Wireless backup with external HD

Will Time Machine work with an external hard drive I have plugged into my Airport Extreme Base Station?

It works ok for most people although it's not officially supported. but there may be some problems.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2299608

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Wireless backup with Time Machine WITHOUT Time Capsule

Hi All,
I was lucky enough to get a 1Tb external drive for Christmas and was wondering if there was a way of backing up my Macbook Pro wirelessly? I have both an Intel iMac running Snow Leopard and a 2008 Macbook pro, and a Sky wireless router. Is there anyway to either connect the hard drive to the router and backup both computers through this, or connect the hard drive to the iMac and get the laptop to backup through this wirelessly? I've tried searching for answers, with minimal luck, can anyone help?
Thanks!

Requirements to use Time Machine
Time Machine is only available with Leopard (10.5.x)
1. External FireWire or USB 2.0 drive
2. Time Capsule
3. Drive shared by a Mac running 10.5 or later using File Sharing
4. Drive shared by a Mac running 10.5 Server
5. SAN volume managed by Apple's Xsan file system
A TM drive must be partitioned with either APM (PPC) or GUID (Intel) and formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
So the answer is, No you cannot use TM to backup to a drive connected to the router you have. You can connect the drive to one of your computers and use TM to backup to the drive from the other computer. You must have File Sharing enabled on the computer to which the drive is connected. You must connect to that computer from the other computer using Connect to Server from the Finder's Go menu. When you do you have to log into the other file sharing computer as a registered user - use the admin account username and password for the admin account on the file sharing computer. Once connected the remote drive will appear in the TM preferences as a potential backup drive.
Note that even if your router supports 80211n protocols wireless backup is very slow - much slower than even USB. You will also need to leave the file sharing computer running all the time (no sleep because during sleep there is no wireless) and the other computer must stay connected in order to allow the regular hourly TM backups to occur. TM only backs up one computer at a time, but it will backup both computers independently.

Wireless Backup with Time Machine using Fritzbox

I have
Modem: Fritzbox 7170
Macbook white
Lacie External HD 500GB
On the back of the Fritzbox is an USB access..I would like to connect my Lacie External HD to the Fritzbox and want to split the HD into
1 part to store my music/photo's on
2nd part to use for Time Machine backups
Currently I have connected the Lacie to my Macbook using the USB cable, but I wonder if I can do it wireless by using the Fritzbox.
Message was edited by: Jaap74

Thanks for your reply. I’m not sure if I understand what a NAS is….My Modem is a Fritzbox 7170 Fon WLAN. It has a USB host for USB printers or USB mass storage media in the network. The manual says it supports FAT and GAT32. So I think I can use it for storage….but not for backups with Time Machine. That would be so convenient…not having to plug in my external HD every time I want to make a backup.

No Wireless Internet with External Display, Other Issues

Hello,
When I connect an external monitor to my MBA, I lose my connection to the Internet. The wi-fi signal remains strong, but pages will not load (I tried many) and I cannot retrieve email. The connection times out when I try to ping as well. This occurs whether I have the MBA open or closed. The loss of Internet happens immediately when I connect an external display using the supplied dongle, and returns the moment I disconnect it. It is clearly an issue with external displays.
On the advice of an Apple Genius, I also tried disabling bluetooth. I did so, and turned off all my bluetooth devices (Apple keyboard and mouse, iPhone), but the problems persist.
The other trouble I am having is difficulty connecting to a network for the first time in a session. In other words, I was connected all day yesterday, take the MBA home, and return to the office the next day. MBA takes a long time to see the network, then fails to accept the password. If I carry the MBA closer to the wireless router, it finds and connects automatically as I'd saved my password. When I return to my desk, I remain connected with full signal strength. This has happened in two locations, one with an Airport Extreme, the other with a Netopia 802.11g router. When my Macbook Pro is sitting right next to the MBA, it recognizes and connects to the same networks almost instantaneously.
Anyone have any suggestions? Much appreciated.

Just a quick update... I was on the phone with Apple Support on Saturday morning and I thought we were making progress. The basic idea behind the proposed solution was that there was some "Preferences" that were causing the problem. We started over with a clean Preferences folder and tried connecting up the external monitor. At first, this approach was showing progress. The suggestion was to copy over my original Preferences (I had made a backup copy) just a few at a time until we figured out which ones caused the problem. The problem with this approach is that immediately after I got off the phone, the internet started not to work again. So, even with a clean Preferences folder, the internet would quit working after connecting up the external monitor.
So, I'm back to the drawing board. I have since restored my Preferences folder and I don't have my external monitor and internet working at the same time. BTW, I also upgraded to 10.5.3 and it didn't help.
Still bummed,
Kevin

Rescue and Recovery backup with external hard drive

When I first backed up my computer to my WD 1 tb external hard drive using R&R, boot files were placed on the drive. Recently, some files I had corrupted my external hard drive and I had to fully erase it. Now, after making the drive recognizable again, I went to go back up my computer using rescue and recovery. This time, it asked me whether or not I wanted to make the drive bootable, I said yes, but an error popped up saying I needed 1000 more mb, even though I had 931 gb open. The backup started anyway, but it did not include any boot files. Is there a way to make the drive bootable the next time I backup? What is the difference between nonbootable and bootable? Help? Thanks.

I do NOT have a external Hard drive. If you just zeroed the drive, it is blank. Go into control panel,administrative tools, computer management, disk management. See if you can get a PROPERTIES of the external drive and post a Screen shot of that here. This will show what partition(s) are there, Fat32 vs NTFS. My experience is after you zero a drive, You have to boot your system, then use a Vendor (WD) standalone format utility or windows Disk manangement format, Make partition, etc. The screen shot i need is the one that says: DISK 1 (d 298.09 GB NTFS
Healthy(active,primary partition). This is what my 2nd drive, D, says. 1 partion on the drive.
When i added my second hard drive, it was blank. Booted up, BIOS recognized drive, Then i Formatted it with windows disk managment. I then pointed R&R to take backups to that drive. Create rescue media then made a Master boot record, install standalone R&R boots files, then took the backup. This makes my 2nd drive bootable, should i ever care to boot my D drive up and have R&R standalone program in control. Thus i have 2 bootable drives. C boots into windows, D boots into the rescue and recovery standalone program. I can also boot my C drive into R&R by hitting PF 11 at startup (bios) time.
Which version of r&r you have? Which version of windows? Windows 7 changed the way Master boot records are written.
You can go into R&R, advanced menu, create rescue media. Point to your External drive. WARNING. make sure the do not destroy existing data block is checked. IF YOU ARE brave, uncheck the destroy existing data. This will erase everthing on the drive!!! <<Warning. And be sure NOT to point to any drive you really love.
Buts lets 1st get the screen shot requested to make sure the drive is FORMATTED correcly.

Wireless Backup to External Hard Drive

Home network: iMac (Snow Leopard), Wireless Printer, Vigor 2800 Wireless Router, 2 Seagate USB Ext Hard Drives.
I wish to add Seagate hard drives to wireless network and use Time Machine for B/Up. They are currently wired directly to Mac.
I have tried PogoPlug but it doesn't support Time Machine. Someone suggested Airport Extreme as one solution even though I don't need a router / modem.
Would this be the best solution at economical cost?
If yes, would an older model of AE do the job?
Thanks

billtils wrote:
ksimac, Bob T is the guru of this topic and I would not disagree with his advice, but, for the sake of completeness, I have to say that the path suggested to you will work. There are many of us who have gone for some version of that and we are very happy. The total cost will come in at less than the TC.
On the other hand, there are many, many others for whom it doesn't work at all, or, worse, works for a while, then suddenly the backups turn up corrupted with no warning. Sometimes they can be repaired with Disk Utility, sometimes with Disk Warrior, but usually the only option is to erase and start over.
In my case, it worked perfectly for about 3 months; then turned up corrupted every few days for a couple of weeks; then worked fine for several more months, and came up corrupted again just the other day. That's with exactly the same hardware in exactly the same location.
There are many, many threads in this forum (and the Leopard and Snow Leopard Time Machine forums) with similar scenarios.
And if there's a problem, you'll get no help from Apple, since it's +*not supported.+* See Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
As noted, if you still want to do this, by all means make regular secondary backups of some sort. Otherwise you may have no backups when you need them the most.
Also, there are several reports of premature expiration experiences of the TC.
Yes, some of the first generation Time Capsules (circa early 2008) had power supply problems; Apple replaces them at no charge: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3351
Recent models seem to be much better.

I removed the original HD and want to use it as a backup with external drive.

HP laptop G71ous win. 7. This forum helped me remove and reinstall original drive. I am using it in an external drive unit. My question is : How can I remove data so i can clear space. It tells me i do not have admin rights, and cannot remove windows folders. I have tried entering properties and changing ownership.Thanks for your help.

Just to add to what mct007 said, I recommend formatting the drive though this will remove all files on the drive.
Another alternate option is to use the command prompt to take ownership of the said folders.
This site has some good information on the commands to do this. Be sure to use the folder commands for folders and the file commands for individual files. Also, don't forget to elevate the command prompt. This can be done by right-clicing the command prompt in the Start menu and selecting Run as Administrator.
Once ownership is achieved, you should be able to do anything you want with the files and folders.
There are many ways to accomplish the same task and I just wanted to add to mct007's statement.
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Safari won't open and cannot backup with external hard drive

Safari won't open....get error message...and in web browser the number 3. Anyone know about this? And bringing it in to an apple genius, trying to back up and it won't back up either.

You posted in the wrong forum. This forum is for MacBook Pro technical problems. Your profile confirms you have an iMac.
If you are having problems w/Safari, you should post in its forum/community.

Wireless Backup Disk

I was wondering if you could do wireless backups with not only Apple routers, but other ones too.

this is not supported by apple. there are hacks but they are just that. No guarantees and no support from apple. If you still wish to try check out this [link|http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080420211034137&query=Time %2Bmachine%2BNAS]. read all the comments. also [this much simpler method|http://vowe.net/archives/008940.html] is claimed to work.

Using airport extreme, an external HD and time machine for wireless backups

Hey All,
The whole reason I bought my airport extreme was to plug an external HD into and use it for backups. Then came time machine and Leopard, and now time capsule!!!
Does anyone know if you can use your airport extreme with an external HD attached and time machine in the same way as time capsule for wireless backups!??? The guy in the Apple store I spoke to says you should be able to if you mount the HD (a little cumbersome); I used to be able to mount the HD in Tiger, but cant in Leopard!!
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Fleery

Fleery wrote:
Does anyone know if you can use your airport extreme with an external HD attached and time machine in the same way as time capsule for wireless backups!???
No. Time Machine is supported in 3 configurations:
1. a directly attached HD
2. Time Capsule
3. A HD connected to a Mac with OS X 1.5 Server
I tried both 1 & 3 and they work perfectly.
The guy in the Apple store I spoke to says you should be able to if you mount the HD (a little cumbersome); I used to be able to mount the HD in Tiger, but cant in Leopard!!
Bogus. That is NOT a supported configuration. It will work for a while and you will eventually start to get errors when Time machine backs up, and they are not recoverable.

I have my iTunes library on an external HD because it is too big for my iMAC 500GB HD. I want to backup my external HD. Can I do this with any Apple cloud product or should I look elsewhere? Also is it worth just buying another external HD to back up

I have my iTunes library on an external HD because it is too big for my iMAC 500GB HD. However, it is not backed up, so I need a solution to backup my external HD. Can I do this with any Apple cloud product or should I look elsewhere for cloud products? Will it be cheaper/easier just to buy another external HD to back up my existing external HD? Thanks

I don't know if this is me adding files to iTunes when the external wasn't connected
it is.
is it OK to just keep deleting that library on the Air?
i wouldn't - at least not until i
mount the external
point iTunes media folder location back to the external via preferences > advanced
consolidate my library via file > library > organize library
The ntfs hasn't seem to be causing any problems, but I've always wanted to know.
in order for your Mac to write to NTFS drives, it needs some help by installing e.g. the NTFS 3G driver. apparently that or something similar is installed on your Mac already. preferably, it would be formatted for Mac but then windows machines would need to have e.g. MacDrive installed to recognize the drive.

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

I have just upgraded to Mavericks and have been using Time Machine on an external disk with Snow Leopard. Can I continue to backup with Time Machine on the same external disk or do I need a new disk since the operating system has changed?

Hi there,
I found that Time Machine in Mavericks will sort it all out for you. You shouldn't need to buy another backup drive, unless you have insufficient space left and can't afford to delete whats on there. It should just work fine.

How can I create a new TC backup with ethernet, so I don't have to wait two days for a new wireless backup?

How can I create a new TC backup with ethernet, so I don't have to wait two days for a new wireless backup?
Several times in the last year, I've gotten a message that Time Machine needs to completely redo my backup. Using the wireless connection, this takes almost two days. Is there a way to do the backup with ethernet and then switch back to wireless? Thanks.

May I know what is needed to make sure the MacBook is able to see Time Capsule on ethernet?
Connect an Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on the 2Wire gateway to the WAN port (circle of dots icon) on the Time Capsule.
If AirPort Utility cannot "see" the Time Capsule now, you will need to perform a "hard reset" by holding in the reset button for 7-8 seconds or so and then reconfigure the Time Capsule. You can use the same Time Capsule name and password, etc. as before.
Configure the Time Capsule to "Create a wireless network" and select the Bridge Mode option when it appears during the setup using AirPort Utility.
Once the Time Capsule is configured, restart the entire network again. Power down everything, start the 2Wire first and then start each other device after that one at a time about a minute apart.
Now you can connect your Mac directly to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule for the backup using another Ethernet cable. In general, about 20-25 GB per hour will transfer.
The Time Capsule will broadcast a much faster wireless network than the 2Wire can provide, so you might want to leave the setup "as is" for awhile after the first backup is complete. If you decide to use the Time Capsule as your main wireless access point, you would want to turn the wireless off on the 2Wire since two wireless networks in close proximity can create interference problems.
Or, if you want to use the wireless on the 2Wire, you could turn off the wireless on the Time Capsule. Then backups will occur over the 2Wire wireless, or over Ethernet.
I don't really recommend the "Join a wireless network" setting on the Time Capsule for most users, but you could go back to that setup as well if you want after the first backup is complete.

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

Can i use my time capsule to wirelessly backup my macbook and its external hard drive, which up until now was it's time machine and storage? How?

The external drive must be connected to the Mac using either USB or FireWire
You must remove the external hard drive from the list of items that are "excluded" from backups in Time Machine Preferences.
Here's how:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Time Machine
Click Options
Look for the name of the hard drive in the list of "excluded" items and click on it to highlight it
Click the -- (minus) button at the bottom of the list to remove the hard drive from the list of "excluded" items....so it will now be backed up
Strongly recommend that you do the first backup using Ethenret from your computer to the Time Capsule since the entire contents of the external drive will be copied on the first pass. Ethernet will be 3-5 faster than wireless.
Once you have the first backup done, you can use wireless for subsequent backups since they will nornally be much smaller....unless you add large files to the external drive.

HT3275 Since updating OS to Mountain Lion from leopard, I get the following error message when trying to backup with time machine on external drive. Could not complete backup to media share. The network backup disk does not support the required AFP feat

Since updating OS to Mountain Lion from leopard, I get the following error message when trying to backup with time machine on external drive. "Could not complete backup to media share. The network backup disk does not support the required AFP features." What are AFP features and how do I get Time Machine to backup to my current external backup?

This means that your NAS does not support the required encryption. Update your NAS to the latest firmware or ditch it and buy a Time Capsule (they are the most reliable when using TM).

Wireless backup with external HD

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