Time Machine on Airport Extreme

[sidefx]

I just got a airport extreme to share my time machine external drive so I do not have to keep plugging it into my macbook. After the set-up I went to do my first backup over the network and instead of just calculating the changes it started to do a first backup even with the original backup on the disc. Why does it do that? I ending up formatting the backup drive and starting a new one over the network, but a 60gb backup took forever. In the future it would be nice to unplug the disc to recover or backup very large volumes without it starting a new backup.

Also my time machine disc shows up on my desktop as a connected server and as a external disc (only during the backup) can you make it just show as a connected server?

 

[OllyW]

A little piece of advice, always run the first Time Machine backup connected to the AEBS by ethernet cable. It save a lot of time.

 

[sidefx]

didnt think of that... whats the transfer rate difference between the two? I always thought that N was much faster than G wireless.

 

[mstrze]

didnt think of that... whats the transfer rate difference between the two? I always thought that N was much faster than G wireless.

It is, but a wired connection blows those away.

 

[sidefx]

ok thats good to know.

but why does it want to start a new backup when plugged in somewhere else?

 

[mstrze]

Plugging the DRIVE in somewhere else? You are creating a new filepath for the drive so essentially it is 'recognized' as a new drive.

Plugging your computer directly into your AEBS via the ethernet cable while the external you use for TM is attached to the USB is the way to go. You get a fast connection for the initial LARGE backup, and when you disconnect the computer via ethernet, you remain connected via wifi through the AEBS, so the filepath of the external HDD remains the same and it won't create a new backup, just add to the original.