Will Time Machine work with an external hard drive connected (via usb) to Airport Extreme?

Will Time Machine work with an external hard drive connected (via usb) to Airport Extreme?

Sorry, but this article is about 4 years old, and was printed based on preliminary information at the time.
The bottom line here is that Apple does not officially support Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme.
If it works for you, great.
You might want to review the Apple Support documents below, which are far more recent than the article you reference:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2038
It is supported.....
This is NOT correct. Please do not post false information on the forums.

Similar Messages

  • Will Time Machine work with my networked hard drive?

    I asked this question this question a couple years ago https://discussions.apple.com/message/9961900#9961900 and was wondering if there was an update as to whether Time Machine will work with a networked drive?
    Will it work?
    Does Apple officially support this method?
    I'm using Chronosync now, and it's good, but every once in a while it'll hickup.
    Thanks so much

    Nothing has changed, other than the fact that we are seeing a lot more posts from users having probems who have tried this unsupported method of backups.
    Apple is prety clear on this in their support documentation. They say that you cannot do this.
    Results vary with users who try this anyway. Some have difficulties immediately with corruption issues, others have successful backups for a few weeks to even a few months before they have difficuties. Count me as  one who thought they had somehow beat the system, but after 4 weeks, things collapsed.
    Forum expert Pondini has an appropriate saying about this issue, which I am sure I am not quoting exactly:
    There are two types of users who attempt Time Machine backups to a drive attached to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme....those who have problems, and those who will have problems.

  • Will Time Machine back up and external hard drive connected to my TC?

    Here is my desired set-up: older Powerbook G4 whose iTunes Music is saved on an external HD (WD MyBook offering USB, FW, and ethernet connections); backup wirelessly to a Time Capsule using Time Machine; connect the external drive to the Time Capsule either using USB or ethernet (whichever is faster); have Time Machine backup everything, ie, the laptop and the external drive connected directly to the Time Capsule.
    Right now, the external drive is connected directly to the Powerbook using Firewire and everything is working as desired. I would like to have the external drive networked, however, so that I can enjoy music on the laptop without having it connected to the external drive. Seems like I could connect the external drive to the TC to provide a networked iTunes library, but I also want Time Capsule to back it all up together with my Powerbook.
    Is this possible?
    If so, which connection method is best between the external drive and the Time Capsule, USB or ethernet?

    f.bomb wrote:
    Seems like I could connect the external drive to the TC to provide a networked iTunes library, but I also want Time Capsule to back it all up together with my Powerbook.
    Is this possible?
    No. Time Machine will not backup a network share such as you describe. Sorry.

  • Will Time Machine Back up an External Hard Drive Attached to my Mac Pro?

    Apple TV is GREAT, but it quickly filled up my hard drive. My thought is to take my folder that contains all of my personal files and put it on an 1TB external hard drive. I'd then "point" iTunes to where this new folder is. First, is that the right approach? Will that mess anything else up? Second, can I have Time Machine then back this external hard drive up? So, I'd like to have Time Machine back up my Mac HD and the external HD. If Time Machine won't do this, is there a good back up program for Macs that is very turnkey?
    Thanks in advance!!!

    GregT wrote:
    Apple TV is GREAT, but it quickly filled up my hard drive. My thought is to take my folder that contains all of my personal files and put it on an 1TB external hard drive. I'd then "point" iTunes to where this new folder is. First, is that the right approach? Will that mess anything else up? Second, can I have Time Machine then back this external hard drive up?
    If the drive is formatted +Mac OS Extended,+ yes. While it's connected, go to TM Preferences > Options. If it's listed in the exclusion box, just select it and click the minus sign at the bottom.
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  • HT204057 Why does Time Machine no longer support external hard drives connected to an Airport Extreme base station?

    I'm pretty sure that upto a few months ago I had a hard disk connected via USB to my Airport Extreme and I was able to backup all the computers on my home network. However, somehow over the last few months this had stopped happening. I am not able to select my network disks for time machine backup.
    There is a very unhelpful sentence on Apple's website which simply says it does not allow backup to hard disks connected to Airport Extreme via USB. Does anyone know why this is? Is there a way around this? Can I connect a drive to my desktop computer and have other computers backup through the network to that?

    This was never an approved configuration: OS X Mountain Lion: Disks you can use with Time Machine
    Can I connect a drive to my desktop computer and have other computers backup through the network to that?
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  • Will Time Machine delete files on external hard drive?

    I have all my itunes music and videos on my external hard drive. Will Time Machine delete these files. The hard drive is already formatted for mac.

    Note from Time Machine Help files:
    Time Machine works best if you use your backup disk only for Time Machine backups. If you keep files on your backup disk, Time Machine won’t back up those files, and the space available for Time Machine backups will be reduced.
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  • Does time machine work with ANY portable hard drive or backup drive?

    I am just wondering. Please help.

    Time Machine Compatible External Hard Drive
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  • Can Time Machine back up a external hard drive connected to Airport Extreme

    I recently purchased a new macbook pro, and airport extreme.
    I attached a 750 GB external hard drive to the macbook pro, and reformatted it so time machine made the initial back up and hourly back ups from there.
    Is it possible to now to unattach the external hard drive and attach it to the airport extreme, where the mac book time machine will back up to the external hard drive through airport extreme?
    i have seen conflicting posts is if this is possible.

    That would probably be safest.
    Note that Apple's position on this got even more negative with Snow Leopard: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
    It does work well for some folks, not so well for some, and not at all for others.
    I got a refurb dual-band model in September. It worked well for about 3 months, but lately I get the error 109 and corrupted backups every few days, that Disk Utility can't fix. Once, Disk Warrior could, but since then, if they're corrupted, nothing helps. That's on a year-old Seagate drive that seems fine otherwise, especially when connected directly.
    And I have an excellent wireless connection; it's only about 10 feet from my Mac, speeds are great, S/N ratio is good, etc.
    It makes no sense to me that a TC would work better, but they seem to.

  • I have an external hard drive connected via usb, how can I view the contents?

    I'm new to Mac... I have an external hard drive, I plugged it in to the usb port but don't know how to view the contents.  What do I do?

    Open Finder (by clicking on the icon int he Dock) and your external USB disk should show up in the left pane under "Devices".
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  • Will Time Machine back up my external hard drive as well as internal one?

    I am considering upgrading my Macbook to Leopard. All of my photos, movies and iTunes music are stored on a 250G external drive and as these are the files I work with most frequently I need to back them up regularly. Can I use Time Machine to do this, in other words does the back up include drives other than the main internal one? If not it would be of little use to me.

    yes HFS+=mac os extended. I would check the format of the drive. most factory formatted drives are formatted for windows not Mac and hence are formatted FAT. FAT drives are also read+write from OS X. select you drive in finder and enter command+i. read off the format in the resulting info window.

  • Can 'Time Machine' back-up other external hard drives

    Can 'Time Machine' back-up other external hard drives connected to your mac as well as the mac memory itself?

    As Neil says, yes, it can.  But external HDs are excluded by default;  you have to tell Time Machine when you do want to back one up.
    See the exclusions box in Time Machine Prefs > Options.
    If the drive is shown in black, just select it and click the minus sign at the bottom.
    If it's shown in gray, though, it's not formatted for a Mac, and Time Machine can't back it up (and you can't remove it).

  • Re Time Machine I have an external  hard drive with files I backed up manually over the past 2 years 1TB of memory. I am finally taking the leap to use Time machine to back everything.   will I have to reformat that drive, thus wiping my previous bac

    Re Time Machine
    I have an external  hard drive with files I backed up manually over the past 2 years 1TB of memory.
    I am finally taking the leap to use Time machine to back everything.
    will I have to reformat that drive, thus wiping my previous back ups?
    can I split it the drive in two partitions?
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    the other is
    OSX 10.75
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    or even synch and merge files and folders etc? between the two?

    You CAN use a drive with files already on it to store Time Machine backups. But long term, that is not recommended. You do not need to reformat or re-partition the drive to do this. Once Time Machine Backups are established, you could remove the old files.
    But do not delete Time Machines files with the Finder -- that can cause it to lose its place and lose everything.
    With the cost of backup drives under US$100, it might be a better idea in the long run to get another drive. Best results from Time Machine is a drive about 3 times larger than the drive(s) you are backing up.

  • I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable.  I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

    I am running my first backup on Time Machine using a Seagate external hard drive with a thunderbolt adapter and cable.  I have a MacBook Pro 2011. It is backing up 11GB, and is telling me it will take approx two days. Is this normal?

    Download the supplemental fix to 10.7.5 
    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1599

  • Is there any way to create a time machine backup to an external hard drive with content already on it?  I have a hard drive that i have used for pictures but when i try to run a backup it says i need to start from a blank drive. Can i get around it?

    Is there any way to create a time machine backup to an external hard drive with content already on it?  I have a hard drive that i have used for pictures but when i try to run a backup it says i need to start from a blank drive. Can i get around it?

    It would be much better if you had separate drives for the pictures and Time Machine backups.....but, if you want to use the same drive for both purposes, temporarily move the folder with the pictures to another location for safe storage.
    Run the Time Machine backup on the hard drive and verify that everything is working correctly. Time Machine will format the disk for you in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as part of the backup process.
    Then move the folder with the pictures back to the hard drive with the Time Machine backups.
    When you have tested to make sure that everything is working again, then and only then should you delete the folder with pictures from the temporary storage area.
    Again....it would be much better to keep Time Machine backups on a drive just for that purpose, and other data on another drive for that purpose. This is clearly one of those times when the fact that you can do something does not mean to imply that you should do it.

  • Can I increase the capacity of Time Machine with an external hard drive connected to Time Capsule?

    Can I increase the capacity of Time Machine with an external hard drive connected to Time Capsule via the USB port?  My current Time Machine has a total capacity of 1TB.  I'd like to double or triple its memory.  I don't want to use the external hard drive in lieu of the Time Capsule hard drive.  I'd like to use it in addition to.  Just don't know if/how it's possible.
    This is another one of those questions that I've searched the web for answers, and have gotten tricky answers back.  So now I'm trying to introduce a clean slate to the mix.
    Thank you for your time!

    Well, what you mentioning is possible.  However, I don't know whether it's supported (as in, "easy to set up.").  Time Machine officially supports backing up to a locally attached drive, to a machine running a Time Machine server (i.e. running OS X Server software), and to a Time Capsule.  I don't know that it officially supports a drive attached to an AirPort or to a Time Capsule.  Though I know some people have gotten it to work.
    Best I can say is to try it.  Plug the drive into the Time Capsule, ensure it's shared on the network, and then try and set it as a backup target from a machine in the Time Machine backup panel (you'll need to ensure it's mounted first).  If it works, you're all set.

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