TIme Machine verification issue (Drobo and Airport Extreme)

Hello. I recently purchased a Drobo (1st gen, off ebay) to replace a 1TB WD MyBook I was using as a Time Machine backup and Media Server.
The Drobo is connected to an Airport Extreme base station over USB 2.0. My Mac is connected by ethernet to the Airport Extreme.
I followed the instructions on the Drobo website to create a separate 500 gb partition for Time Machine and the rest to accommodate my media collection. http://support.datarobotics.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/67/related/1/session/L2F 2LzEvc2lkLzdta1VHNmZr
The Time Machine backup seems to go OK, taking several hours to backup 160gb of data. Later on in the day, I'll get a message that says:
"Time Machine completed a verification of your backups. To improve reliability, Time Machine must create a new backup for you."
I've tried redoing the backup 4 or 5 times now. I've tried repairing permissions and the repairing the disk on both the Mac and the Drobo. I've learned that Time Machine Backups to Airdisks aren't officially supported by Apple (Although I never had a problem with my previous hard drive attached to the Airport Extreme, and Drobo say it's fine on their website - "Time Machine with a Drobo device connected to an AirPort Extreme or network attached (NAS) works. Just make sure you have updated Time Capsule or Airport Extreme to firmware 7.3.1 or later."
Every time, after a couple of hours, I get the verification warning and have to delete the backup and start again. I wouldn't mind just going and buying another 500gb external drive to just attach to my Mac, only I now have a separate 500gb volume sitting on my Drobo that I can't do anything with and I can't delete because I don't have anywhere else to transfer the data from my Drobo while I reformat it!
I'm running out of ideas and would love it if someone can offer some advice. Thanks guys!

Hi. Thanks for the response and sorry for the double post in the Airport forum. I'm really just not sure if this is a Time Machine, Airport or Drobo issue.
Everything is updated to the latest versions and I've been looking at the Drobo support site, but all I see is that Drobo is 'supposed' to work with Time Machine over Airport Extreme. However, I've tried everything I can think of and scoured forums over the weekend to try and get to the bottom of this. It's just bizarre that a cheap WD hard disk used to work, and a much more expensive Drobo doesn't.
I've posted the same message to the forums over at the Drobo site, so we'll see what comes of it. I'm not that hopeful. This mysterious black box on my desk seems to have a mind of its own. Even now, even though I'm not reading or writing any data to it, I can hear the Drobo accessing data on the disks and moving things around. I'm not surprised if it's a bit too much for Time Machine to handle. I'm just a bit annoyed that I followed all of the advice from Data Robotics to the letter and it doesn't work, even though it should.
I think I'll just give up and buy a firewire drive (I'm out of USB ports). I'm sure I'll find something I can move onto this redundant 500gb partition. Thanks for your help.

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Can I unplug my time machine hard drive from my airport extreme and plug it direcly on my MacBook pro without having to do a new back up?

I want to bring my back up hard drive on a trip, but now it's attahced to my Airport Extreame.
If I unplug it and plug it directly on my MacBook Pro, it'll keep updating or I'll lose all my back ups and have to restart again?

Leo666 wrote:
I want to bring my back up hard drive on a trip, but now it's attahced to my Airport Extreame.
If I unplug it and plug it directly on my MacBook Pro, it'll keep updating or I'll lose all my back ups and have to restart again?
Yes, but you'll probably have to manually "mount" the sparse bundle containing your backups. See the blue box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #17 for details.
Also, 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.

Time Machine creates multiple sparsebundles on Airport Extreme

I recently started using a new hard drive for Time Machine, attached to my Airport Extreme (previous 250GB WD portable, now 1.5TB Seagate Freeagent). I never had any issues with the old drive, but have noticed a very weird problem on the new drive, and despite a lot of searching online I can't find anyone with the same issue.
What I've noticed is that on occasion, Time Machine decides not to use the existing sparsebunle on my drive, and instead creates a brand new sparsebundle and starts to backup my entire system from scratch. The new sparsebundle has the same name as previously, just with " 1" added to the end of the name. E.g.:
Original - "Peter's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle"
New - "Peter's MacBook Pro 1.sparsebundle"
If I delete the new sparsebundle from the drive and get Time Machine to "Back Up Now", it seems to find the original sparsebundle again, and will do an incremental backup like nothing ever happened.
Two possible leads on why it might be happening:
1 - I've noticed in the last two days that this has happened on the first backup after I get home from work. I.e., Time Machine fails to backup all day while I'm at work (cause it can't access the drive) then when I get home and connect back to the Airport, the first backup creates the new sparsebundle. Only noticed this the last two days, so it's not a long-running pattern.
2 - The new drive does make a lot of loud "clicking" noises (apparently a running problem with Seagate's 1.5TB Freeagent drives, relted to power-management of the drive).
Either of these sound like a possible lead on the issue? Anyone have ideas on a possible fix?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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Denis77 wrote:
One evening about 8 I came to the the computer to find a dialog box indicating that it was backing up something over 800,000 files, about 60 GB and counting; Time Machine indicated a Latest Backup at 3:30 that afternoon. No unusual events that afternoon to set things off track, as far as I know. It was creating a new sparsebundle as Pete A indicated, same name with a <space> "1" added. Unlike his experience, however, deleting the newer sparsebundle does not provide access to the older one.
Any ideas how to redesignate the older sparsebundle as the real backup? The Mac is not seeing it now, which is why it keeps starting a new one. Since this is apparently a baseline snapshot, I would like to get my backup history back.
Most likely, the old sparse bundle is corrupted, and Time Machine can't use it. Try repairing it, per #A5 in the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.
If it can be repaired successfully, Time Machine may continue using it.
If it can't be repaired, or TM won't continue using it, there's not much you can do. Keep the old sparse bundle for a while (you may be able to browse and restore from it, per #E2 in the Troubleshooting Tip. Once you're sure you don't need the old set (or Time Machine runs out of room and has to start deleting backups from the new set), delete the old sparse bundle via the Finder.

Time Machine doesn't see new AirPort Extreme

My old Time Capsule died. Hardware failure. Too bad. So I bought a new one, a 2TB AirPort Extreme. 'Upgraded' to OSX 10.9.1 (which crippled a lot of my software, and seems generally more buggy & slower than 10.6.8, but that's beside the point) just to be able to administer it. Setting up the WiFi network was easy. Fine.
Now when I go into Time Machine preferences and click on the "select backup disk" button, the new AirPort Extreme is not listed. There is an option for "Other Time Capsule." If I click on that, the AirPort Extreme shows up. OK. If I click on it, I get a window with IP info, etc. There's an option to "edit". Clicked on that but found nothing about setting up the Time Capsule. I tried clicking on the disks tab, but that returns an empty list of partitions and file-sharing options.
I tried reseting the device with the little button on the back and starting again. Same story. What am I missing?
To be clear, I am not trying to use an external disk. I am trying to use the 2TB disk I am told is inside the AirPort Extreme.

Is it possible to know from the serial number whether I have a misbehaving Time Capsule presenting itself as an AP Extreme, unaware of the hard disk it conceals, or a perfectly functional AP Extreme?
That would be a question for Apple Support.
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/
If you can locate a model number on the device....it might be on the bottom in very small print.......it will start with an "A" followed by four numbers.....we can tell you what you have.
But a clue might be that an AirPort Extreme sells for about $200. A Time Capsule sells for $300-400 depending on the size of the internal hard drive.
And to anyone from Apple reading this, could you please make your new software compatible with hardware you produced in last 3 yrs?
It is extremely unlikely that anyone from Apple will ever see your post on a user-to-user support forum. Best to contact Apple directly with your comments:
Apple - Time Capsule - Feedback

Time Machine Harddrive not recognized from Airport Extreme anymore

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The Haddisk had always been visible from the finder and even an jailbreaked Apple TV. But this changed just yesterday with Finder and Airport Utility just not able to recognize the Harddisc anymore. I tried several things including:
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- Reset Airport Extreme to factory settings and starting over with configuring the network again
- Turn off/on the respective Harddisk
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Thank you very much for any hint/tip helping me to solve the problem!
Robert

Almigurt wrote:
Hi Pondini,
I've seen this before - but TM used to work for me this way very well.
That's kinda the point -- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
However with my question it is not about Time Machine - it is about why my Harddisc is not anymore recognized by my Airport Extreme base station. It had been working since more than one year now - and then all of a sudden Airport Extreme stopped to show me the drive.
Try repairing it, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. Note that you have to repair both the disk and the sparse bundle the backups are in, separately.

Time machine with USB drive on Airport Extreme

For 2+ years I used a USB hard drive shared off my Airport Extreme to host time machine backups. I just switched internet providers solely so that i could go back to using my airport extreme and sharing a backup disk. But time machine no longer shows it as an available drive...and I found this
AirPort base stations: Time Machine hard drive compatibility - Apple Support
which states: Time Machine is not supported with USB hard drives that are connected to an AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme device.
This is a pretty big step backwards as far as I'm concerned.....are there are any ways around it?

There is a way around it: buy the latest type of the Airport Extreme (the tall one). But even that solution isn't considered reliable: http://pondini.org/TM/AEQ2.html

Time machine - migrate USB setup to AirPort Extreme ?

Hi,
I use to backup to an external USB drive using Time Machine, great!
Now that I have just bought an AirPort Extreme router and that I've connected the USB drive to it, I wonder if it's possible to backup over the air without erasing the previously backed up data?
I would like to use the backups already on the drive because it's so long to backup these 140GB again over the air.

There is a way around it: buy the latest type of the Airport Extreme (the tall one). But even that solution isn't considered reliable: http://pondini.org/TM/AEQ2.html

Problems moving Time Machine drive from USB to Airport Extreme

Greetings compadres.
I'm using a WD external Mac hard drive for my Time Machine backups. I was using a USB hub and directly connecting my MacBook to the hub, thus a seamless connection to the external hard drive.
Now, I want to connect my external drive to my Airport Extreme for wireless back ups. I tried this before and I couldn't figure out a way for the system to recognize the drive to continue my previous back ups. Eventually, I just reformated the drive and started my back ups over.
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That's not supported by Apple, but Pondini has some advice on the matter here: http://pondini.org/TM/AEQ2.html

Time Warner Ubee U10C018 modem and Airport Extreme

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My previous response was faulty... Only one computer was getting an IP address..
Here's what really worked, with 2 macbooks and a pc connecting wirelessly to the Airport Extreme, all successfully connecting to the Internet:
1. Disconnect the ethernet cable and power off your modem (Ubee)
2. Open Airport Utility, select your router (Airport Extreme), and press 'Manual Setup'
3. Go to the 'Internet' tab, then under Internet Connection, make sure 'Connection Sharing' is set to "*Share a public IP address*"
4. Under TCP/IP, Configure IPv4 should be set to 'Using DHCP'. All other settings can remain the default. Press Update.
5. Power up your modem, wait for the Ready and Sync lights to go steady, then connect the ethernet cable from the modem to the router.
Apparently, Time Warner only assigns one IP address per device (in the case the router), it's up to the router to distribute IP addresses to its constituents. I wonder why this doesn't happen automatically... :\ Let me know how your experience pans out.
Peace
Message was edited by: orisinal

Time machine backup files gone and can't create new backup

Last week I noticed on my Time Machine backup HD that the Backup.backupdb files were gone. Also I am unable to complete backups any longer. I get an error "The backup disk image “/Volumes/Time Machine-2/walle.sparsebundle” could not be accessed (error -1)."
This Volume "Time Machine" is connected to an Airport Extreme 7.6.1. I have ejected the disk, disconnected all users, cycled the power on my computer (2.26Ghx MacBook running 10.7.5), Airport, and HD. All it does after I eject is that it give the Volume a new number...ie instead of "Time Machine" it becomes "Time Machine-1"...then "Time Machine-2" and repeates the error message with the new name. So I cannot start a new backup because of the above error on top of not being able to find my old files.
Thanks for the help

Hmmm.. sorry to jump in but...
I Wish I had seen this before I got mine.
Mine has been doing this auto eject stuff too.
I think I just plugged it in and TM let me select it but is it possible
I should have reformatted it with DU first, like with all the WD drive problems ?
Is it too late for that ?
Or just try to return it or get rid of it ?
TIA

I have my Time Machine on an external drive (not connected to Airport Extreme) and I have an external HD attached to airport extreme. Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme. How?

I have my Time Machine on an external drive (not connected to Airport Extreme) and I have an external HD attached to airport extreme. Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme. How?

Is it possible to have Time Machine backUp computer HD AND external HD connected to Airport Extreme.
Sorry, but no.
Time Machine will backup your Mac, but not the hard drive attached to the AirPort Extreme.
Time Machine will back up a hard drive only if it is attached directly to your Mac via USB or FireWire.

Can a time machine usb drive backup the data from an external usb drive connected to and airport extreme*

can a time machine usb drive conected to my mac book backup the data from an external usb drive connected to and airport extreme ?

Hi Adam, if you think yoiur HD may be failing you could do a TM restore onto the new disk. I would rather see you do a clone either SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner.Of your internal drive. That way you have a bootable backup in case it does fail.
btw - what are the symptoms of your failing drive?
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Is the Time Capsule wi-fi router compatible with the Nest thermostat? I've read where there are issues with the Nest and Airport Extreme (AE)? Is AE used in the Time Capsule?

I've read where there are issues with the Nest and Airport Extreme (AE)? Is AE used in the Time Capsule?
If so, i already have a wi-fi router, so can the Time Capsule simply be used for wireless backup instead of as a router if there is conflict?

A TC is fundamentally a AE with a sata chip included to drive the hard disk. Some slightly different bios to include disk functions, although most of those are also on the AE. So as a router it is 99.999% identical.
And yes, if you have another router you can easily bridge the TC and use wireless for backups and internet connection. Once you no longer route through the TC the issues with most NAT problems including port forwarding should disappear.. mostly this is due to all apple routers using NAT-PMP instead of upnp which is the near universal standard for opening ports.. without upnp apple keep their routers more exclusive.

Are there any compatibility issues with Sonos and Airport extreme??

are there any compatibility issues with Sonos and Airport extreme??

Sonos uses its own priopietory wireless protocol SonosNet to distribute audio data among all its products, thus it should not affect other network devices which use standard WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n protocol at all though they may share the same radio channel for wirless signaling.
On my dual-band (5 GHz / 2.4 GHz) Airport Extreme staion, I select the option "802.11n Only (5GHz) - 802.11n (2.4GHz)" and turn on "Use wide channels" in Wireless configuration in order to use only 802.11n protocol and more radio channels to achieve maximum wireless bandwidth of 400 Mbps. This bandwidth is necessary for quick Time Machine backup to NAS connected to the Airport Extreme station through Ethernet cable. So my iMac and MacBook Pro always connected to the Airport Extreme through 5 GHz radio channel with 802.11n protocol whereas my iPhone 4S always connected through 2.4 GHz radio channel with the same protocol.
In my living room Sonos ZP-90 (same as new CONNECT model) zone player is connected to Airport Extreme directly through Ethernet cable (recommended by Sonos) and Sonos S5 (same as new PLAY:5 model) zone player in bedroom is connected wirelessly through SonosNet protocol to the ZP-90 zone player in living room.
These devices are in operation simutaneouly most of the time. Music is playing through the Sonos ZP90/S5 zone players througout the day, I am streaming viedo through Internet (fibre broadband 25 Mbps) on my MacBook Pro in bedroom or iMac in living room or reading news on my iPhone. So far so good and have no encounter any interference problem for about three years. Further more bandwidth for 802.11n protocol does not seem to be affected at all.
In fact with a low power Fujitsu USB drive (2.5" / 500 GB, designed for notebook) plug into USB port of Airport Extreme, it can be used as NAS drive for Sonos music distribution system without any problem. Just transfer all files from Music folder in my home directory on iMac into this NAS drive and set it up as music source in "Manage > Music Library Settings" in Sonos Controller for Mac application will do. Though the same drive can be served as Time Machine's backup disk as well, an independent full-fledged NAS drive for Sonos and Time Machine backup is better long-term solution for reliability and performance. With the NAS configured as sole music source, you do not need to keep any computer powered on all the time in order to play music through the Sonos system.

TIme Machine verification issue (Drobo and Airport Extreme)

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