Time Capsule with multiple computers

Everyone in our office uses macs, and we use time capsules for backing up. It seems that only one person can back up at any given time, so when one user is trying to do a backup, all of the other users have failed backup attempts because the disk is not ready.
I suppose I either need to make sure that people are backing up at different times, or is there another way around this?
Can I tell time machine a specific time I want it to back up or is it always going to be automated?

RangerJoe55 wrote:
Yeah, I posted here kinda hoping to figure out how to do more scheduled type backups instead of the seemingly random ones now.
Time machine will do backups hourly, if your Mac is awake and the destination is available. There are a few exceptions, depending on when the last backup was done, such as after waking from sleep, powering-up, or after a manual backup.
It does seem weird that it won't back up multiple computers at the same time....
It usually does. I don't recall seeing a post where it doesn't.

Similar Messages

How to use airport time capsule with multiple computers?

I'm sure there are some thread about this but i couldn't find it... so sorry for that but hear me out! =)
I bought the AirPort Time Capsule to back up my MBP
And so i did.
then i thought "let give this one a fresh start" so i erased all of it with the disk utility and re-installed the MBP from the recovery disk.
I dont want all of the stuff i backed up just a few files and some pictures so i brought that back.. so far so good.
Now i want to do a new back up of my MBP so i open time machine settings, pick the drive on the time capsule and then "Choose" i wait for the beck up to begin, and then it fails. It says (sorry for my bad english, im swedish haha) "the mount /Volume/Data-1/StiflersMBP.sparsebundle is already in use for back up.
this is what i want:
i want the "StiflersMBP.sparsebundle" to just be so i can get some stuf when i need them. it's never to be erased.
i want to make a new back up of my MBP as if it's a second computer...
so guys and girls, what is the easiest and best solution?
Best regards!

TM does not work like that.
If you want files to use later.. do not use TM.
Or do not use TM to the same location. Plug a USB drive into the computer and use that as the target for the permanent backup.
Read some details of how TM works so you understand what it will do.
http://pondini.org/TM/Works.html
Use a clone or different software for a permanent backup.
http://pondini.org/TM/Clones.html
How to use TC
http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
This is helpful.. particularly Q3.
Why you don't want to use TM.
Q20 here. http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html

Time Capsule with multiple users. Data Safe?

Hi.
I was just wondering if the I use Time Capsule with multiple users (multiple macs) I believe the backups are all seperated and password protected. Am I right?
But what about the migration assistant? Doesn't the migration assistant help you to transfer your data from one mac to your new one without asking for a password? So wouldn't it be easy to use the migration assistant to get data of another time capsul backup?
At the work place of my girlfriend they are using time capsul, and I'm not sure if I would advise her to backup her data to that timecapsule. Ok you can exclude folders, but not the mailaccount.

Youknowthebo wrote:
Thanks for the reply.
But isn't it possible to transfer data from an old user account to a new account with a different name? Wouldn't that overide the password prompt?
No more or less than on your Mac.
I mean I understand that if you migrate a user account from one mac to another you wouldn't gain access to the home folder of that user, but as I understood the migration assistant it is possible to migrate data to a folder of your choice. I did not try it yet but that's what I (maybe misunderstood) read here http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/19.html
No. You can select which user accounts to transfer, but you can't transfer one user's data to another.

Can I use a Time Capsule for multiple computers?

Hello,
after reading various posts on this forum I am now more more confused than ever : bear in mind that my understanding of computing stuff is quite ... limited, so I apologize if this question seems senseless.
I have several small capacity external hard drives which I uses for back ups and moving files between my computers (1 desktop (2.16 GHw Intel Core 2 Duo: Mac OSX 10.6.5), 2 laptops) but the result is a ton of confusion and multiple files everywhere. I was therefore thinking of getting a Time Capsule 2T which I would use as :
- a unique external back up machine for all my computers (without adding any other external drives)
- a wifi modem-router
Before investing that much money, can anyone tell me if the Time Capsule is indeed appropriate for the above uses, particularly being able to program all 3 machines to wirelessly back themselves up on the scheduled basis.
When I started seeing questions about adding USB driven external hardrives It made me wonder if i had gotten the purpose of the TC all wrong.
Thank you for your patience!:=)

nicaru wrote:
- a unique external back up machine for all my computers (without adding any other external drives)
- a wifi modem-router
Yes, that's exactly what it was designed for.
You can put other data on a Time Capsule, besides backups, but that will cause some conflicts, sooner or later. See #Q3 in [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
When I started seeing questions about adding USB driven external hardrives It made me wonder if i had gotten the purpose of the TC all wrong.
You can do that as well.
One purpose is, if the TC isn't large enough to back up all your Macs, you can back some up to the TC's internal HD, others to the USB drive. It varies widely depending on how you use your Mac, but a "rule of thumb" is, TM needs 2-3 times the space of the data it's backing-up, to be able to keep a reasonable "depth" of old backups for you.
Another is, if you want other data available over the network, you can put it on the USB drive to avoid the hassles in #Q3. And, since you can partition the USB drive (unlike the internal), you could use one partition for backups, another for other data.
|
There is an alternative, however, that you might find more attractive (and less expensive), since you do have a desktop Mac, and I assume you already have a wireless router.
That's to connect one or more external HDs directly to the desktop Mac, and back it up directly to that drive (or a dedicated partition on it).
Then back up the laptops over your network to a different partition on the same drive, or a different drive, 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 the +Time Machine+ forum).
For moving files around, you could continue to use a small external HD, or use sharing over your network.

Time capsule with multiple users full

I'm helping a client with their full time capsule. They have about 6 computers backing up to one time capsule. Some of the computers still have backups from a year and a half ago. One of the computers only has one backup from a couple weeks ago.
Now, the computer which has one backup, now has more stuff and there's not enough space. If these other computers with backups from a year and a half ago deleted some of their really old stuff, it seems there would be room. And I thought that's what time machine was supposed to do, keep the really old stuff until there's no more room and then just keep the most recent stuff.
I guess the issue is that the time capsule can't decide for itself to delete other user's old backups. So my question is: how can I delete their old backups? This would be simple on a regular time machine drive, but the darned obfuscated sparsebundles make this seemingly impossible.
Is my best bet to just delete the complete backup from the computers with really old backups and then just re-backup both computers?
thanks,
-trav

Trabbbb wrote:
I guess the issue is that the time capsule can't decide for itself to delete other user's old backups.
Correct, although it appears to be intentional. Many users would be outraged if their backups were deleted by someone else's Mac!
So my question is: how can I delete their old backups? This would be simple on a regular time machine drive, but the darned obfuscated sparsebundles make this seemingly impossible.
See #12 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Is my best bet to just delete the complete backup from the computers with really old backups and then just re-backup both computers?
That's a lot of Macs on one Time Capsule. One possibility would be to connect a USB drive to the TC and let some of those Macs back up to it.

Using Time Capsule with multiple Macbook Pro accounts

I have had a 500 GB Time Capsule for a number of years, using it both as a router and hard drive. I recently added a 2TB Time Capsule, which I plan to use exclusively for storage and the 500 GB Time Capsule for the router and to store the Time Machine backups. When I only had the 500GB Time Capsule, I could switch between users on my Macbook Pro and still have access to the data that was stored on the Time Capsule without having to log the original user out. I am finding that with the 2TB Time Capsule, that if I switch users not only do I have to log out the orginal user, but I also have to disconnect that user from the Time Capsule. Is there anyway to setup the Time Capsule where I will not have to do this, as it is very tedious and time consuming.
Thanks in advance.

In the 5.6 utility there is an option to disconnect all users.. this should fix it in one go.
Download and install the 5.6 utility.. it has far superior controls to 6.0 which is more a NOUN utility than VERB.
A number of issues were introduced with Lion and 7.6 firmware on the TC..
You can try going back to 7.5.2 firmware although the later Gen4 TC seem to not allow themselves to go back earlier than 7.6.
The older and simpler TC.. might be better as a file store.. Open it up and put a 2TB disk in it.
At least if that works.. well may as well use it.

Time Capsule with multiple drives

Hi everyone, great information here! I have a slight issue and am seeking guidance! I have a 1TB Time Capsule that is used with Time Machine to backup my Macbook Pro and 1 external hard drive. I have attached another 1 TB drive to the Time Capsule as well. I also have 2 other external hard drives that I'd like Time Machine to back up to the attached hard drive on the time capsule. Is this possible? If so, how would I make it work? Thanks!!

Sorry but Time Machine will not back up the external drives connected to the Time Capsule.

Time Capsule with Multiple Drive Dock (Current Gen w/ 802.11AC)

I've seen mutliple threads regarding USB hubs, but nothing regarding Hard drive docks.
I have the NexStar HX4 Quad drive bay w/ only 2 drives installed. I partitioned each drive into 500GB partitions (so 2x500GB on one, 4x500GB on the second one) and I'm having issues now with the second drive installed getting the shares to stay reliable. Problem is I don't have a Mac at my house just yet, but I'm working towards that.
What's happening is either one of the drives will drop out or oddly enough it's flipped from one port to another that was empty. I suspect these could be a result of the dock going screwy but I'm not sure. This wasn't a problem until I added my 2TB drive yesterday. I've had to power cycle the TC 4 times and the drive dock 3 times. At one point, the TC was showing the shares to my phone but it was denying access initially, so I did a reboot on my phone and no go. Rebooted the TC and dock and it came back just fine.
Has anyone else used this dock and TC combo or have they tried a multi dock solution? I'm just wanting to get this to straighten out as I do store a lot of data and the reason I chose the TC was because I liked the idea of having some storage inside the thing and I was planning on getting a Mac back then like I am now so it seemed logical.

does the beam forming occur with multiple clients
Yes, but Apple is unclear about how many cients can be connected simultaneously with this feature.
do these clients have to be 802.11ac compatible?
Yes

Using time capsule with multiple macs!

hey guys!!
i know time capsule is not out yet as such, but does anyone know or has heard if you can say for e.g a macbook & an imac to back up on the same time capsule please?
i hope its not one for one plus i am also thinking of getting a macbook pro down the line as well
thanks for any info

Bad Monk wrote:
thanks for the replies guys
yeah i was thinking i will just turn on TC once a week, if thats possible, to do a weekly backup as thats what i normally do now, or backup after something important like editing family videos etc or doing business work
i hope TC is user friendly though (as its coming from apple i guess it will be) and its easy to delete unwanted previous backups etc, do you think this will be the case please?
thanks
Currently, to delete anything in Time Machine, you just open it, and navigate to whatever you want to delete, highlight it, then select whether you want to delete it ONLY from that backup, of from ALL backups. I see no reason to believe that Time Machine will behave any differently for the Time Capsule than it does now.
As for deleting a whole backup, one would suspect that you would go into your backup folder and delete it
As for turning it on and off, yes that is an easy option(made even easier by last update 10.5.2). Turn it on, then select backup now, let it finish, tun it off.
As mentioned there is an automation program out, but I have not seen/tried it. I just run Time Machine 24/7 personally.

Restroing from Time Capsule with multiple machines backed up

Hi,
I have a 1TB TimeCapsule that has been backing up a Powerbook G4 and a Macbook succesfully for almost a year now. My Macbook's HD recenty crashed and I am trying to restore from the TC after I had my hard drive restored.
Problem is, everytime i go through the initial setup process the Assistant only displays the Powerbook G4 backups but not the backup for my Macbook.
I can see the TC has the sparsebundle files for both machines but can't see m to get the migration process to pick up my Macbook.
Anybody seen anything like this. I though I would get a dropdown that would allow me to select the backup i want to restore from.
thanks

So this time I proceeded with the initial registration without attempting to restore from the backup. Following this, I used the Migration Assistant and the backups for both my Macs showed up nicely. Have now succesfully restored my Macbook and everything is in place just as expected.
Just one piece of advice if you go down this route is to use a different username from the one on your old Mac when setting up the new Mac. If not, during the Migration process it will ask you to rename your older account (the option to replace the duplicate account was greyed out strangely)

Using time capsule with multiple laptops

I just set up a new 13" macbookpro from my time machine backup. My son has my old 13" unibody macbook, that the backup was made from. What do I need to do so we can both backup (separately), so his shows up as a different machine, and has it's own backup?

SeannX wrote:
I just set up a new 13" macbookpro from my time machine backup. My son has my old 13" unibody macbook, that the backup was made from. What do I need to do so we can both backup (separately), so his shows up as a different machine, and has it's own backup?
They'll automatically have their own backups, in separate sparse bundles. Time Machine knows which one is which, using each Mac's +Ethernet Address,+ a unique number that's embedded in the logic board hardware.
But for us mere mortals, you may want to change the +Computer Name+ of one or both Macs, via +System Preferences > Sharing.+ Time Machine should automatically rename the sparse bundle on the next backup.
Note that it's usually best to keep the names relatively short, and avoid spaces, punctuation, and special characters.

Use Time Capsule with Windows-based Computers and PowerLan Devices

Hi All -
I would like to inquire whether I can:
1) use a Windows-based conputer to access the internal hard disk of Time Capsule; and
2) connect the Time Capsule with prower lan devices (e.g. Aztech) to extend the wirless coverage.
Thank you.
Gary

Yes.. but.. Long term storage of info is not really wise where you have no backup. TC is not able to back itself up and you will have issues finding anything but manually doing it from windows.
What windows version?
Have you installed the airport utility? That makes life much easier, as it adds bonjour for windows and a disk access agent.
Simply installing the utility may be enough. If not open windows explorer and type the name or IP directly into the address bar.
Note.. you should use all names on the TC that are short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.
\\TCname or \\TCIPaddress (where you obviously change to real name (no spaces of course) or IP)
If you still have issues.. check that you can ping the TC.. and make sure firewalls are not blocking it and your PC is located HOME, not WORK or PUBLIC.

How do I connect my time capsule with a Lynksis wi fi netwotk?

How do I connect my time capsule with a Lynksis wi fi netwotk?

You cannot extend or repeat a non-apple router in an apple router..
You must plug it in via ethernet and then setup roaming network (or if you like a completely separate network.. makes no difference from the TC point of view). TC is in bridge mode. That is router bridge not wireless bridge.. I gave the info on the other thread you are running.. very confusing when you ask in multiple threads.

Can I share one iTunes Library with multiple computers on a network?

Can I share one iTunes Library with multiple computers on a network?
note: one library universally shared, not Home Sharing (one library each, shared to each.)
I want to share one library stores on my server and access it through various local computers. When I buy a song from a computer (non-server), I want it to be added to the library (stored on server). I want it to auto copy to my server, for organization. I want to be able to sync my phone from any computer.
Most of this I can do, if i figure out how to use one universal library for all my computers.
Any ideas how I can do this?

eyeinit,
You can authorize your iTunes account on up to 5 computers at a time.
However, purchased music is downloaded to the first machine to download it, but these articles have more information on moving your music between authorized computers:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93063
This one is for moving all your music using an iPod as a storage drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300173
Hope this helps,
Nathan C.

Using my ipod with multiple computers: not the usual problem I think

I've searched the forum and various help documents but I couldn't find the answer to this.
I have a laptop at the office (work-related, so I don't have any of my music on it, just itunes) and my computer at home. Ideally I'd like to:
= keep my ipod automatically synced to my home computer
= be able to connect my ipod to my work laptop and play the music stored on it through itunes there, and also keep it charged and ready for the trip home.
It seems that the 'manually manage music and videos' setting travels with the ipod, rather than being stored on the computer's itunes installation. If I set it at work, so I can play music there, when I connect the ipod at home I have to reset it (and a few times when I did so the ipod started deleting everything because 'sync my music' was not checked, grrr).
I just want to set things up in a way so that when I connect my ipod at work it will let me play whatever songs I have there (without wanting to sync anything), and when I connect it at home it will automatically update it. It's simple enough, but I can't seem to figure out how to do it.
If I connect the ipod at work and press 'cancel' when the 'do you want to erase things' pops up, it doesn't try to change the settings, but at the same time it doesn't let me play music at all, everything is greyed out
does anybody have any idea? I don't want to resort to have to buy a usb power adapter just so that I can play my ipod at work without draining the battery...

B_Ram wrote:
Could it be because its an iPhone and not a true iPod???
i doubt it.
actually, syncing an iPod Touch (or iPhone) with multiple computers is not recommended @ all. click here to find out what Apple has to say about it.
all i can think of, i you really must do that, is this:
to prevent a sync when plugging in the iPod - hold down the option and the command ( on a PC that would be the shift and ctrl ) keys when plugging in the ipod - keep pressing the keys until the iPod is listed under the devices list in iTunes. now you should be able to do what you want.
however, you do so @ your own peril, as the article above outlined.
alternatively, consider a setup such as this.
good luck !
JGG

Time Capsule with multiple computers

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