Using External HD connected to Airport to use for Time Machine - Problems

Hello,
I have an Airport Extreme (1 USB port on back) and want to use an external HD as the Time Machine. Originally I had the HD connected to the Airport and just using as storage. We have 2 Macbook Pros and both could see this HD when used this way.
I have since decided to use the HD as a dedicated Time Machine storage device (my MacBook crashed). I was instructed to reformat HD (which I did) and plug into each laptop to initialize the Time Machine (which I did). Both laptops saw the HD and did a backup.
Unfortunately when I went and plugged the HD back into the Airport it was not reconized by either laptop and I could not initialize Time Machine (TM did not "see" the HD as the storage device.
I can still plug the HD into each laptop and it will do a backup but would like to get this conected so it is automatic.
Both laptops have Snow Leopard installed
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thx
Jim

Sorry, the older "round" (looks like a flying saucer) AirPort Extreme cannot support a hard drive. It will only support a compatible printer at the USB port.
You need the "square" AirPort Extreme to be able to connect a hard drive at the USB port. It looks like this AirPort Extreme. Or, do you mean to say that you have this model?
Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

Similar Messages

New External Drive how do I set it for Time Machine?

I just bought a new 250g firewire to back up my hard drive - I formatted it and it's ok and all but I want to use it to back up my entire hard drive.
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also what is disk image? I thought that was supposed to be the back up feature -
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I'm so ******!! I bought the 120 g drive thinking it was enough to run programs off of and use the other for data storage - apparently not!
I'm about 10 gigs short right now and that doesn't even count leaving something for extra space.
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No disc image is required. Prepare the drive as follows:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (only required for Intel Macs) then click on the OK button. Set the number of partitions from the dropdown menu (use 1 partition unless you wish to make more.) Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the volume(s) mount on the Desktop.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Connect the drive to a Firewire port. Open Time Machine preferences and select the drive as the TM backup drive and turn on TM.
If you use the external drive for backups you should not use it for installing applications or storing other files. It should be used as a dedicated backup drive. If you need additional storage space get another external drive.
See Disk Image for discussion of what a disc image is.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Backup and Restore.
Hopefully the next vacation you go on you will prepare for more thoroughly in advance. And, don't swear at the computer - it's a machine and only does what you tell it to do. If you need to swear at something look in the mirror!

Optimum external HD size -- is there a ratio for Time Machine performance.

Due to the needs of Time Machine, I will need to purchase more external HD. I own one, a Maxtor 500G networked. Like it a lot, very reliable, not a true server but handy for everyone to use. Won't work for Time Machine, however. So, what I'd like to determine is what I should do for for each Mac in the house.
(2) MacBooks with 160G capacity, approximately 110G in use (they're teenagers afterall)
1 iMac w/ 500G capacity, two users (separate iPhoto, iTunes folders) and 151GB in use. Also, as there are two users with backup needs, should I partition the External in half?
Is there a handy ratio to use from the Apple folks?

Due to the needs of Time Machine, I will need to purchase more external HD. I own one, a Maxtor 500G networked. Like it a lot, very reliable, not a true server but handy for everyone to use. Won't work for Time Machine, however. So, what I'd like to determine is what I should do for for each Mac in the house.
(2) MacBooks with 160G capacity, approximately 110G in use (they're teenagers afterall)
1 iMac w/ 500G capacity, two users (separate iPhoto, iTunes folders) and 151GB in use. Also, as there are two users with backup needs, should I partition the External in half?
Is there a handy ratio to use from the Apple folks?

How can i change my internet connection from Airport Extreme to my Time Machine

My laptop is connected to my Airport Extreme on the third floor.
If i take my laptop to the first floor to my Time Machine, my connection is lost with Airport Extreme.
It looks very logical to me that my laptop will automatically be connected to my Time Machine.......
But it does not......
What am i doing wrong..........has anybody an answer for me?
Thanks in advance
Regards
Patrick

Are both of your Apple routers configured for an extended or roaming network?

How do you connect an NTFS hard drive for time machine???

So I have this 1.5 TB hard drive connected like so:
1.5 TB HDD ==========> Wifi Router (configured to be accessible using FTP, and SMB, also able to connect using HTTP, but haven't tried)
                       (USB)                 ||
                                                 ||
                                                 ||
                                                 ||   (Wifi, 2.4 ghz wireless G /OR/ 5 ghz wireless n)
                                                 ||
                                                 ||
                                                 ||
                                                 V
                                    To my macbook pro (which logs onto this NTFS hard drive just fine and shows it as a server)
So that's how it's setup. I can access the files and everything just fine as a server, which is all peachy. But I want to use Time Machine. So here's how I got my hard drive connected in the first place, I followed these steps from OSX Daily:
Map a network drive to Mac OS X
This method maps a network drive that will disappear if the network connection drops or if you reboot your Mac:
From the Mac OS X Finder, hit Command+K to bring up the ‘Connect to Server’ window
Enter the path to the network drive you want to map, ie: smb://networkcomputer/networkshare and click ‘Connect’
Enter your login/password and click “OK” to mount the network drive
The drive will now appear on your desktop and in the Finder window sidebar
Did everything it says right up there, and worked like a charm. Plus I used this command that allows Time Machine to see my hard drive and supposedly make it usable, if you want to know it, tell me and I'll put it on here, if you don't need to I'm to lazy to find it
anyway, I went to Time Machine, selected my hard drive (yay! It wasn't there before) and all seems just fine. Then it hangs on the "Making Backup Disk Usable" bit. I did lots of searches and it seems to be a problem with something like bundles or whatever, but I can't figure it out. Help?

Why do you want to use a NTFS format that's Microsoft's for protecting your data with TimeMachine a Apple software?
Doesn't make much sense. Just format the drive in Disk Utility HFS+Journaled like TimeMachine expects instead of having to use workarounds as NFTS isn't a native Mac format.
Select hard drive name, click Erase tab, click HFS+Journaled, give it a name and click Erase...
If you want the drive wiped of all data, then use Security option Zero erase. (takes a lot longer)
I think you need to read up on TimeMachine
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/Home.html

Using External Hard Drive For Time Machine

Hi. I will be buying a new iMac and plan to use an external hard drive by Lacie for Time Machine backups. I haven't used an external hard drive for this purpose before -- previously I've always used Apple's Time Capsule. So, I don't know if I can leave the Lacie hard drive unejected and powered on even when I've shut the computer down. The Time Capsule never needs ejecting from the desktop and is always on, but I'm not sure if the same can be done with an external hard drive when using it for time machine backups.
So, I just need to know if, when using an external hard drive such as a Lacie for Time Machine backups, I can 1. leave it unejected even when I shut down the computer? and 2. Can I also leave the hard drive powered on even when I shut the computer down? It would be good if I could do this because then it would just always be on and ready for hourly time machine backups without my having to remember to turn it on and the eject it when it's finished for the day.
I'd appreciate any advice or information.
Thanks in advance.
John

pulp3au wrote:
1. leave it unejected even when I shut down the computer?
What are you referring with "unejected"? You should know that LaCie drives have got three modes: "On" (permanently turned on), "Auto" (when you turn off your computer, your external disk turns off or you unmount it) and "Off". Choose the one you want.
pulp3au wrote:
2. Can I also leave the hard drive powered on even when I shut the computer down? It would be good if I could do this because then it would just always be on and ready for hourly time machine backups without my having to remember to turn it on and the eject it when it's finished for the day.
Of course. You can leave the external disk turned on when your Mac is turned off without any problem. In "Auto" mode you won't have to do anything in order to turn it on again

HT201250 Is it possible to use Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive as the backup disk for time machine?

I have a MacBook Pro for which I have not set up Time Machine. I have a Dropbox account and a Microsoft OneDrive account, each with plenty of space to serve as backups. Is it possible to use either of these as THE backup disk for Time Machine? It doesn't appear intuitive from Time Machine on my MBP.
Thank you.

No. Time Machine does not work with "cloud" drives.

External drive for Time Machine and Firewire Hub

Just got a new iMac. My old iMac G5 was running 10.4.11 so no Time Machine. On the new iMac I am running 10.5.6 I find I have questions about how to go about making best use of this new facility available to me. Since my new iMac has only one firewire port (FW 800) I also need an additional port here.
My thoughts are to use an external drive connected with FW 800 as a Time Machine backup and use the (usually) extra FW 800 port to extend the FW 800 and I find I can get a dual interface drive with both FW 800 and FW 400, so I could use the FW 400 for FW 400 devices like other FW 400 drives and my video camera.
Currently I use SuperDuper to make clone backups of my HD on a weekly basis (I use 2 drives for this on a rotating basis). I plan to continue that in addition to the facility offered by Time Machine (on a separate drive).
My questions are...
Is it a good idea to use the extra FW 800 or 400 port on an external to connect other drives to use for clone BUs?
If that is a good idea...
What brand and size of drive to use for the Time Machine BU (FW 400/800 sharing)
A. Maxtor?
(I have several OneTouch II and OneTouch III that I use for clones, I have been using them for a few years without problem. I seem to remember reading about some problems with Maxtor, have I just been lucky?)
B. Newertech MiniStack v3 from OWC MacSales?
C. OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro™?
If the OWC Mercury Eltite is a good choice...
Is a 750 GB large enough?
Is it worth it to get the 1TB Enterprise 7200RPM?
Any other suggestions?
Andy

i needed 3 drives in total so went with my 2nd choice of buying external enclosures and then hard drives,
at the end it cost me much much less so i endded up buy another as a spare,
so currently using 4 NexStart combo enclosure each one fitted with a 500gb hard drive,
i got one connected to my G5 and 3 connected by FW400 to my imac through a daisy chain,
for time machines it doesnt matter about speed so you dont need to use up the FW800 Port,
FW400 will be fine,
before this i had a USB2 WD Book and was using that with time machine and never had a problem through USB,
i always connect to a port i hardly use as i wont ever need to keep taking it off if i had to connect my camera to it for example....

Green Desktop Icon (for the external HD) for Time Machine

After I choosed my external Lacie HD as the BackUp Volume for Time Machine, the icon (on the Desktop) didn't change into the green (original) Time Machine Volume. How can I change that? Thanks a lot for your help, Beat.

I had a similar problem where my HD desktop icon originally changed to the green TM icon then reverted back to the original icon after I made some changes to TM preferences. To get the green TM icon back select the HD icon on your desktop and Get Info (Command-I). At the top of the Get Info dialog box next to the drive's name, click on the icon of the HD. It should have a light blue halo around it when selected. Once selected press the Delete key and the green TM HD icon should appear in place of the original HD icon.
That worked for me.

External hard drive partition for Time Machine wont mount

I have an external HD that I've partitioned half for Time Machine, and half for external storage. Today the Time Machine partition wouldn't show up on the desktop. I checked Disk Utility and it recognizes both partitions, but the Time Machine partition is greyed out. When I selected it, in the stat list at the bottom it said "Mount Point: Not Mounted." I then clicked on "Mount" at the top, and after a bit a popup told me it couldn't mount and I should attempt to repar the disk. So I clicked "Repair Disk," and after a while, I finally got the message "Error: Disk Utility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
Why is only one partition affected? Can I reformat one petition but leave the other untouched? Are there any other options before I do this?
One other item that is probably related: I've been having an issue with a flash drive that seems to constantly unmount itself, giving me "error, disk ejected improperly" messages. Earlier today I believe I had the same thing with my external HD.

Why is only one partition affected?
The drive malfunction that caused the problem only affected that partition.
Can I reformat one petition but leave the other untouched?
Yes.
Are there any other options before I do this?
This is not an option, it's mandatory: start a new backup on another drive. The one you have has lost data once already. If it were mine, it would be in the recycling bin now. You need more than one backup to be safe anyway. Apparently you have no backups at all of the data on the other partition. That means you're going to lose that data, sooner or later.

Using External HD connected to Time Capsule

I am posting this mainly as a success story, but if anyone sees a potential pitfall with my setup please speak up. I am a brand new Mac user as of two months ago. I purchased a new iMac (intel) with OS(X) Leopard and a 500GB Time Capsule. The learning curve has been significant but I am very happy so far. A couple of days ago I bought a 1TB external Hard Drive with the idea of connecting it via USB to the Time Capsule. With only a couple of surprises along the way it seems to be working fine even though I have it set up opposite the norm. That is I am using the External drive for the Time Machine back ups and the Time Capsule as extra storage. I also decided to partition the external drive into two parts so that Time Machine would not fill up the whole drive. The reason being I wanted to backup a few things manually rather than with Time Machine. One partition named TM Backups and the other Manual Backups.
Now for the surprises. I made my first backup to the External Drive by connecting it directly to the computer since it is a faster connection. I did both a Time Machine and a manual backup that way. The first surprise was that Time Machine did not produce a sparsebundle file like I was used to seeing but rather a Backups.backupdb folder that I could explore using finder. When I unplugged the drive and reconnected it to the Time Capsule, the first thing I got was an error message claiming that the drive was not formated in Mac OS extended (journaled) as required. The best I remember, I clicked past that and opened Time Machine Preferences and reselected that drive to be used with Time Machine and had to enter the password for the Time Capsule. After that is seemed to connect fine. However Time Machine proceeded to back up the whole computer from scratch this time using a sparsebundle file which took about 4 hours. So basically it did not save any time to do the initial Time Machine backup directly connected to the computer, although the files I backed up manually that way did save time. The next surprise was that once connected through the Time Capsule I could no longer explore the Backups.backupdb folder with finder. I could see all the folders but none of the files in them. I briefly reconnected the drive to the computer and they were all still there but I could not see them through the Time Capsule USB connection. So Time Machine uses different methods of storing backups when connected through the Time Capsule versus a direct connection. I'm just going to leave it that way as it does not seem to be causing a problem. The last surprise is that when the Time Machine backup file is mounted (which I still don't fully understand what it means to be mounted) and I select it with finder and select "get info" it tells me the volume is formated in Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitve, Journaled). When the drive is connected directly to the computer it says it is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). What the **** how can that be???
And is that normal? Well . . . it seems to be working perfectly. Does anybody think this will be a problem down the road?

Da Soundman wrote:
Now for the surprises. I made my first backup to the External Drive by connecting it directly to the computer since it is a faster connection. I did both a Time Machine and a manual backup that way. The first surprise was that Time Machine did not produce a sparsebundle file like I was used to seeing but rather a Backups.backupdb folder that I could explore using finder. When I unplugged the drive and reconnected it to the Time Capsule, the first thing I got was an error message claiming that the drive was not formated in Mac OS extended (journaled) as required. The best I remember, I clicked past that and opened Time Machine Preferences and reselected that drive to be used with Time Machine and had to enter the password for the Time Capsule. After that is seemed to connect fine. However Time Machine proceeded to back up the whole computer from scratch this time using a sparsebundle file which took about 4 hours.
Yes, that's correct. Time Machine stores it's backups differently when they're done via a Time Capsule or Airport Extreme vs. directly attached via FireWire or USB. The two cannot be merged or combined.
What you can do, however, is perform that first backup while connected via Ethernet; the backups will still be stored in a sparse bundle, so subsequent backups can be done wirelessly, but be done much faster than wireless.
I'm just going to leave it that way as it does not seem to be causing a problem.
Except for the space the first set takes up.
The last surprise is that when the Time Machine backup file is mounted (which I still don't fully understand what it means to be mounted) and I select it with finder and select "get info" it tells me the volume is formated in Mac OS Extended (Case-Sensitve, Journaled). When the drive is connected directly to the computer it says it is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Yes, Time Machine does that, just why is not clear, as it can cause significant problems when restoring items when the capitalization of their names has been changed.
And do be *very careful* when using the Finder on your backups, not to move, change, or delete anything. That can corrupt them. To browse or restore from them, use the Time Machine application (the "Star Wars" display).
You might want to review these:
Time Machine Tutorial
Time Machine 101
How to back up and restore your files
Time Machine Features
Apple - Support - Mac OSX v10.5 Leopard Time Machine
and perhaps browse the Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions *User Tip* at the top of this forum.

Can't connect to Airport Express using Linksys WRE54g?

I am having problem connecting to Airport Express using Linksys WRE54G, under the following circumstances.
Here's my setup.
I am using Linksys WAG200G modem/wireless router in the studies. My house is fairly big and very weak signal in living room. Hence I added Linksys WRE54G Wireless-G Range Expander in living room.
I have two HiFi. One in studies and the other in living room. macbook and external HDD where I store all my musics sit in studies.
I use Airport Express (AE1) to stream music from macbook to studies HiFi. Works fine.
So I connect AE1 to living room HiFi. Macbook still in studies. The problem is iTunes cannot connect to AE1 now. However I still able to detect AE1, open/change settings using Airport Utility on macbook in the studies.
Now I bring macbook to living room. AE1 works!
What I intend to setup is,
1. WAG200G, macbook and external HDD in my studies.
2. AE1 connect to studies HiFi. I am planning to get another Airport Express for living room HiFi.
3. Control the playlist using iPhone Remote and listen music in living room.
Question:
1. Did iTunes connect directly to Airport Express without going thru network router?
2. How should I setup Airport Express in this case?
Appreciate anyone who can help me on this. Thank you.

pss.
actually, is it possible to do what i'm trying to do... the guy in the Apple store said that i can connect to the Netgear router for my internet connection, and Airfoil can separately connect to the Airport Express to play music...
the way i've set it up so far, i can do either, but i can't do both... or do i need to somehow connect both wireless stations together...??

Is using external HD connected to AP Extreme for Time Machine supported?

Hi,
I'm reconfiguring my network and looking at different back up options for the family's computers. I have a few external drives that I use to back up but I'd like to connect them to an Airport Extreme so I can centralize them.
After doing some research I can't seem to get a clear answer on this-
-Can I back up via Time Machine to external HDs that are connected to an Airport Extreme?
-How much of a hack is this/is this officially supported or am I better off going with a time machine?
Thanks.

If you don't have an AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS) yet you may want to save some money and simply share the drive from one of your Macs. The other Macs can use that as a destination for Time Machine backups.
I have a TB drive connected to an iMac which shares the drive. Time Machine on my iBook uses that drive as the destination for it's backup. The iBook is wirelessly connected to the network while the iMac is connected via Ethernet to the network.

How do I connect Airport Extreme and Time Capsule to my new iMac so that AE is used for network and TC only used for Time Machine backup?

I didn't realize that Time Capsule will only support the print function of a wireless multifunction printer. So I want to use Extreme for my network to have full use of my printer and use TC as the Time machine backup only. How to I make the connections?

Thanks for your response and this is getting complicated but I just purchased a new iMac as well as the Airport TC. I've had the Airport Extreme for a year or so. The Airport Extreme worked perfectly with my old iMac wirelessly and I had all functions of my printer with no problems. I was expecting the same with the TC. But the instruction that came with TC say to connect the printer to the TC via USB...which I did. And the print function worked perfectly but nothing else. In researching I discovered that when wired that way the TC only supports the print function...not scan or fax or anything else. I tried going wireless since my AE worked perfectly via wireless but I got no printer functions at all that way. But I'm wondering also if I tried that during a time I was having other issues...I had to delete and re-add my printer which solved some other problems. I may try that again...and see if I can get all print functions with just the TC connected
As far as connecting both your AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule on your network, we're not clear on exactly how you want to do this. Will the AirPort Extreme connect to your modem using an Ethernet cable and the Time Capsule connect to the AirPort Extreme using an Ethernet cable?.......or......do you want the Time Capsule to connect to the network using wireless?
Well... first of all I would like not to have to use the AE at all...I would prefer using just my TC for network, all print functions and Time Machine backup if that's possible. My printer will not accept Ethernet connections (Canon MX512).
After failing at getting this to work, I decided I would try to use my AE for net and print functions and just use my TC for Time Machine backup. I tried several different connection configurations with no success until finally I connected cable modem to my AE via Ethernet and went wireless with the AE and printer. but connected the AE to the TC via Ethernet and amazingly everything worked like a charm (for a while) and I was patting myself on the back for being so smart. But now I find that the connection only lasts for a short time. If I leave it for a while the TC goes invisible...or at least I see a message saying the Ethernet is unplugged...but it is not... and I lose internet connection even though I have a green light on my AE. So now I'm at a loss. I don't know why I keep losing network signal and why my system thinks the Ethernet is unplugged.
So... after all this...I figured I wasn't so smart after all and I must have things wired incorrectly.
So... it sounds like you are saying I should go back and try again to get my new TC to work as I want it to via wireless instead of connecting via USB...is that correct? Could you tell me exactly how I should wire my equipment from cable modem to AE and/or TC to achieve net capability, full functions of my printer and Time Machine backup...
Thanks...

Can external drive connected to TC be used for Time Machine?

My 1 TB TC is running out of space and I can't afford the 2TB version. It's much cheaper to buy a 2 TB drive and plug it into the USB port on the TC, but before I do so, can someone savvy tell me if I will be able to select the drive connected to the TC as a Time Machine backup drive?

disconnekt wrote:
Thank you for this answer, and for that very helpful link. I can see that the Archive feature will not be practical for everyday backups,
Right.
so I'll have to find another solution...
See Kappy's post on Basic Backup, complete with links to the web sites of each product. You might also want to investigate Chrnosync: I've seen some posts that it can back up a network drive, but don't know if that's true.
Basically, if you run out of space on the TC's internal drive and decide to repurpose it for storing data, you have to be OK with not having that data backed up. I don't get this decision on the part of Apple—maybe they want me to shell out $400+ for a new 2TB TC?
Doubtful. Backing-up network drives, especially to another network drive, would be even slower and less reliable, and not something most Mac users would want to do. And even if you got a 2 TB, Time Machine still couldn't back up a network drive.
And they won't let you use a hard drive connected to Airport Extreme for TM backups either, which I'm guessing is another ploy to pry more dollars from our hands.
Now, don't be paranoid! They don't prevent it, but they don't support it, either. Some of us do it anyway, but it's generally not especially reliable, so we make sure to always have secondary backups. Nobody here can say why they don't support it, but unreliability sounds like a pretty good reason.

Using External HD connected to Airport to use for Time Machine - Problems

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