Do I need Time Capsule to back-up wirelessly?

[energysaver]

I love the idea of Time Capsule but its sooooo expensive for the amount of storage.

Can I buy a NAS drive (like a WD World Edition) and use it like a Time Capsule - backing-up using Time Machine over my WiFi network?

Thanks.

 

[MAGICMOXTER]

You can do what you suggested, and this has been covered a lot before in this forum which is probably why noone answered.

I have a hard drive connected using LAN to my wireless router and backup using time machine and it works like a charm.

 

[Pika]

I back up all my stuffs to my TimeCapsule without TimeMachine... i just drag and drop all my important files and applications to it like a wired external hard-drive. You can go anywhere in your house without having to keep a HD connected to your macbook.

 

[desiringGod]

Can I buy a NAS drive (like a WD World Edition) and use it like a Time Capsule - backing-up using Time Machine over my WiFi network?

Yes you can.

 

[MattZani]

YES YOU CAN

You could buy an Airport Extreme and an External USB Drive, or any Wireless Router with a USB on the back really

 

[JoseAtMacPro]

Time Capsule is needed

I'm new to Mac World. But the following is my learning so far. Time Machine does a complete backup of your Mac every hour.To do that wirelessly Time Capsule is needed. Backing up wirelessly with TIME MACHINE is not supported unless, of course,if you have Time Capsule. Of course, you can always backup manually those important files if you have a set up with Airport Station/USB Port/HardDrive. In my case, I have a Belkin USB Port and WD My Book 1TB.
My book is connected to Belkin USB Port and Belkin USB port is connected to Airport Station.It works fine. That is, my MacBook Pro can see WD My book wirelessly, however, Time Machine refuses to see My Book wirelessly. Reason:it is not supported.It didn't work either when I hooked My book directly to Airport Station.My solution is to back up some important files wirelessly when needed and every once in a while connect My book by wire to do a full back up. Hope this helps.But if any of you out there knows how to do a full Time Capsule backup with a similar configuration.Please let me know.

JAC

 

[QCassidy352]

I'm new to Mac World. But the following is my learning so far. Time Machine does a complete backup of your Mac every hour.To do that wirelessly Time Capsule is needed.

Not true - I've done wireless time machine backups using my airport extreme base station and seagate freeagent pro.

But I went back to using firewire because backups are soooo slow the wireless route.

 

[JoseAtMacPro]

How to do it?

I wonder then how to do it.
I have a MacBook Pro and like I said in a previous comment, my MacBook Pro can see the hard disk wirelessly but when setting Time Machine I have to choose a Backup Disk, then I have to click an icon that says : "Set Up Time Capsule" this makes my laptop to open Airport utility but never shows my My Book hard drive that I can already access on Computer/My Book.

JAC

 

[stovetop6872]

I wonder then how to do it.
I have a MacBook Pro and like I said in a previous comment, my MacBook Pro can see the hard disk wirelessly but when setting Time Machine I have to choose a Backup Disk, then I have to click an icon that says : "Set Up Time Capsule" this makes my laptop to open Airport utility but never shows my My Book hard drive that I can already access on Computer/My Book.

JAC

First, plug in your hard drive into your Base Station. Wait like 10 - 15 seconds and open the finder and click on your Base Station in the side bar.

Now, double click your drive (its manufactured to say "My Book". This will MOUNT the drive to your computer. Now Open System Preferences and click Time Machine. Now, click "Choose Disk" or "Change Disk" (I don't remember which one it's called).

It will show your drive connected yo your Base Station. Click on it and you can start using Time Machine wirelessly!