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How to backup 2 iMacs on one Time Capsule?

K

kapalua12

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
300
1
United States
I just bought a new 768 Gb SSD iMac and a 3 TB Time Capsule.

I have been using a 2010 i7 iMac for 3 years (one TB HDD) and my one TB Time Capsule (3 years old) has been flawless so far.

I would like to save those backups of the 2010 iMac "just in case", and utilize the faster speed of WiFI transfer of this newer model of 3TB Time Capsule plus maybe connect another drive into the time capsule for network storage.

So should I run 2 separate WiFi networks on different channels one for each iMac and configure Time Machine on the new much faster iMac or if not, how do I configure the new 3 TB Time Capsule as a new WiFi base station that safely backs up the older 2010 iMac plus backs up the new iMac on one WiFi network and save plenty of room on the new Time Capsule for the newer iMac?

What other uses can I use the older Time Capsule for on a new network with it's WiFi turned off? There are so many ways to configure the best backup plan and I really need some help. Thanks.
 
K

kapalua12

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
300
1
United States
Thanks.

Since the older currently being used 2010 Time Capsule already has the backups from the last 3 years or so, why not continue to use that Time Capsule for the older iMac still?

Or, if the new 3 TB Time Capsule is to be partitioned and used for both iMacs, how can I move the existing backup content from the older 2010 Time Capsule to a partition on the new 3 TB TC?
 
dangerly

dangerly

macrumors regular
Oct 27, 2009
151
5
European Dis-Union
kapalua12 said:
Thanks.

Or, if the new 3 TB Time Capsule is to be partitioned and used for both iMacs, how can I move the existing backup content from the older 2010 Time Capsule to a partition on the new 3 TB TC?
Click to expand...

To do this you need to start the Mac in recovery mode pressing CMD+R, then go to disk utility, go to restore, then in the source field drag the Time Machine database from the old time capsule; in the destination field drag the partition made on the new time capsule.
 
K

kapalua12

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
300
1
United States
My understanding in reading over in the Apple Support forums is that the Time Capsule cannot be partitioned.

Is that information not correct? I'm still pondering the best backup solutions for my 2 iMacs.

Thanks
 
N

niteflyr

macrumors 65816
Nov 29, 2011
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Southern Cal
As long as the two (or more) computers have different names, you can use the same drive. I have both my mac mini and macbook pro on the same 2TB external drive with no partitions.
 
C

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,360
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NH
If you want, partitioning the drive can be done from the airport utility, the older utility may have more capability. It is usually a bad idea, however, as it places unnecessary constraints and limits scaling options. You can set up each Mac to backup to the same Time Capsule and the will sort things out. We have 5 macs backing up to a 3TB time capsule without issue... well it can be kinda slow if they are all backing up at the same time. Are you sure you need/ want 3 year old backups. You could direct both Macs to the new time capsule (select the new capsules disk), and just leave the old backup on the old Time Capsule for posterity. You could just turn it off and set it aside.
 
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F

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,244
127
Portland, OR
ColdCase said:
If you want, partitioning the drive can be done from the airport utility, the older utility may have more capability. It is usually a bad idea, however, as it places unnecessary constraints and limits scaling options. You can set up each Mac to backup to the same Time Capsule and the will sort things out. We have 5 macs backing up to a 3TB time capsule without issue... well it can be kinda slow if they are all backing up at the same time. Are you sure you need/ want 3 year old backups. You could direct both Macs to the new time capsule (select the new capsules disk), and just leave the old backup on the old Time Capsule for posterity. You could just turn it off and set it aside.
Click to expand...

Agree... just start new backups on the new 3TB TC. Each will be separate. The only change I would make to this post is that I *THINK* (but I am not positive) that only one machine will ever back up to the TC at any given time. Even if I am correct... then it is still not a problem because the other machine will only have a delayed backup for the duration of the other incremental backup... which is generally quite short.

/Jim
 
C

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
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No, any number of Macs can be doing a time machine backup to a single time capsule at the same time. It will just take longer for each backup to complete. Most noticeable on the initial backup as there is not nearly as much data needing to be uploaded during subsequent backups (only the new data or stuff that changed).

It is ethernet and a shared network/shared drive, the computer's Time Machine app send data packets to the Time capsule and the capsule arbitrates and processes them on a data packet basis as they arrive. There can only be one disk write at a time, so there is buffering in the Time Capsule RAM such that it can give the appearance that several Macs are backing up at the same time. The pipe to the drive can only handle so much data, so the Capsule essentially pushes back to slow down each machine, if necessary, and it takes longer.

It is no different than any other networked shared drive. Any number of computers can be reading and writing to the shared drive at the same time, and the drives network attachment sorts things out.
 
F

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,244
127
Portland, OR
ColdCase said:
No, any number of Macs can be doing a time machine backup to a single time capsule at the same time. It will just take longer for each backup to complete. Most noticeable on the initial backup as there is not nearly as much data needing to be uploaded during subsequent backups (only the new data or stuff that changed).

It is ethernet and a shared network/shared drive, the computer's Time Machine app send data packets to the Time capsule and the capsule arbitrates and processes them on a data packet basis as they arrive. There can only be one disk write at a time, so there is buffering in the Time Capsule RAM such that it can give the appearance that several Macs are backing up at the same time. The pipe to the drive can only handle so much data, so the Capsule essentially pushes back to slow down each machine, if necessary, and it takes longer.

It is no different than any other networked shared drive. Any number of computers can be reading and writing to the shared drive at the same time, and the drives network attachment sorts things out.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. I was not sure about this... and not sure where I had heard it. I never checked it myself.

/Jim
 
C

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,360
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NH
kapalua12 said:
I "think" both old and new iMac have the same names.

1. How do I check this?
2. How can I change the name of the old iMac if necessary?

Thanks for the responses.
Click to expand...

Time Machine will put a unique identifier in the sparse image file, so time machine will not get confused. It may be hard for you to tell the difference in the future, however.

You use the sharing pane in System Preferences to change the computer name.
 
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