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jonathanlaniado

macrumors member
Original poster
May 13, 2012
45
2
I have the 13" Macbook Air from 2011 and I updated the firmware. However, although Mail does work through Power Nap, Time Machine does not. Does anyone have a solution? Thank you.
 

macneubie

macrumors regular
Aug 8, 2011
150
0
Details here.

It says if the AC power is connected while PN is enabled, TM backups can be done. If it's running on battery, TM will not be executed.
 

drxcm

macrumors regular
Nov 2, 2010
243
71
I have a mid-2011 11" MBA.
I have never been able to get Power Nap to work in any way.
 

Glockron

macrumors member
Jun 16, 2012
99
0
PowerNap works like a charm for me. Keep in mind mail has to be running for PowerNap to work. You can open it up, then close the window with CMD+W, the app will still run. When you sleep, your mailbox will sync.

I haven't tried TM yet.
 

jonathanlaniado

macrumors member
Original poster
May 13, 2012
45
2
PowerNap works like a charm for me. Keep in mind mail has to be running for PowerNap to work. You can open it up, then close the window with CMD+W, the app will still run. When you sleep, your mailbox will sync.

I haven't tried TM yet.

My issue is odd, because Mail does work through Power Nap, but Time Machine does not.
 

Lara F

macrumors 6502a
May 5, 2005
853
10
Montreal, Quebec
PowerNap works like a charm for me. Keep in mind mail has to be running for PowerNap to work. You can open it up, then close the window with CMD+W, the app will still run. When you sleep, your mailbox will sync.

I haven't tried TM yet.

Anyone know if it has to be Mail.app, or can Sparrow work as well?
 

Zetaprime

macrumors 65816
Dec 4, 2011
1,481
262
Ohio, US
I have the 13" Macbook Air from 2011 and I updated the firmware. However, although Mail does work through Power Nap, Time Machine does not. Does anyone have a solution? Thank you.

Same here. I think time machine only works if it's direct connect. Wireless backups probably use too much power. Since nothing is changing on the computer while it sleeps it doesn't make much sense to do additional backups at that time.

----------

Anyone know if it has to be Mail.app, or can Sparrow work as well?

I'm pretty sure that only apps that are part of OSX will run.
 

Alameda

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2012
920
543
Did that ages ago - fully up to date.
Still has never worked. I've read everything there is about it, tried everything.
Does it work with the power adapter plugged in? Did you enable it in System Preferences for both plugged in and battery operation?

Don't be insulted by my questions; we have to start somewhere.
 

jonathanlaniado

macrumors member
Original poster
May 13, 2012
45
2
Same here. I think time machine only works if it's direct connect. Wireless backups probably use too much power. Since nothing is changing on the computer while it sleeps it doesn't make much sense to do additional backups at that time.

Yeah, but sometimes I make drastic changes to my Mac and then it would have to backup like 10 GB or more and I just do not want to leave my Mac fully running just for that.
 

Alameda

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2012
920
543
I tried doing it when the battery power was at 100%. Does it work for you?
Oh, so now that I opened my fat mouth, I have to go try it? :)

The answer is, I think it works. I started a Time Machine backup to a USB-attached drive with the power cord attached to the Mac. It had about 30 GB remaining when I closed the lid and went out to lunch. It wasn't exactly finished when I returned from lunch. It reported that it had 30 GB remaining for a few seconds, then it reported that it was finishing up. So I think it works, but I'm not 100% certain yet.

I have my email on Outlook, which doesn't support PowerNap. Maybe I'll test it with Gmail, although I think background email download isn't terribly useful.
 

jonathanlaniado

macrumors member
Original poster
May 13, 2012
45
2
Oh, so now that I opened my fat mouth, I have to go try it? :)

The answer is, I think it works. I started a Time Machine backup to a USB-attached drive with the power cord attached to the Mac. It had about 30 GB remaining when I closed the lid and went out to lunch. It wasn't exactly finished when I returned from lunch. It reported that it had 30 GB remaining for a few seconds, then it reported that it was finishing up. So I think it works, but I'm not 100% certain yet.

I have my email on Outlook, which doesn't support PowerNap. Maybe I'll test it with Gmail, although I think background email download isn't terribly useful.

Well, I do know that the actual Mail app does work with Power Nap. Why do you not use that?
 

drxcm

macrumors regular
Nov 2, 2010
243
71
Does it work with the power adapter plugged in? Did you enable it in System Preferences for both plugged in and battery operation?

Don't be insulted by my questions; we have to start somewhere.

Not insulted at all :)

Yup - tried with power in / power out, enabled via System Prefs etc, apps (eg Mail) open.
 

Alameda

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2012
920
543
Well, I do know that the actual Mail app does work with Power Nap. Why do you not use that?
I have two email accounts: A Gmail personal account, and a work account through Exchange. The work account has all kinds of security to go through, and I need the Outlook addresses and calendar. I don't think Mail will do. With the gmail (MAPI) account, I wanted to sort messages by sender and clean out hundreds of old messages, and Mail crashed whenever I tried that. But now that it's all cleaned up, maybe I'll try it.
 

jonathanlaniado

macrumors member
Original poster
May 13, 2012
45
2
I have two email accounts: A Gmail personal account, and a work account through Exchange. The work account has all kinds of security to go through, and I need the Outlook addresses and calendar. I don't think Mail will do. With the gmail (MAPI) account, I wanted to sort messages by sender and clean out hundreds of old messages, and Mail crashed whenever I tried that. But now that it's all cleaned up, maybe I'll try it.

You should and if you have Mountain Lion, sort people by using VIPs. That can help a lot.
 

Alameda

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2012
920
543
Not insulted at all :)

Yup - tried with power in / power out, enabled via System Prefs etc, apps (eg Mail) open.
I set up mail, and when I woke from sleep, Mail downloaded new messages -- so I'm not sure it worked. Apple says the Mac only checks for mail once per hour, maybe that's it?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5394

How often does Power Nap check for updates or back up?

Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Photo Stream, Find My Mac, and iCloud Documents are checked every hour.
Time Machine backups are attempted hourly until a successful backup has been completed.
Software Updates are checked daily.
Mac App Store downloads are checked once a week.
 

drxcm

macrumors regular
Nov 2, 2010
243
71
I set up mail, and when I woke from sleep, Mail downloaded new messages -- so I'm not sure it worked. Apple says the Mac only checks for mail once per hour, maybe that's it?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5394

How often does Power Nap check for updates or back up?

Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Photo Stream, Find My Mac, and iCloud Documents are checked every hour.
Time Machine backups are attempted hourly until a successful backup has been completed.
Software Updates are checked daily.
Mac App Store downloads are checked once a week.

Nope - nothing even after overnight sleep. Like I said, I've read every post on this, tried everything. I'm no slouch with OSX and Macs, and understand how to set it up and what it should do.

It just doesn't work on my MBA. Ever.

Maybe I need to reinstall.
 
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