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Time Machine-compatible NAS?

O

oxfordguy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 27, 2008
503
4
Oxford, England
Hi - would like to buy a Time Machine-compatible NAS to go with my AEBS, by compatible I mean via the Gigabit ethernet connection, not just USB. Ideally am looking for a (quietish) 750Gb or 1Tb unit that I can partition, so can use one partition for Time Machine back-ups (one 200Gb Macbook Pro) and the rest as shared storage (for my Macbook Pro and my housemate's PC).

Is there a list anywhere of what NAS boxes are ethernet-compatible with Time Machine or can anyone provide first hand experience of what will work? Thanks!
 
After looking at Apple's support pages, it appears the only supported way to access a drive over the network would be with a xserve, xsan, or mac with personal file sharing turned on.
 
BaldiMac said:
After looking at Apple's support pages, it appears the only supported way to access a drive over the network would be with a xserve, xsan, or mac with personal file sharing turned on.
Click to expand...

Hmmm.. that's not so good, am just a bit worried about reports of Time Capsule over-heating and also its unclear whether you can use it as NAS to share filles as well as for Time Machine (can you?)
 
BaldiMac said:
After looking at Apple's support pages, it appears the only supported way to access a drive over the network would be with a xserve, xsan, or mac with personal file sharing turned on.
Click to expand...

This is not 100% accurate. Currently the only supported way to do time machine to a drive over the network is if that mac is running OS X Server 10.5.x. This means that the computer could be an iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro or even an older g4 mac.... or an Xserve. As long as the computer fulfills the system requirements for Leopard server, you can use it for a Time Machine repository. The drive can be connected to that computer using USB, Firewire, internal drive, etc. It does not have to use Xsan, Xraid or the promise system that apple is currently selling.

It will also not natively work to a computer with just file sharing turned on. I realize that you can enable it to work with the terminal command. But I would be apprehensive do this, as many people have reported problems with it.

Ultimately it all depends on what stuff you have access to, and how much you would want to spend to make a nas work. I have explored the option to a great extent and in the end, I purchased a copy of server and it runs great (though the company I work for paid the bill).
 
mmcxiiad said:
This is not 100% accurate. Currently the only supported way to do time machine to a drive over the network is if that mac is running OS X Server 10.5.x. This means that the computer could be an iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro or even an older g4 mac.... or an Xserve.
Click to expand...

Wrong. It doesn't have to be OSX Server. Just plain Leopard will do.

I use an external attached to an old Powerbook running Leopard, and TM works very well, automatically connecting to the PB when needed. It did have to do a full initial backup when first backing up over the network - the previous backup done via direct connection was just ignored. Took about 20 hours over wifi, so just left it to run over the weekend.

No hacks needed, and fully supported by Apple.
 
As a reminder, Apple recently acknowledged that a recent update to AEBS allows Time Machine to backup to a USB drive attached to an AEBS. However, Apple also said it does not support this feature. That means "it works, but do it at your own risk and don't cry to us if you get errors or corrupted backups. We'd rather you throw out your perfectly good AEBS and buy a shiny new Time Capsule!" :rolleyes:
 
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