modem cabled to the Base Station - pull power to both for five minutes or so. Then plug the modem into power and wait a minute. Then plug the Base Station into power and wait a minute. Then try internet access again.
If that still doesn't work:
- on the Mac which can successfully connect to the internet when cabled directly to the modem, tell us what settings are found in System Preferences->Network->Show ethernet built in->PPPoE tab, and under the TCP/IP tab.
- from either a PC or the Mac connected to the Base Station, run the Airport Admin Utility, select the name of your base station, click Configure, click on the Internet tab. Tell us what settings are found under that tab.

Airport Extreme and Time Machine backups using a USB drive

Hi there,
I checked through the threads/FAQ's for an answer to this but couldn't find anything...
I have an AE set up with a USB drive attached as my Time Machine backup drive. When I start my MBP up and initiate a forced backup, Time Machine will go and find my drive (via the AE), mount it and carry out the backup without a problem. However, if I start my MBP up and wait for the scheduled hourly backup, TM doesn't see the drive (or perform the backup) unless I go and manually mount the drive first.
I realise I can put the drive in my login items to auto mount on boot but I wondered if there was a way to get the scheduled backups to work without doing this (as with the forced backups).
Thanks

mattschenker wrote:
Pondini,
Actually, I wasn't thinking about theft. I was just thinking that for security in a possible data-loss "event," it was better to have the backup drive physically separated from the main computer. But maybe that's not necessary.
That's unlikely. A power surge could take out both your Mac and connected external HD. You do have your Macs on good surge protectors or, better yet, U.P.S. systems, right? If not, see [Using a U.P.S. System with a Mac|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/UPS.html].
But wherever the external HD is, unless it's on a surge protector or U.P.S., it's still exposed.
Other things causing data loss are even less likely to affect your Time Machine drive (especially if there's no other data on it).
Yes, I could hook something up to my Mac Mini. Good point! And that would really keep it separated, since it would be in an entirely different floor. But then again, Time Machine backups done wirelessly would probably take forever.
The first one, yes. But if you have a good WIFI connection, subsequent ones shouldn't take too long or be too obtrusive, except when you've updated a lot of data (like installing an OSX update).
See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for setup instructions.
But this just shows that there are a lot of options.
Yes.
I do wish Apple would solve the problem of Time Machine working via the Airport Extreme. That would be my favorite option.
Not likely. Time Machine's been out since Leopard, about 3 years, and backups via an Extreme have never been reliable or supported. Just why they work well on a Time Capsule, or even a USB drive connected to a TC, but not an Airport, is a mystery, but that's the way it is.
But it's always a good idea to keep secondary backups. See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for some suggestions.

Major issues with Airport Extreme and Blu Ray Players

I've been working with this for several days now, and am at the end of my rope. Hopefully someone has some answers.
I've got the original 802.11n Airport Extreme. I've had it since it was released, and have had no real problems up until now.
At the beginning of May I got a new TV with a Samsung Blu Ray player. Model BD-C6500. The first one died halfway through our first movie, and I took it back. The second one worked fine for a few weeks, and then all of a sudden told me that it couldn't connect to the network.
This was about the time that we had a power outage, but all devices were hooked to surge protectors, so I'm guessing that it was just coincidence, but I thought I'd put that here just in case.
Well, the Blu Ray player was a real puzzle. I would try to connect, and it would connect, but not get an IP address. I'd do it again, and then it would but couldn't get past the router. I'd do it one more time, and it would work for a while, and we could watch Netflix. Then it would stop working again.
I finally took it back and exchanged it, thinking that it had some problems. The new one did the exact same thing! Brand new C6500 won't connect, or can't get IP, or can't get past the router, but sometimes works.
Frustrated, I went back and exchanged it for an LG, model BD570. It logged onto the wireless right away, downloaded the firmware update, and worked perfectly on Netflix and Pandora. Success! Until this morning. Now it's doing the same thing, where it can connect, but can't get past the router. No internet connection.
I've got two laptops, a PowerMac, two iPhones, and an TV running on this router with no problems. Settings are mostly standard, with security set for WPA/WPA 2 Personal, with a 13 digit password. I've tried both DHCP and Static IPs for the BD Player. I've used both the router address along with outside servers for the DNS. I've removed password security. I've tried WEP. I've changed the multicast rate. I've done a full reset of the router.
Any help would be appreciated. Wired access is not an option in this location, and I don't want to drop $100 on an Aiport Express if I can help it.
-Ehren

**My Airport Express access point firewall needed to be set to "HOST", then everything worked wonderfully.**
Before the "HOST" firewall change my symptoms were as follows:
The wireless setup process would work sometimes, other times not (not result in a successful connection). Also, when it did work, it would be lost when the c6500 shut off.

Issues with Airport Extreme and yosemite?

I have a Airport Extreme (7.6.2) connected to my wireless network as a client. Connected to this I have a sound system (HK SoundSticks II) and a Lexmark (CS510de) printer via ethernet.
I have had no issues with this configuration on Mavericks (and previous); however, since I have upgraded to Yosemite, my airplay sound will randomly lock up and my printer drops offline after the first print to it. I can get these devices back by cycling my Airport Extreme.
Anyone else seeing these issues?

Check the cabling to the Base Station - make sure the modem is plugged into the Base Station's ethernet WAN port (ie the port labelled with the "circle of dots" icon).
With the modem cabled to the Base Station - pull power to both for five minutes or so. Then plug the modem into power and wait a minute. Then plug the Base Station into power and wait a minute. Then try internet access again.
If that still doesn't work:
- on the Mac which can successfully connect to the internet when cabled directly to the modem, tell us what settings are found in System Preferences->Network->Show ethernet built in->PPPoE tab, and under the TCP/IP tab.
- from either a PC or the Mac connected to the Base Station, run the Airport Admin Utility, select the name of your base station, click Configure, click on the Internet tab. Tell us what settings are found under that tab.

External HDD Issues with Snow Leopard and Time Machine

Hello,
I have a 1TB WD 10EADS External HDD, and it had some files on it. I connected it the other day to an iMac I recently upgraded to 10.6, and wanted to do a complete time machine backup of the computer to it (250GB HDD). I copied the files off the external HDD I needed and then Time Machine needed to format it as it was a FAT32 drive. This went successfully, and I started the Time Machine backup. This went quite slowly and failed after ~2.5GB or so. I restarted and tried again to no avail upon which Time Machine told me I should reformat it in Disk Utility. So I did, and to no avail.
I tried this a number of times and sometimes when doing a reformat I was told that the drive could not be unmounted. I tried manually copying files to the disk which started to work but then failed promptly with error (-36) and the message "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in “ [Program/File Name]” can't be read or written." I upgraded to 10.6.1 also to no avail. I even repaired permissions and the disk, and booted Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard disc and formatted that to no avail.
I have read this is an I/O error and can be associated with bad drives, but as I stated before, the drive worked perfectly until Time Machine formatted it. I took the HDD to another Mac running 10.6, and it told me it had a POSIX error. I did some googling and found that if I format it under a Windows machine, and then reformat under the mac it might work.
What I want to know is, is this a 10.6 error or has the HDD decided to go kaput after Time Machine formatting it?
Thanks for your help

Thomas Huxley wrote:
Time Machine backup failed. I think it's a glitch with the computer, not the HDD. Going to zero out the drive now.
Any other suggestions on how I might bypass this error to get data onto the Disk eg. transfer over to another computer, so I can reformat the computer and install Snow Leopard from scratch? The whole purpose of doing this time Machine backup was to get all the files off the computer to perform a clean install of Snow Leopard.
I assume you're positive the TM disk has both the correct *Partition Map Scheme* (GUID) and Format (Mac OS Extended (journaled), but not case-sensitive)? One of them being wrong is the most common cause of a first TM backup failing.
Did you do either a +*Verify Disk+* (not permissions) or a +*Repair Disk+* (not permissions) on your internal HD, or only your TM drive? The message you got could be a result of a problem on either one.
Other options are to make a "bootable clone" via CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. CCC is donationware, SD has a free version that will do it. If you do that, boot from it, and be sure everything works before erasing your internal HD. Google them.
Note that there are many, many reports of problems here with WD drives, and that some of them are not bootable.
I would not upgrade without backups (Murphy was an optimist!), but is there a reason you want to erase your HD? It's not required, and rarely does any good. The normal install will simply install Snow Leopard and remove Leopard. Your apps, data, etc., won't be touched.

How do I connect Airport Extreme and Time Capsule to my new iMac so that AE is used for network and TC only used for Time Machine backup?

I didn't realize that Time Capsule will only support the print function of a wireless multifunction printer. So I want to use Extreme for my network to have full use of my printer and use TC as the Time machine backup only. How to I make the connections?

Thanks for your response and this is getting complicated but I just purchased a new iMac as well as the Airport TC. I've had the Airport Extreme for a year or so. The Airport Extreme worked perfectly with my old iMac wirelessly and I had all functions of my printer with no problems. I was expecting the same with the TC. But the instruction that came with TC say to connect the printer to the TC via USB...which I did. And the print function worked perfectly but nothing else. In researching I discovered that when wired that way the TC only supports the print function...not scan or fax or anything else. I tried going wireless since my AE worked perfectly via wireless but I got no printer functions at all that way. But I'm wondering also if I tried that during a time I was having other issues...I had to delete and re-add my printer which solved some other problems. I may try that again...and see if I can get all print functions with just the TC connected
As far as connecting both your AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule on your network, we're not clear on exactly how you want to do this. Will the AirPort Extreme connect to your modem using an Ethernet cable and the Time Capsule connect to the AirPort Extreme using an Ethernet cable?.......or......do you want the Time Capsule to connect to the network using wireless?
Well... first of all I would like not to have to use the AE at all...I would prefer using just my TC for network, all print functions and Time Machine backup if that's possible. My printer will not accept Ethernet connections (Canon MX512).
After failing at getting this to work, I decided I would try to use my AE for net and print functions and just use my TC for Time Machine backup. I tried several different connection configurations with no success until finally I connected cable modem to my AE via Ethernet and went wireless with the AE and printer. but connected the AE to the TC via Ethernet and amazingly everything worked like a charm (for a while) and I was patting myself on the back for being so smart. But now I find that the connection only lasts for a short time. If I leave it for a while the TC goes invisible...or at least I see a message saying the Ethernet is unplugged...but it is not... and I lose internet connection even though I have a green light on my AE. So now I'm at a loss. I don't know why I keep losing network signal and why my system thinks the Ethernet is unplugged.
So... after all this...I figured I wasn't so smart after all and I must have things wired incorrectly.
So... it sounds like you are saying I should go back and try again to get my new TC to work as I want it to via wireless instead of connecting via USB...is that correct? Could you tell me exactly how I should wire my equipment from cable modem to AE and/or TC to achieve net capability, full functions of my printer and Time Machine backup...
Thanks...

Still possible to use airport extreme for time machine?

I know apple doesn't officially support it but I remember with one of the airport utility updates, it allowed you to use an external HDD with an airport extreme for time machine backups. I tried hooking my external western digital to my airport extreme and it showed up as an airport disk, however I couldn't get time machine to access it. Is there a way I can get this to work?

I followed the instructions found on the link above and had a couple of issues:
1) Instructions state "Make sure 'Share disks over Ethernet WAN port' is checked." Could not find that check box anyplace.
2) Using first disk and then airport passwords as security, the disk does not show up in the Time Machine preferences. Am I to mount the disk first? Does not state that in the instructions.
3) If I mount the disk in the finder (security is a disk password), I am then able to see the drive in Time Machine and the back-up commences. The disk icon appears on my desktop and contains machine.sparcebundle. Another "disk" also appears on my desktop with the name "Time Machine Backups" and which contains the folder Backups.backupdb. I am also able to remotely attach to the machine doing the TM backup from another mac on the network and login.
4) Back-up started and appeared to go well (240G backed up with several partials after that) until I rebooted.
5) After reboot, it was frozen in "Making backup disk available" Opened preferences and it locked up. Had to force a reboot.
6) After restart, manually mounted the extreme external, opened Time Machine prefs, and when selecting back up location saw one with a red "∅" which I could not select and the other the extreme drive with 240G used. Attempted the back-up to the drive and I got "Making backup disk available" on the menu bar and the same message on TM system prefs with a spinning beach ball. Have been able to force quit system prefs and sent to error log to apple, but a forced reboot is still required because the TM icon on the menu continues to spin. Even a "sudu shutdown -r now" in terminal will not reboot the machine. Get to a blue screen with the spinning tick marks and it just sits there.
I wonder if the fact that I could not find "Make sure 'Share disks over Ethernet WAN port' is checked." is the issue. It does not appear to be available in the current version of the extreme base 7.4.2. Could those of you who were able to configure it with a previous version get grandfathered in? I wonder if I need to manually mount the extreme hard disk each time I reboot the machines. I am not sure how to do that but will try and see if it works.
I will be losing internet and e-mail access for a few weeks so will look at this thread again when I return.

My Airport Extreme and Time Capsule both cannot do not mount my Seagate USB external hard.

My Airport Extreme and Time Capsule both cannot do not mount my Seagate USB external hard.
I am running OS 10.7.5
Both the TC and AE are updated to 7.6.1
The Seagate drive in formatted: Journaled HFS+
I tried everything on Apple's Article: HT1331 and the basic reboots and restarts.
"Next"

It sounds like you may be confusing "mount" with "recognize".
Connect the drive to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme
Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click on the AirPort Extreme icon, then click Edit
Click the Disks tab
Does the AirPort Extreme "recognize" your hard drive? If yes, it will be displayed in the window.
See example below of a WD 500 GB drive connected to the AirPort Extreme.
If your drive is formatted HFS+ and it does not appear here, then you will almost certainly need to use a powered USB hub with the hard drive.....even if the hard drive has its own power supply. The USB port on the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule is under powered.
Post back when the drive is "recognized" and we will next "mount" the drive.....although you likely already know how to do this.

Issues with Airport Extreme and Time Machine

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