Server Time Machine vs File Sharing TM

For a couple of years I have used file sharing on my Mac Mini to provide Time Machine backup space for the Mac Books in my collection. This has worked well, with multiple hard drives and partitions providing redundant backup space (every Mac has at least two concurrent Time Machine backups, each in different hard drives attached to the MM). I have been examining OS X Server, and am wondering what benefit Server Time Machine service offers over my current arrangement. I can see no functional difference. Is there any?

Functionally, I don't believe so. If you're able to back up and restore your Macs over your LAN using File Sharing then the Time Machine Service in OS X Server won't do you any good.
I use OS X Server and the Time Machine Service for back ups/restore. I know I can restore any Mac client as long as the server (Mac Mini) is up and running. I simply select the network back up while in the Recovery HD of the client, log into it and select the date I want to restore. I don't know how File Sharing works if you have to restore one of your Macs from the Recovery HD.

Similar Messages

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    Am I right in thinking that I can't use a Time Capsule to support Time Machine on OS-X and to support sharing files between OS-X and XP at the same time given Time Machine will not run on FAT32 and I can't partition Time Capsule hard drives without taking them to bits, partitioning and re-assembling?

    Hi Jonathan and welcome to Discussions,
    Drive Genius http://www.prosofteng.com/products/drive_genius.php and iPartition http://www.coriolis-systems.com/iPartition.php claim to be able to repartition without erasing.
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  • Time Machine AND File Sharing: Partitioning possible?

    Hi everyone,
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    Please visit Pondini's Time Machine FAQ for help with all things Time Machine.

  • Time Capsule and File Sharing on Server

    I am in the process of setting up Server at home. I've run into a snag with using a Time Capsule as my router and backup drive and also enabling file sharing through Server. When adding File Sharing as a service in the Server application, a warning comes up to disable disk sharing at the router before forwarding the ports. The problem is that if I disable disk sharing on the Time Capsule, I can no longer access my Time Capsule drive (for obvious reasons). I was reading another post that discussed enabling disk share from the router and then adding a port for file sharing manually, but that did not seem to work as I cannot remotely access my files.
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    If I turn on disk sharing (even without the LAN option) I can select the disk to back up, but then I cannot share files using my server due to the port conflict.
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  • Lion Server Time Machine sparsebundles

    Subject indicates where I think my problem lies, but for background:
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    Finally figured it out on my own 2 weeks later.
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  • Time Machine backup file corrupted and locked

    This morning when I switch on my Mac there was a dialogue box telling me that my Time Machine backup file was corrupted and that Time Machine would have to create a new backup file.
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    aschmid wrote:
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    All I can say do now is connect my drive directly to my iMac and figure out a way how I can backup my other iMac and the MacBook I have. On the AE this just worked remotely.
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    Really not much options here to backup a home with 3 Macs!?!
    Sure there is. Back the others up to the same drive, over your network, via sharing. 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 details and setup instructions.

  • Best Setup for Lion Server Time Machine Backup with Drobo?

    I've been thinking about this a lot, yet I don't feel I have a good solution for this, so I'm going to throw it out to the community.
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    - Wireless backup from laptops to Drobo is not functioning currently
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  • Restore Lion OS from Lion Server Time Machine Backup?

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  • MAC OS 10.7 Trying to Delete from TRASH Time Machine FOLDER (file)

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  • I have a time machine backup file on a USB hard drive.  I bought a time capsule / airport extreme, flat 3TB.  I wish to transfer the backup file from the usb hard drive to the time capsule hard drive.  10.6.8

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  • HT201250 Does Time Machine delete files in back-ups that are deleted on my Mac?

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    Marekova wrote:
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