Time Machine and USB Connected Drive

[Skormy]

I am in the process of updating some of my networking gear. I have an imac with a 1 TB Lacie drive that I use for TM that is 90+% full, but am looking to upgrade both my TM drive and my router.

I have purchased (but not installed) an Asus N66U router and was expecting to connect a larger drive to it to use TM. But from what I'm reading it will not work. Is there another router I should be looking at to have implement network based TM backup for my imac and mbp?

Thanks

 

[blueroom]

Get a Synology NAS.

 

[Skormy]

A Synology NAS was one of my original ideas. I have moderate technical skills, so what is the level of effort for setting up the NAS and configuring TM.

Also, I am looking into a 2-bay model. Question: is it possible for TM to backup both the local drives on my imac and MBP as well as a drive I'd use on the NAS for network storage(not backup).

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[stooovie]

Don't do that. Time machine over TCP/IP is not dependable. Google it - it will crap itself every once in a while ("to increase your backup safety", the backup will be erased and started over, or something to that tune). Also, no matter what NAS you use, Time machine will flood and clog the connection. Network drives aren't that good with random R/W.

 

[Skormy]

So, stooovie, if TCP/IP is not dependable, what would you recommend to do backups of a small number of Mac computers via TimeMachine? My locally connected TM has worked like a charm for 3.5 years. With that disk filling up, and the addition of the Macbook, I'm now looking for a more robust solution (at a reasonable cost). Ideas??

 

[Benjamin99]

A Synology NAS was one of my original ideas. I have moderate technical skills, so what is the level of effort for setting up the NAS and configuring TM.

Thanks for the feedback.

There is a learning curve to setting one up if you are not familiar w/ it, but I was a novice at best when I set mine up and was able to get it up and running pretty well. I would still say it was pretty easy compared to some other stuff I've dealt with. I didn't have any issues w/ my TM backups to my Synology when I had it. I have since sold it - it was more of an experiment and I didn't really need 8TB at the time... However, now that my media collection is growing I'll probably look into another one in the near future.

 

[Weaselboy]

Is there another router I should be looking at to have implement network based TM backup for my imac and mbp?

Thanks

Get an Apple Time Capsule. It is a router with a hard drive built in specifically for use with Time Machine backup and works well. I noticed they have them in the Apple return store for some savings also.