Online solution for Time Machine

I was wondering if anyone had a good solution for automatically backing up Time Machine files online. The drive I use for my TM backups failed. Even though my main Mac drive is fine and I can start a new TM archive, I've basically lost the time stamped backups of previous states which comes in handy once in awhile. So it is necessary to have a backup of the backup which I could do with Raid 1 which I will probably now do. But ideally it would be nice to backup the TM archive online. I looked into doing this with CrashPlan but they don't want customers to backup the TM archive because of the file size due to redundancy so it doesn't seem like it would be easy to set it up automatically. You would have to remember to every once in a while to copy the TM archive to your main drive. I was hoping that it might be possible to do this with the iCloud drive but it really isn't set up for that. I know that online backups are slow but once the online backup is seeded I wouldn't think it would be too much of a problem afterwards since TM is incremental and I wouldn't think it would be any slower than the regular incremental online backups for the main drive.

With Mavericks and later, multiple disks or multiple Time Capsule targets are supported for Time Machine, and the backups will alternate if both are present, or to whichever one is currently present (such as one at home & one at an office, for instance) if both targets are not present at the same time. (There are wrinkles.)
Time Machine supports the ability to attach a disk and create a backup archive.
With directly-attached storage such as USB or Thunderbolt, RAID arrays will work just fine as Time Machine targets.
With an OS X Server system configured and running — a second Mac Mini, for instance — Time Machine can write to disks on that system, whether RAID or not.
For off-site backups, making a disk image copy of a Time Machine disk will work probably work, but'll be a pain to restore, and pulling data off of a Time Machine backup is going to be pretty slow due to its complex structure. You'll usually end up transferring disks around as part of this, unless you have a very big network connection and enough storage (somewhere) to keep a couple of copies around.
Alternatively, use a different backup tool.
In general, RAID is not a backup. User errors, nefarious deletions and ordinary data corruptions can clobber a Time Machine backup, even if the underlying storage hardware is working fine.
Podini has a whole pile of Time Machine information online. Some of which is linked above.

Similar Messages

Is there a solution for Time Machine error?

I got an error in Time Machine saying backup had failed, a couple of days ago. Spent the next day or two trawling the web and found thousands of postings from people with the same error, but no solution.
(At least, some people had a solution - they were using PC-formatted hard drives.)
I've been using Time Machine for a few weeks, and it has only now taken a dislike to my external hard drive, which is connected by FireWire.
Is there a solution to this problem, or should I revert to using SuperDuper, which I was using successfully before?
I haven't put in lots of information about the apps I'm running, because this is a general query rather than a specific one. If there's a solution, I'll use it; otherwise I'll wipe the drive and go back to using SuperDuper.

OisinOg wrote:
Pondini - Thank you for your slightly hostile reply.
On the contrary. The statement was: +"found thousands of postings from people with the same error, but no solution."+ I don't know where you found thousands of posts -- there are many here, but certainly not thousands. If you're talking about, say, a Google search, if you actually look at them, many are duplicates, unrelated to your problem, or unrelated to Macs at all -- and there are a number of solutions that seem to have fixed many of the real ones.
The error message was the standard one: "Time Machine Error - Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while creating the backup directory."
There's most likely another, better message in your logs. Thus the suggestion about Time Machine Buddy. You can also use the Console app (in your Applications/Utilities folder). Click on Show Log List, then navigate in the sidebar to your system.log (or system.log.0.bz2, etc. for previous ones). You can filter for backupd to get the same TM messages as the widget, but I prefer to view the full log at the date/time in question, as messages from other concurrent processes may have a clue.
I've gone through the suggestions in some of the helpful replies to those thousands of postings, by wiping my drive, erasing it and reformatting it, first in two partitions using the GUID method in Disk Utility, then in a single partition. But Time Machine still doesn't want to back up to it.
Sounds a bit like a problem communicating with the drive. The logs may clarify that.
The hard drive of my computer is 250GB; the external drive is 300GB. Both are SATA drives; the external is connected by FireWire.
How full are they?
Thanks for your suggestion of downloading the Time Machine Buddy widget; I'll give it a last try tonight.
What is the difference between a SuperDuper clone and a Time Machine backup?
The initial backup of both copies almost everything on your HD, excluding only some caches, temp files, etc., although you can exclude other things. This takes quite a while, of course. Thereafter, only the items that changed are backed-up.
SuperDuper (and CarbonCopyCloner, which I use, and other, similar apps) are most often used to make bootable "clones" identical copies of your HD -- if your HD fails, you can boot and run from them immediately. With TM, once your HD is repaired/replaced, you restore your system to it from your TM backup.
Score one for the clones, but TM has it's advantages, too (which is why many of us run both).
First is, CCC and SD look at every file and folder on your HD to see what changed. This is quite time-consuming and CPU-intensive, so most of us run it once a day (or less often), usually automatically at, say, 3 am. TM, however, runs hourly, but uses an internal File System Event Log of changes, so it is far quicker and less intrusive. There are exceptions, but most users rarely even notice the backups unless they see the icon revolving. On my small system, for example, TM rarely runs over 30 seconds; CCC is at least 15 minutes.
Second, not only does TM keep previous versions of changed files, but it manages the space and backups for you. It keeps those hourly backups for 24 hours; except the first of the day becomes a daily backup which is kept for a month; one per week becomes a weekly backup that is kept for as long as there's space (it will fill the drive/partition). But it's smart enough, as it deletes the old weeklies, that it won't delete it's copy of anything that still exists on your HD.
There isn't room to have two 250GB sections on a 300GB drive. I suppose I could get another 250GB drive - I have an IDE enclosure somewhere - but I don't fancy the expense right now.
Your CCC or SD partition only needs to be as large as your HD, although in a pinch it only needs to be somewhat larger than what's actually used on your HD. If you don't have room for both on the one drive, an even better solution might be to get a pair of smaller portable HDs for CCC/SD. Use one daily for, say, a week, then take it to your safe deposit box, workplace, relative's house, etc. and start with the other. Now you're also protected against fire, flood, theft, direct lightning strike on your power lines, etc.

Online Backup for Time Machine Drive?

I've been looking around at the major names in online backup and most of them won't let you back up external drives, but I found BackBlaze and it looked good till I found out that it specifically won't allow you to backup a Time Machine drive to its service.
Does anyone know of a good online backup service that will let you back up your time machine drive?

i second Thomas' remarks.
you may want to consider Dropbox for that redundant backup.
JGG

What is the best online storage service for time machine

what is the best online storage service for time machine?

ds store wrote:
There isn't any, the reason is TimeMachine is a backup of your entire boot drive, can be many gigabytes in size which Internet Service Providers only provide a fraction of upload speed compared to download speed so it makes online backups rather impractical for most.
You can share some files via a service like DropBox between remote computers, but to backup your whole system it's better to have it stored locally.
After all how can you restore your hard drive if OS X isn't running to get online?
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3045
Why is local storage better than offsite? I had a house that burned down and can tell you from experience that local backup was totally useless.

Use ext. harddrive for time machine or just as additional storage?

I was wondering, given the problems some people have had with TM, should I maybe just use it to store stuff and free up space on my laptop, or can I use one drive for both my TM backups as well as additional storage?

Mark_Clemons wrote:
I was wondering, given the problems some people have had with TM
First, take what you read here with a grain (or large block) of salt. This is the ER for Time Machine, and no more representative of the average user's experience than your local bricks-and-mortar ER is of the health of your community. Second, most of the problems here are either misunderstandings of how TM works and how to use it; or hardware problems that would be the same with any backup app.
should I maybe just use it to store stuff and free up space on my laptop, or can I use one drive for both my TM backups as well as additional storage?
You can do both, but if you do, your best bet is to partition the drive so TM has it's own, exclusive partition. And TM can back-up the other partition. See item 5 in the +Frequently Asked Questions+ post at the top of this forum for instructions.
Still, this isn't a very good solution, as both the original and copies of those files will be on the same physical disk drive: when (not if) it fails, you may lose both. So you may want to archive those files to DVDs instead of (or in addition to) TM.

Can I use Time Capsule for Time Machine and a place to put my iPhoto Library

Can I use Time Capsule for Time Machine and a place to put my iPhoto Library?

Only if you partition the Time Capsure into two partitions, one for TM and one for the iPhoto LIbrary. But you won't be able to backup that library as it will be on the same drive as the TM backups.
It's not recommended. An alternative solution is to get another EHD, move the library to it and run it from there. Then TM can backup both your boot drive and the working EHD drive.
OT

My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine. I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything. The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago.`

My iMac suddenly can't read the backup hard drive I've been using for Time Machine. I tried unplugging the cord that connects the HD to the iMac and plugging it back in, but I still get "The disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" below which are buttons for Initialize, Ignore and Eject. I was using a cord that went from larger square plug to larger square plug. So then I tried one that went from smaller square plug to what I think is USB (thin rectangular plug) of the sort that connects the keyboard and mouse. It's the type that my printers and scanners use to connect to the iMac. I did NOT just upgrade the OS or anything. The external HD is an OWC Mercury Elite All Pro. It's worked fine since I got the iMac 4 years ago. What else can I try before just trying to initialize and

Thanks, Michael! I do hear it at times spooling up and running. Just after I bumped the thread I looked for troubleshooting for this drive online and found the manual which suggested using Disk Utility which I've seen before accidentally (if I hit Command Shift U instead of Shift U to type "Unit" on a new folder for a student's homework ) but had never really noticed. Disk Utility does see it and also a sub-something (directory?) which might be the Time Machine archives on the disk, called disk1s2), sort of the way that my iMac's hard drive shows up as 640.14 GB Nitachi HDT7... and has a sub-something titled DB iMac, which is what I named my iMac's hard drive.
Anyway the owner's manual just shows the image under the formatting section, not the troubleshooting section, but as soon as I saw it in the manual I remembered seeing it accidentally a few times, went to it, and am now verifying the disk. Right now it's telling me that it will take 2 hours to complete the verification, so I guess I have a bigt of a wait. :-)
Does that fact that Disk Utilities can see it mean it's not failed, or just that it hasn't completely failed?
I can see the virtue in having multiple redundant backups, or at least two backups. What do you suggest? Two external hard drives? I had this one linked by ethernet, and but I also have a cord that could link it by USB (like a printer), so if this one is reparable I could get a second one and link it by USB. If this one is not reparable I could get two and do the same thing. I do have an Airport so I suppose it's possible to get some sort of Wi-Fi hard drive (my new printer/scanner uses only the network and not a cable, although it has a cable that I used for the initial installation), but I'd suspect a Wi-Fi hard drive might have a higher price.
What hard drives, if any, do you recommend? I seem to recall that when I was looking at external hard drives 4 years ago, Apple's were substantially more expensive, which is why I got the OWC Mercury Elite All Pro.

How to limiting the size of an existing Sparse Bundle for Time Machine?

There seems to be a solution for locking the size of a new sparse bundle to be used for Time Machine backups (see https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2383738?tstart=0). However, I have a Time Machine sparse bundle with a year's worth of history that is getting very large and I would like to limit its size. Is there a way to constrain the size of an existing sparse bundle without trashing it.
Appying the suggested techniques"
hdiutil resize -size 300g xyz.sparsebundle
and
SetFile -a L PATHTOSPARSEBUNDLE/Info.*
on an existing sparse bundle somehow corrupts it and TM wants to start from scratch.
A method for constraining the size of a TM sparse bundle without trashing it would be very appreciated.

budden10, please try this:
Disconnect the external drive to simulate it not working or having failed
Open Time Machine on your Mac and wait a few minutes for your backups to load fully
Go back in time and select a date when you were backing up the external drive
Now look at the Finder window and locate your Mac on the left side of the window under DEVICES
Click on your Mac
What do you see in the window there just to the right?

Any love for Time Machine?

I've just installed Leopard and although I do have a bootable clone of my Tiger system via Carbon Copy Cloner, I was intending to use Time Machine for my regular Leopard backups (from both my internal HD and my Lacie 250GB Firewire external). Is there ANYONE on this forum using Time Machine and having a positive experience with it?

Nothing but problems. I thought I had it working until tonight when I tried to load Prallels and it kicked in. I was able to shut down Prallels, Mail and other open application but I couldn't stop the backup that was taking place.
I couldn't force quit System Preferences. I couldn't logout, restart or shut down the iMac. If I did a Relauch on Finder, the Finder would just cause Finder to go away. I could see the Finder Menus but couldn't access them. Saw the beach ball thing.
I knew from experience the only solution was to turn off the TM external drive which is a LaCie 1TB by the way. Once I did that System Preference came up. I disabled TM and Restarted the machine.
I have Spotlight disabled on all but my internal drive. I partitioned the external TM drive GUID and that did help. I only have about 100Gig or so to back up and like I said, it has been working fine.
I spoke with Apple Support and the technician suggested I try to "get by" as updates were pending within the next few days. I spoke with him yesterday so maybe they'll be out soon.
I plan on disabling TM while using the comptuer and let it run at night and see what happens. Or maybe during the day while at work. At least that way I can let Super Duper! do its thing. It won't make a bootable but neither will TM. I think it will at least get my data.
The thing is, for a couple of days, it seemed to work. Once I partitioned the drive as GUID things were better.
I agree that it will be a great product once it works but I can't help but think Apple didn't test it fully and didn't really care to.
No love for Time Machine yet. But I'm trying.
It does have a cool interface though. It will be great for my Mom. I may like it too but as a compliment to Super Duper instead of a replacement.

Multiple HDDs for 1 MBP for Time Machine?

Alrighty, I couldn't find an answer via search, or through google. And ofcourse, as we al know, if google doesn't have an answer, it doesn't exist! :-P
Here's my situation...
My brother has a mbp c2d 2.4 connected to a Lacie 1TB drive for Time Machine.
I have a mbp c1d 2.0. No time machine running.
I want to get another 1TB drive, connect it to my airport extreme, use that for my time machine; WHILE at the same time, also using it as a time machine for my brother (2 backups for him).
I'm running 10.5.4 with every update done for both systems as well as latest airport updates.
Possible? Or am i seeing groovy colours?

I believe this can work in principle but your brother would have to constantly switch backup disks between two drives and he'd have to do it by hand. I would consider this completely untenable. If he wants double backups for his computer he should use a different backup solution for the second backup. The standard practice is to keep a TM backup and a bootable clone backup made with either [Superduper|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html] or [CCCloner|http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html]. that's what i would recommend for him.

HT1338 trying to update from 10.6.8 to Lion. Refuses to load because HD used for Time Machine updates. Anyone know how I solve this? Chris

trying to update from 10.6.8 to Lion. Refuses to load because HD used for Time Machine updates. Anyone know how I solve this? Chris

What do you mean you're in the process of "downloading the installer for 10.7.3"? If you mean the software update combo, you won't be able to use that to go from 10.7.4 to 10.7.3. The only way you could do that is to reinstall the whole OS from the App Store IF that version is 10.7.3. I don't know if the App store Lion installer includes 10.7.4 already, but if it does, you can't get to 10.7.3 at all.
As for what you do about your slow machine, there are tips all over the internet. I wrote up some of the basic one's to try here:
http://applehelpwriter.com/2011/12/05/why-is-my-mac-running-so-slow/
Other possibilities not mentioned there are either a corrupt install of Lion (solution; re-install from the Recovery disk) or hardware failure (old hard disks and other hardware components can sometimes give out there last after the strain of a new install).
(ToU Disclaimer: my link contains links to other pages which advertise my services as a technical writer).

Slow tranfer rates for Time Machine Backup

I have a 2012 Macbook Air, a Netgear N600 (WNDR3400v2) wireless router, and a WD My Book Live 2 TB NAS Hard Drive (does not have a usb port). I tried doing the setup for the new backup (32GB) of info over Wifi N (5GHz) and it said it would take 50 hours which seemed extremeley high. Because the NAS only has an ethernet port, I purchased a Thunderbolt to Ethernet port and tried connecting the 2 with a CAT 6 cable. The Air would not recognize the NAS. I then plugged the NAS into the Netgear wireless router, and the the Macbook Air into the wireless router and it came up that the transfer rate would take 13 hours. I thought that was high but managable, so I went that route.
It's been 26 hours, it's transfered 24GB of the 32GB and it still shows 9 more hours to go. I am doing something wrong, or is there a better way of transferring the information? Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tony

Wireless data transmission will always take longer than being directly connected. So with your current setup, I'd do: NAS to Router by Ethernet, Computer to Router by Ethernet and also turn off the WiFi on the Computer.
If I remember network accessible storage solutions, they're great for Drag 'N Drop file transferring, but are not so great when using for Time Machine. I'd totally recommend a Time Machine for wireless backup instead of the NAS.

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

I have a mid2009 MacBook Pro running Mavericks for which I have been using a USB WD HD for Time Machine. I'd like to get a wireless HD and start a new Time Machine backup for this Mac and retire the 5 year old WD drive. Can I start over?

no archive/ backup is perfect, HD clones can be set to make incremental additions, same as time machine however, though they are more time involved in doing so.
See the + and - of all data backup/ archives below and "spread it around".... or the "dont put your eggs all in one basket" philosophy.
Peace
Data Storage Platforms; their Drawbacks & Advantages
#1. Time Machine / Time Capsule
Drawbacks:
1. Time Machine is not bootable, if your internal drive fails, you cannot access files or boot from TM directly from the dead computer.
2. Time machine is controlled by complex software, and while you can delve into the TM backup database for specific file(s) extraction, this is not ideal or desirable.
3. Time machine can and does have the potential for many error codes in which data corruption can occur and your important backup files may not be saved correctly, at all, or even damaged. This extra link of failure in placing software between your data and its recovery is a point of risk and failure. A HD clone is not subject to these errors.
4. Time machine mirrors your internal HD, in which cases of data corruption, this corruption can immediately spread to the backup as the two are linked. TM is perpetually connected (or often) to your computer, and corruption spread to corruption, without isolation, which TM lacks (usually), migrating errors or corruption is either automatic or extremely easy to unwittingly do.
5. Time Machine does not keep endless copies of changed or deleted data, and you are often not notified when it deletes them; likewise you may accidently delete files off your computer and this accident is mirrored on TM.
6. Restoring from TM is quite time intensive.
7. TM is a backup and not a data archive, and therefore by definition a low-level security of vital/important data.
8. TM working premise is a “black box” backup of OS, APPS, settings, and vital data that nearly 100% of users never verify until an emergency hits or their computers internal SSD or HD that is corrupt or dead and this is an extremely bad working premise on vital data.
9. Given that data created and stored is growing exponentially, the fact that TM operates as a “store-it-all” backup nexus makes TM inherently incapable to easily backup massive amounts of data, nor is doing so a good idea.
10. TM working premise is a backup of a users system and active working data, and NOT massive amounts of static data, yet most users never take this into consideration, making TM a high-risk locus of data “bloat”.
11. In the case of Time Capsule, wifi data storage is a less than ideal premise given possible wireless data corruption.
12. TM like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
13. *Level-1 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. TM is very easy to use either in automatic mode or in 1-click backups.
2. TM is a perfect novice level simplex backup single-layer security save against internal HD failure or corruption.
3. TM can easily provide a seamless no-gap policy of active data that is often not easily capable in HD clones or HD archives (only if the user is lazy is making data saves).
#2. HD archives
Drawbacks:
1. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
2. Unless the user ritually copies working active data to HD external archives, then there is a time-gap of potential missing data; as such users must be proactive in archiving data that is being worked on or recently saved or created.
Advantages:
1. Fills the gap left in a week or 2-week-old HD clone, as an example.
2. Simplex no-software data storage that is isolated and autonomous from the computer (in most cases).
3. HD archives are the best idealized storage source for storing huge and multi-terabytes of data.
4. Best-idealized 1st platform redundancy for data protection.
5. *Perfect primary tier and level-2 security of your vital data.
#3. HD clones (see below for full advantages / drawbacks)
Drawbacks:
1. HD clones can be incrementally updated to hourly or daily, however this is time consuming and HD clones are, often, a week or more old, in which case data between today and the most fresh HD clone can and would be lost (however this gap is filled by use of HD archives listed above or by a TM backup).
2. Like all HD-based data is subject to ferromagnetic and mechanical failure.
Advantages:
1. HD clones are the best, quickest way to get back to 100% full operation in mere seconds.
2. Once a HD clone is created, the creation software (Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper) is no longer needed whatsoever, and unlike TM, which requires complex software for its operational transference of data, a HD clone is its own bootable entity.
3. HD clones are unconnected and isolated from recent corruption.
4. HD clones allow a “portable copy” of your computer that you can likewise connect to another same Mac and have all your APPS and data at hand, which is extremely useful.
5. Rather than, as many users do, thinking of a HD clone as a “complimentary backup” to the use of TM, a HD clone is superior to TM both in ease of returning to 100% quickly, and its autonomous nature; while each has its place, TM can and does fill the gap in, say, a 2 week old clone. As an analogy, the HD clone itself is the brick wall of protection, whereas TM can be thought of as the mortar, which will fill any cracks in data on a week, 2-week, or 1-month old HD clone.
6. Best-idealized 2nd platform redundancy for data protection, and 1st level for system restore of your computers internal HD. (Time machine being 2nd level for system restore of the computer’s internal HD).
7. *Level-2 security of your vital data.
HD cloning software options:
1. SuperDuper HD cloning software APP (free)
2. Carbon Copy Cloner APP (will copy the recovery partition as well)
3. Disk utility HD bootable clone.
#4. Online archives
Drawbacks:
1. Subject to server failure or due to non-payment of your hosting account, it can be suspended.
2. Subject, due to lack of security on your part, to being attacked and hacked/erased.
Advantages:
1. In case of house fire, etc. your data is safe.
2. In travels, and propagating files to friends and likewise, a mere link by email is all that is needed and no large media needs to be sent across the net.
3. Online archives are the perfect and best-idealized 3rd platform redundancy for data protection.
4. Supremely useful in data isolation from backups and local archives in being online and offsite for long-distance security in isolation.
5. *Level-1.5 security of your vital data.
#5. DVD professional archival media
Drawbacks:
1. DVD single-layer disks are limited to 4.7Gigabytes of data.
2. DVD media are, given rough handling, prone to scratches and light-degradation if not stored correctly.
Advantages:
1. Archival DVD professional blank media is rated for in excess of 100+ years.
2. DVD is not subject to mechanical breakdown.
3. DVD archival media is not subject to ferromagnetic degradation.
4. DVD archival media correctly sleeved and stored is currently a supreme storage method of archiving vital data.
5. DVD media is once written and therefore free of data corruption if the write is correct.
6. DVD media is the perfect ideal for “freezing” and isolating old copies of data for reference in case newer generations of data become corrupted and an older copy is needed to revert to.
7. Best-idealized 4th platform redundancy for data protection.
8. *Level-3 (highest) security of your vital data.
[*Level-4 data security under development as once-written metallic plates and synthetic sapphire and likewise ultra-long-term data storage]
#6. Cloud based storage
Drawbacks:
1. Cloud storage can only be quasi-possessed.
2. No genuine true security and privacy of data.
3. Should never be considered for vital data storage or especially long-term.
4. *Level-0 security of your vital data.
Advantages:
1. Quick, easy and cheap storage location for simplex files for transfer to keep on hand and yet off the computer.
2. Easy source for small-file data sharing.

Adding a Dedicated External Drive for Time Machine

Hello,
I want to use a dedicated external drive for Time Machine backup and another drive for a SuperDuper backup. Before even adding another drive, I'm already pulling and replacing usb connections from the back of my computer.
Can anyone tell me if a splitter is a workable solution? Something like this:
7-Port USB High-speed Hub with Splitter Cable -- http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?go=view_item&id=8997&r=183 -- or perhaps other recommendations ..
Thanks.

...I recall reading that USB 2 was faster ... but I think they said faster than FW 400, but the drive I have is FW 800.
USB2 is 480mbps and Firewire400 is 400mbps. On paper, this would appear that USB2 is faster than Firewire400. But USB2 cannot handle large data transfers very effectively. I can't explain the technicals, but suffice to say that the figures I gave of 40min-versus-2-hours-for-25GB is typical of Firewire400 versus USB2.
Firewire800 is 800mbps, so would potentially be even faster. However the physical hard drive that's installed in the Firewire enclosure would be the bottleneck as a normal "platter" hard drive is much slower than Firewire400 or 800. If it were an SSD drive, then you'd likely see a very significant difference.
But regardless, USB2 cannot keep up with a large data stream like Firewire can. Potentially USB3, which is up to 5Gbps, would be faster than either Firewire 400 or 800, although I suspect would be on par with Firewire3200 in the real world. However since there are no adapters for either USB3 or Firewire3200 for the Mac, it's a moot point for now. (Your drive is not USB3, there are only a few USB3 drives available, and you'd need a Mac Pro to add the adapter in anyway, if they existed.)
So are you saying that FW 800 is faster than USB 2.0 -- and that I should be using the FW connection to get better throughput? And that I can resume daisy-chaining multiple external drives through the one port?
Definitely Firewire would be faster than USB. And I have 5 external hard drives daisy-chained through a single Firewire800 port on my Mac. So daisy-chained Firewire is the way to go.
Like I said, for the small, incremental, hourly Time Machine backups, the speed difference is insignificant. But when the day comes that you have to restore your hard drive, (i.e.: hard drive dead so you buy new blank hard drive. Or you just want to replace with a larger drive,) if say your Time Machine backup is 80GB, that restore would probably take several hours over USB2. On my Firewire400 drive, my 100GB Time Machine restore of my Macbook Pro took about an hour and a half. (The data transfer was about an hour, but OSX took awhile after that to finish up the restore.) YMMV, of course, but IMHO, use Firewire over USB2 as much as possible. If you're lucky enough to have a Mac Pro or iMac and can use multiple internal hard drives or eSATA, then that would be even faster than Firewire800. Only owners of a Macbook Air or non-Firewire Macbook should resign themselves to USB2.

What is best stockage for time machine server

H i hello
I want make a time machine server for backup all macs in my network
I have mountain lion server, and i want know what is the best solution for stockage for time Machine
Nas ? San ?
Can i use NTFS with time machine ? CIFS ? or just AFP ?
Thanks you for your help

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
Any modem will work. Note that you will only use your modem to connect your Time Capsule to it using an Ethernet cable, and it will bring the Internet connection to the Time Capsule, so all modems do the same

Online solution for Time Machine

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