Time Machine Problems With TC and External Drive

[borisiii]

I have an external hard drive which I normally use for time machine backups.

I have connected it by USB it to my parents' time capsule, and I am able to enter time machine and view my past backups, but when I try and back up, it starts creating an initial ~200GB backup instead of an incremental backup of just a few MB.

Is what I am trying to do - connect an external drive, which was initially set up to back up over USB, to a time capsule and use it to back up wirelessly - even possible?

Has anyone seen this before or have any ideas for things to try? Any help is much appreciated.

 

[njaremka]

when i bought my AEBS, i initially tried to plug in my usb external drive that was previously used for time machine and continue to perform backups. time machine did not like that option, and it would not start backups until i reformatted the drive to start from scratch. i had to reformat, then plug the drive into the AEBS, and start time machine with that drive. i think time machine gives the drive a location id that doesnt tranfer when you try to use it over a network.

 

[borisiii]

Ok, that is kind of what I assumed. It's a shame since it would be nice to be able to connect the drive to the TC and have it just work as if it were connected by USB. Since 10 months of the year I don't live with my parents, (I'm a student) it's not worth formatting it just so I can use it wirelessly every now and again. I'd rather keep my backups and use it over USB.

Thanks for your help and the speedy response.

 

[njaremka]

no problem. for me, it was worth it to re-format just so i could use it wirelessly. i was getting lazy remembering to connect the drive to the computer to perform regualr backups. now i dont have to think about.