External Hard drive from imac wifi

[somanymacs]

Hi guys, this is my first post so go easy on me .
Basically I have an iMac and a Macbook Pro (unibody) and a USB external hard drive (500GB) I want to wirelessly back up my Macbook Pro and the iMac with the hard drive connected to the iMac. A sort of time capsule concept. But i don't have an airport base station to make this process easier I only have a wanadoo livebox.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, sorry If i haven't made anything clear.

Thanks in advance
Rich

 

[JediMeister]

Haven't tested this out, so pardon me if this doesn't work.
Step 1 is to share the external drive in your Sharing preferences.
Step 2 is to have your iMac create a wireless network. You can go to the AirPort menu, and create a computer-to-computer network by selecting the option Create Network. You can name the network and set a WEP password. This is pretty much the same as setting up Internet Sharing from Ethernet to AirPort in the Sharing preferences pane.
Step 3, have the MacBook Pro join the computer-to-computer network, and in Time Machine preferences, try to select the shared external drive.

 

[somanymacs]

Haven't tested this out, so pardon me if this doesn't work.
Step 1 is to share the external drive in your Sharing preferences.
Step 2 is to have your iMac create a wireless network. You can go to the AirPort menu, and create a computer-to-computer network by selecting the option Create Network. You can name the network and set a WEP password. This is pretty much the same as setting up Internet Sharing from Ethernet to AirPort in the Sharing preferences pane.
Step 3, have the MacBook Pro join the computer-to-computer network, and in Time Machine preferences, try to select the shared external drive.

thank you for the quick reply, but sadly I can't do that as I connect to the internet via wifi so I would have no internet connection if I was to use a computer-to-computer network.

any other ideas ??

 

[Crown16]

cant you hook up the ext HD to your router? make it into a network HD of some sort? i think you should be able to connect to it form you imac and MB

 

[somanymacs]

cant you hook up the ext HD to your router? make it into a network HD of some sort? i think you should be able to connect to it form you imac and MB

My router = terrible it just 'routes' as it where, I've checked about any capability to do that and nope.
I've connected it to my imac and It is a shared file, but i can't seem to backup to it, it will just make things in my house much more slick & streamlined

 

[Crown16]

My router = terrible it just 'routes' as it where, I've checked about any capability to do that and nope.
I've connected it to my imac and It is a shared file, but i can't seem to backup to it, it will just make things in my house much more slick & streamlined

what kind of extHDD is it, brand model?

 

[Blue Fox]

Best way to do this is to go out and get a new router that allows you to connect a USB hardrive to it and have it backup both computers wirelessly. That's what I would do (and I believe these specific routers are around the $60 price range).

 

[somanymacs]

what kind of extHDD is it, brand model?

Its a MAXTOR 500GB


and getting a new router is not an option, it would cause too much disruption in the house (don't ask haha), and I don't really have enough money at the moment... there is a new iphone coming out you know hahaha must have my compass

 

[Crown16]

Its a MAXTOR 500GB


and getting a new router is not an option, it would cause too much disruption in the house (don't ask haha), and I don't really have enough money at the moment... there is a new iphone coming out you know hahaha must have my compass

Is the HDD formatted correctly? I dont think ntfs of fat32 will work as backup for your mac

 

[somanymacs]

Is the HDD formatted correctly? I dont think ntfs of fat32 will work as backup for your mac

yes, it backs up fine wired to my mac, its just finding a way of making it work wirlessly

 

[somanymacs]

Sorted

I had a little fiddle some more, and with mac's new ability to read minds (must have been added in a recent firmware update) it worked = one happy mac user

 

[Jakehills]

Please Help!

I had a little fiddle some more, and with mac's new ability to read minds (must have been added in a recent firmware update) it worked = one happy mac user

I have exactly the same problem, I have a macbook and a 500gb usb hard drive.. and a not that brilliant router..
Could you please tell me how you did this?
Thanks :]

 

[Machinima]

Is the HDD formatted correctly? I dont think ntfs of fat32 will work as backup for your mac

It will, Mac's can handle reading and writing to NTFS and FAT32 just fine, its just not enabled when you first get the Mac, you have to install macFUSE and NTFS-3G.

 

[mufngruf]

hard drive/media player issues

I have just purchased an IcyBox IB-MP3010HW and, so far, I'm very happy with it. But I cannot get it to connect to my iMac except directly by using the usb cord. Since my computer is downstairs and my bigscreen TV is upstairs, the wifi connection is one that I really wanted.
I know that the wifi will reach that far because I have been running an Eyehome unit through an upstairs wifi router which connected to the imac without any issues at all once I installed it's own software.
I have set up the icybox so that it sees and can connect to the wireless network router downstairs next to my computer which connects to the network by it's own airport wifi.
Presumably I have to set up my imac to somehow interact with the icybox, but do not know how. Can you help please.
Thank you