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Time Machine Now Works with Airport Extreme USB Drives

HLdan said:
Anyone who bought TC is still way ahead of anyone using the common AirDisk method.
Firstly TC is "One" device vs. an AEBS plus an external HDD which both have to be plugged in for power, at least one has a powerbrick plus both have to be hooked together resulting in more wires creating a messy space (and those people doing this KNOW THAT).

TC also supports multiple computers for TM in the household wirelessly and AirDisk does not do that. To those people who bought TC you haven't taken a loss, it's your gain, those others still have a messy setup and less features.
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Agreed.... I have the newer Airport Extreme(802.11n) as my base unit. The Time Capsule is used to extend my network and located on the floor below my base station. These two will give me full signal anywhere in my house. Before I used two Airport Express downstairs, one on each end of the house. I wanted to experience the full 802.11n so I did away with the Express( before they just released the new ones this week) and installed the Time Capsule. I now backup 2 laptops and an iMac and could not be any happier. The first backup for each computer I did with ethernet cable and all the backup since are wireless and takes only minutes if that long. I was lazy before and never took time to backup and this is the greatest since sliced bread!:):)
 
skinnylegs said:
Yes. Everything is working perfectly and again.....thank you! I was curious as to whether I really needed to keep Airport turned on because I *do* have the ethernet cable running from my AEBS to the iMac. It just seems 'kinda redundant and I'm thinking (which can be dangerous for me) that my connection might be a bit faster via the ethernet as opposed to the wireless network?
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Well, if your broadcasting wifi and you are also plugged in, there is a redundancy, but if your imac should be using the wired connection anyways because depending on the quality of the cat5/cat6 "ethernet" cable you are using it will be faster, but at that range wireless should be blazing fast as well. Wireless and/or wired connections are only as fast as your internet speed anyways, and for many people, the connections they use exceed the bandwidth they get from their internet service provider. :p

Even if you stay hard wired to your AEBS you can always just broadcast for fun and make a hotspot for buddies (turn on the security) or just make your place iPhone happy. :)
 
My question (and pardon me if it has already been posed and answered) is:-

I spend some time at my girlfriends house (mainly during the working week) and the rest at my own house.

Can I back up via Time Machine at both places? I have a USB drive at one location, and another I was going to set up another via my AE at home. Can I run Time Machine in both locations? Or will discrepancies between the two cause problems?

Only asking, 'cause I'm sure someone else here will either have done this, or is thinking of it.

Thanks for any advice.
 
Shagrat said:
My question (and pardon me if it has already been posed and answered) is:-

I spend some time at my girlfriends house (mainly during the working week) and the rest at my own house.

Can I back up via Time Machine at both places? I have a USB drive at one location, and another I was going to set up another via my AE at home. Can I run Time Machine in both locations? Or will discrepancies between the two cause problems?

Only asking, 'cause I'm sure someone else here will either have done this, or is thinking of it.

Thanks for any advice.
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No.
 
W1LLk said:
Well, if your broadcasting wifi and you are also plugged in, there is a redundancy, but if your imac should be using the wired connection anyways because depending on the quality of the cat5/cat6 "ethernet" cable you are using it will be faster, but at that range wireless should be blazing fast as well. Wireless and/or wired connections are only as fast as your internet speed anyways, and for many people, the connections they use exceed the bandwidth they get from their internet service provider. :p

Even if you stay hard wired to your AEBS you can always just broadcast for fun and make a hotspot for buddies (turn on the security) or just make your place iPhone happy. :)
Click to expand...
Yeah.....I suppose I'll just leave well enough alone. :)

As long as I have your attention.....

I have been using my external HD with Time Machine for some time now. So.....do I simply eject it than plug it into my AEBS and that's it?
 
Mindflux said:
Sounds like a case of PEBKAC.
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Haha...very funny! NO!! It is not a case of PEBKAC!! Go to apple's TC forum and you will see the threads. It is a known issue and has been for some time for TC users with xbox 360. Go look for yourself before calling me a PEBKAC!
 
Telp said:
Wait, will this work if the EHD is connected to the main mac, and is seen as a shared device between computers? Even if its not connected to the router?
Click to expand...

No but if your EHD is connected to the main mac and this mac is connected to the router (wireless or not), then you can simply connect to your EHD with any computer (via your main mac, of course). But that's always been the case so I guess it's not the answer your looking for...
 
Pine-Tree said:
Finally!! Thought Apple would never allow it since it has Time Capsule. I kept trying to have TM find my external drive connected to my Airport Extreme, but nothing. Had to go to the actual Utilities folder, open up Airport Utility and then it let me know that there was an update.

Strange thing is I thought I did the update already through software update. I suppose you were also suppose to go the the actual airport and update directly as well.

Good thing is that everything works now. Bad thing is that I'm a minimalist type of guy, so I know I'll end up getting a Time Capsule anyways for less wires and stuff...haha.
Click to expand...

Just to be sure here, because I am thinking of getting one, this is the small Airport device that Apple sells for $99.? Thanks..
 
Sorry to bump this question but.....

Leopard and Airport Utility are all updated. I have been using my external HD for some time now to back-up via Time Machine. Do I simply eject my external HD and plug it into my AEBS?
 
How ironic would it be if the fact that it's "sort of" working turns out to be a bug in the firmware upgrade? :eek:
 
Apologies if this has been covered but I couldn't go through all 12 pages of the thread. Has it been confirmed that people can backup multiple Macs on an AEBS + EHD?
 
vansouza said:
Just to be sure here, because I am thinking of getting one, this is the small Airport device that Apple sells for $99.? Thanks..
Click to expand...

Nope. The $99 version is the Airport Express, which cannot use AirDisk. The Airport Express can stream music to remote speakers and wirelessly print to USB, but not AirDisk.

You want either the Airport Extreme or Time Capsule.
 
cibby said:
Apologies if this has been covered but I couldn't go through all 12 pages of the thread. Has it been confirmed that people can backup multiple Macs on an AEBS + EHD?
Click to expand...

I have not had luck with this. The one mac that will back up over AirDisk is the one I formatted the EHD on. The other Mac lets me select the EHD (Airdisk'd) but then tosses up an error.
 
multiple hard drives?

Does anyone know if airport extreme will support multiple hard drives? (connected through a hub).
I'd like to use one for time machine, and access to one or two others for sharing files. I'd also like to have my printer hooked up to it.
Thanks.
 
Correct Settings and this works!

I've got an Airport Extreme with new firmware 7.3.1 and the Mac OS Time Machine and Airport Update 1.0 installed, but found that Time Machine will not recognize Airport USB disks unless settings are correct.

If the Airport USB disk is configured to use User Accounts within the Airport Utility, Time Machine will not see the disk. You are not able to mount a user's folder and select that, it just doesn't work.

To get Time Machine to see a disk, within the Airport utility, you must select an options other than "User Accounts" AKA protection via disk password or Airport password.

If you're like me and have a current disk that smaller than what you'd like to use, you can transfer older backups to a larger disk via Disk Utilities restore feature. This will copy the older Time Machine backups to the new destination, then enabling file sharing with disk password in the Airport Utility, things work great.

It also works perfectly to first use Time Machine with a new disk locally connected to your machine and then connect this disk to your Airport Extreme for "networked" Time Machine Backups. A connection via eSATA or Firewire for the first "big" backup and then moving the disk to the Airport Extreme as a USB disk for all backups after.

As many have said, this process is not automatic, unlike Time Capsule, but it's really not that difficult to just mount a disk. iCal or a small script could be used to do this on any desired schedule.

Those that complain about the "automatic" feature not being a part of the Airport Extreme should consider that if they really need automation can go buy a Time Capsule.....

If anyone has figured out how or has had success getting Time Machine to see a USB disk protected via user accounts, I'd really like to know!!
 
HLdan said:
Those are outrageously expensive drives. :p
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Well, yea, you're right. But then many people say that Apple produces "outrageously expensive" computers.

... and after having Lacie's crash and burn (not literally) I'll spend more for a better drive ... just like I will for a better computer.
 
for me, Time Machine automatically mounts the Airport Disk backup without me having to do anything.

it backs up perfectly every hour by mounting the sparsebundle and the unmounting it. this is without me doing ANYTHING but turning my computer on and connecting wirelessly to my airport.

i am currently using the airport password option for disk access.
 
using AEBS with HD as a server and Time machine

Do i need to create two different partitions if I want to perform TM backups of 2 different machines and store all my iTunes music to share among all computers.. I guess just point iTunes on all comps to the folder on the airdisk. Also, a little off topic, but if I do this and it works, can I use back to my mac to access the iTunes data remotely?
 
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