Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Time Machine backup via AE

C

Cinab1mt

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 26, 2010
140
13
Ill try to make this short and sweet.

For months I successfully ran a time machine backup daily with an external HD connected to my Airport extreme. I recently changed the security setting to WEP so that it would supports some of my older wireless devices. It then stopped backing up "the back up disk is unavailable" etc.

From here I completely reformatted my external HD to OS Extended Journaled, and also configured my AE back to the way it was originally, security settings and all (basically started from scratch again). I have tried EVERYTHING and looked all over the web, but I still cannot get my wireless backups to work again. The time machine utility recognizes the disk, but when selected, it still tells me that the "disk is not available".

What am I doing wrong?

I have tried numerous codes in terminal that worked for others on the web but they did not work for me. With my luck it seems like it is something very minor, however I am doing nothing different than what I did the first time around. :(

Thanks in advance, any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Apple does not officially support backing up to an AirDisk from an AirPort Extreme Base Station (my understanding is that they had originally intended to, but the fact that they released Time Capsule may or may not have something to do with it :)). So, I wouldn't be surprised if you can't find a working solution.

One thing that used to work for some people was plugging in the drive locally first, setting it up, then hooking it up to the AEBS.

Again, however, I'd be wary of relying on this unsupported setup.
 
Cinab1mt said:
I was maintaining successful TM backups for months??
Click to expand...

That was my #1 reason I sent back the AExtreme and got the TC. Many people said it worked for a while and then either for no reason or a small change like yours (security) it just quit working right.
 
Cinab1mt said:
Ill try to make this short and sweet.

For months I successfully ran a time machine backup daily with an external HD connected to my Airport extreme. I recently changed the security setting to WEP so that it would supports some of my older wireless devices. It then stopped backing up "the back up disk is unavailable" etc.

From here I completely reformatted my external HD to OS Extended Journaled, and also configured my AE back to the way it was originally, security settings and all (basically started from scratch again). I have tried EVERYTHING and looked all over the web, but I still cannot get my wireless backups to work again. The time machine utility recognizes the disk, but when selected, it still tells me that the "disk is not available".

What am I doing wrong?
I have tried numerous codes in terminal that worked for others on the web but they did not work for me. With my luck it seems like it is something very minor, however I am doing nothing different than what I did the first time around. :(

Thanks in advance, any help is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Personally... I would never switch to WEP, and instead would throw away any old technology. WPA2 should be in every product sold since 2004. WEP is such a weak security standard that it is not worth the risk. I understand that it can be cracked in just a few minutes with off-the-shelf SW tools.

/Jim
 
I appreciate the insight guys. It's just strange because it worked so well and now I can seem to find whats wrong with it...i guess its back to the hard wire. I agree with the statement about WEP, I was actually trying to game on my original Nintendo DS which only supports WEP sadly and thats what started this whole fiasco.. :(
 
not sure if you can do it on an AE but I use a different set up but have always found the system seems to work better if I set the Hard drive on a static IP address. I know it shouldn't make any difference but performance has seemed more consistent when Ive used it!
 
Cinab1mt said:
I was maintaining successful TM backups for months??
Click to expand...
That's the thing: it might work, but it's not supported, and it might stop working at any time (and Apple won't help you). I'd say your solution of going back to a local connection is best, inconvenient as it might be.
 
Cinab1mt said:
Ill try to make this short and sweet.

For months I successfully ran a time machine backup daily with an external HD connected to my Airport extreme. I recently changed the security setting to WEP so that it would supports some of my older wireless devices. It then stopped backing up "the back up disk is unavailable" etc.

From here I completely reformatted my external HD to OS Extended Journaled, and also configured my AE back to the way it was originally, security settings and all (basically started from scratch again). I have tried EVERYTHING and looked all over the web, but I still cannot get my wireless backups to work again. The time machine utility recognizes the disk, but when selected, it still tells me that the "disk is not available".

What am I doing wrong?



I have tried numerous codes in terminal that worked for others on the web but they did not work for me. With my luck it seems like it is something very minor, however I am doing nothing different than what I did the first time around. :(

Thanks in advance, any help is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Even if you get this working again, I am willing to bet that the changes in Lion's Time Machine will break you again....I'm betting on lots of us upgrading to a Time Capsule soon!
 
Have you tried to simply open Time Machine through the application? I had a similar problem where back ups were failing and for whatever reason, this fixed it. YMMV
 
Uffish Thought said:
What HD are you using for TM backup? USB off the AEBS? It's not a Segate GoFlex is it?
Click to expand...


Im using less than a half year old WD 1.5TB external. I guess I was unaware that this was not officially supported by Apple :confused: as the first go around it was seamless, albeit a bit slow over WIFI for the first backup, but other than that it worked great. I dug myself my own grave I suppose..

I guess looking at the big picture this is what Apple would want seeing as though it is a much cheaper solution than buying a time capsule.. :(
 
I would highly recommend a NAS. It may be more of a financial investment now, but you get so much more out of it than a Time Capsule will provide. There are some manufacturers, such as Synology, that make NAS units capable of Time Machine backups as well. Not to mention the speeds you'll get should far surpass Time Capsule or AirPort Extreme with USB HDD.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back