Time machine back up to shared external drive

We have 4 computers running leopard, all on an airport wireless network. If I have an external hard drive attached to the airport extreme base, non of the computers know that it exists. If I attach it only to one computer directly, via USB, then the others can't seem to access it, although it will run time machine backups for that computer, only. I want to be able to back up all of the computers to one external drive, and share information between them (like transferring photos.) Does an external drive have to be dedicated to one computer only, and directly plugged in, to run time machine?

I have been bitterly disappointed on upgrading to Leopard and have spent the last 10 days installing and reinstalling. I am unable to use Boot camp or Parallels with windows but have corrected most things by erasing and doing new install, then finding all my applications and documents and copying them directly from Time machine. The new problem is that my Toshiba USB external hard backup drive is now locked and I saw a report of time machine doing this. I have hunted high and low and can't find any info on this. I have tried to reset permissions but the drive is seen as read only. I cannot change this even from the Leopard install disk and I cannot write to the disc, can you advise how to change the permissions. I have been able to reset from Standard user to Admin by completely erasing and reinstalling but this does not change the access to my external hard drive, can you help please?

Similar Messages

  • I am trying to move previous Time Machine back ups off an external drive to my new Time Capsule. How do I do that?

    I have my previous time machine back ups on an external drive and I want to move those to my new 2tb Time Capsule. How can I make this happen?

    You probably cannot do it..
    The backup is very different from a local drive to a network drive.
    Look through the Pondini KB.
    http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
    You can move the backup from a local to another local disk or network to another network.. but there are issues even doing that.
    IMHO.. don't... just start a new backup and keep what you already have saved up.. if you don't need it in 6months time.. or a year.. then you can wipe it.

  • HT201250 Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button.  No drive is found. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past.  I'm on the latest version of Snow Leopard.  Thank you!

    Time Machine cannot find my external back-up drive when I click on the "select disk" button.  No drive is listed. I have run a Time Machine back-up to this external drive in the past.    Any suggestions

    Does the disk appear in Disk Utility?

  • Best way to transfer time machine back up files between external drives

    I have to move my time machine backup files from one external drive to another.  I was planning to simply move it through finder, but it has been "preparing files" for 2 days straight.  The number of items sowing in the status bar with the status of "preparing to copy XYZ items" has continued to stadily grow.  Is there a better route or should I let it run till it is complete? 

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities
    That's exactly the way to transfer Time Machine backups to an external drive, so let the Finder do its job. See > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5096
    Note that the destination's external drive must be formatted in "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"

  • Time machine back up of shared hard drive that is connected to AE

    I have 1TB MyBook external drive that I want to use as storage connected to my Airport Extreme. Naturally, this allows anyone connected to the wifi to access the files on there. I also have a second drive connected to the Airport Extreme. That one is for my Time Machine Backups.
    My question is this:
    Am I able to use that second 2TB hard drive to back up both my iMac and also the shared storage drive that is attached to the Airport Extreme and not directly to my iMac?? That would make me a very happy man if it could do that!
    I appreciate any help!
    Thanks

    span98 wrote:
    Am I able to use that second 2TB hard drive to back up both my iMac and also the shared storage drive that is attached to the Airport Extreme and not directly to my iMac??
    basically yes. you should get a powered USB hub.
    however, using TM to back up to a drive connected to a AEBS is not supported ! it may work, even for a while, but eventually corruption of the backups may occur.
    here's what Apple says about such a setup: _*Disks that can be used with Time Machine*_.
    JGG

  • If i have Time Machine backed up on an external hard drive, do i just plug the drive into another macbook pro and all my stuff is in the new computer?  also, does it matter if the new computer is running Lion when the backed up info came from Snow Leopard

    If i have Time Machine backed up on an external hard drive, do i just plug the drive into another macbook pro and all my stuff is in the new computer?  Also, does it matter if the new computer is running Lion when the backed up info came from Snow Leopard 10.6.8?

    No and Yes
    Don't use TM for this purpose, clone your drive to an external, plug the external into another MBP and reboot from it. Please note that booting a machine that came with Lion may not be possible from a drive with Snow Leopard.

  • HT201250 I have thousands of pictures on my Mac.  If something happens to my Mac I don't want them lost.  I do time machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week.  Is this good enough for making sure my pictures don't ever get lost?

    I have thousands of photos on my Mac.  If something happens to my Mac obviously, I don't want to lose the photos.  I do Time Machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week.  Is this good enough to make sure my pictures don't get lost?

    tgs6164 wrote:
    I have thousands of photos on my Mac.  If something happens to my Mac obviously, I don't want to lose the photos.  I do Time Machine back ups to an external hard drive once a week.  Is this good enough to make sure my pictures don't get lost?
    Purchase a couple of these when they go on sale.
    Start burning all the photos onto DVDs. 
    At least you'll have all your photos if your computer, time machine or any other backup you use goes bonkers.

  • How do I tell Time Machine to add a new external drive to be backed up?

    How do I tell Time Machine to add a new external drive to be backed up?  I have an external drive with data I need to add to my overall back up with what's on my mac.  I have a separate drive already active as the Time Machine backup disk.  I can see how to EXCLUDE disks, but how do I ADD that new external drive to regular backups?
    I have 10.8.5 system on my Mac laptop.

    Remove the drive from the list of items set to be excluded. It needs to be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for this to be possible.
    (110504)

  • HT201250 Time machine back up using a external hard drive connected to the Airport extreme

    How can I setup a time machine back up using a external hard drive connected to the Airport extreme? Even better for time managment purposes I want to use the Eithernet Thunderbolt connection for the first back up and then through the wifi there after for daily routine Time Machine back ups.

    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

  • Can Time Machine back up a second external hard drive that is attached via usb to a Time Capsule?

    Can Time Machine back up a second external hard drive that is attached via usb to a Time Capsule?
    I have a iMac with 10.7.4

    I want to back up the data on the external Hard Drive that is attached to the Time Capsule to the Tim Capsule using Time Machine.
    Thanks for the clarification.  Unfortunately, that will not work.  You will need to connect the drive directly to your Mac if you want Time Machine to backup the drive to the Time Capsule.

  • Can I use Time Machine to archive like an external drive?

    I've backed up my computer to Time Machine and everything from my computer is there, but I have a new project which needs me to archive 21 pieces of artowrk that have multiple photo images for aech, and they are large size originals. Can I upload these files to a folder in Time Machine or directly on my external drive, so I don't have to have all of these files taking up space on my main computer?

    You can, but it is not recommended.
    Apparently you cannot partition an existing Time Capsule volume if that is what you are using.
    Excerpt from ASC contributor Pondini's Time Machine FAQ:
    3. Can I use my TM disk for other stuff?
    Yes.  Time Machine will not delete anything you put there.
    But it's much, much better to partition an external drive into 2 (or more) parts, also called volumes.  Assign one to Time Machine, for its exclusive use for backups;  use the other partition(s) however you want. 
    (Unfortunately, though, you can't partition a Time Capsule's internal disk.  See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for some alternatives)

  • Can Time Machine back up a failed hard drive, and how long will it take to prepare?

    1. The hard drive in my 2009 MBP has failed. My Time Machine external drive failed about three weeks ago, and I don't know if I'll be able to restore from it. Is it ever possible to backup a failed hard drive with Time Machine? The machine boots, it just comes up beach balls if I use any applications for very long.
    2. I'm trying to back it up right now. I have Time Machine running to a new external drive. It has been stuck on "preparing backup" for about 20 minutes. Everyone says that preparing a first backup takes some time, but no one says if "some time" is 15 minutes or one hour or more. What is a typical length of time for preparing first backup? At what point should I walk away?
    If it's not worth trying to back this drive up myself anymore, I'd love to just drop the thing off and get the hard drive replaced -- but if it's worth doing, I'll take the extra day to back up what I can.

    You might have better luck using a clone.
    Clone  - Carbon Copy Cloner          (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
    Clone – Data Backup
    Clone – Deja Vu
    Clone  - SuperDuper
    Clone - Synk
    Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
    Commonly Used Backup Methods

  • Can Time Machine back-up to an external ethernet Harddisk?

    Can Time Machine back-up to an external ethernet Harddisk?
    I think it is only possible when the external drive is directly attached via USB or FireWire.
    I do see the ethernet disk in Finder and have access to it via ethernet, but it does not show up in Time Machine.
    What if I connect it to an Airport Extreme ethernet port?
    Time Capsule will work, but only with the internal harddisk?
    My Ethernet disk is a LaCie Ethernet Mini Disk which supports Mac OS X.
    Thanks,
    Benny

    backups to NAS devices are not officially supported. the only exception is Time Capsule. It also works with an Airport Extreme base Station. There are hacks to enable backups to NAS but you use them at your own risk. see this link
    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080420211034137&query=time%2Bmach ine%2BNAS

  • HT204057 Time machine back up via USB hard drive connected to Airport Extreme.

    Why did Apple stop supporting time machine back-up via USB hard drive connected to Airport Extreme?  It worked very well.

    Why did Apple stop supporting time machine back-up via USB hard drive connected to Airport Extreme?
    Time Machine backups are supported via USB hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme"ac" version.
    Time Machine backups were not supported via USB hard drive connected to earlier versions of the AirPort Extreme.
    Some users who tried this on earlier version AirPort Extremes seemed to have some success with Time Machine backups....some had moderate success and some had no success with this. Count me in the "no success" category.
    See the topic about Time Machine support for USB disks in this Apple Support document:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5924?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

  • How to transfer time machine back up to new hard drive

    How to transfer time machine back up to new hard drive?

    You may like to take a look at this thread... https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4207670?start=0&tstart=0

Maybe you are looking for