Is is possible to backup to another computer's Time Machine

[jb60606]

I have a Drobo attached (via firewire) to my Mac Pro, with one partition dedicated for Time Machine backups.

Is it possible to backup other Macs on my network to this Time Machine, or can only the Mac Pro use it?

All Macs are using SL 10.6.3. I mount the Drobo (and separate TM partition) on every Mac at login, and both show up as eligible drives to use as TM backup destinations, under TM preferences. However, if I select either drive, and initiate the backup, after a few moments it tells me the "backup disk is not available".

Thanks

 

[Hellhammer]

I think they can use the same partition, so yes but not sure how it's done over network. It'll create a new file though so more space is used. Your other Macs can use the Mac Pro's backup for migrating as well so you may not need to backup them if your backup already has the files you need

 

[mac2x]

If you can log into the Mac Pro as an administrator from the other Mac, you will be able to read and write to any drive under /Volumes on the MP. Obviously, the firewall must be off for this to work.

Caveat: I've only done some playing around with this via the command line; it may or may not work for Time Machine.

 

[jb60606]

macbook pro locked up near the end of what had been a day long process of using a remote drive as a TM backup. Looks possible, but I'm not going to attempt to try this again... way too time consuming for a freaking measly 95GB of data.

For those that are interested, I was attempting to backup to a designated "Time Machine" partition on a Drobo attached via firewire, to my Mac Pro. From what I've been reading, TM doesn't like to share a hard drive with other data, even if it's given its own partition. Backing up the Mac Pro to the Drobo took nearly an entire day, for less than 3/4 TB data.

I decided to remove the TM partition, install another HD in my Mac Pro and use that for its backups. I'm going to buy another external HD to attach to one of my AEBS, to use as a TM backup destination for my MBP and MBA. I can't say that the Drobo isn't at least partially responsible for this mess... I just don't have the time or energy to continue trying to get this to work.