Timemachine and Airports Update

[frankly]

YEAH! Time Machine now recognizes the AirDisk attached to my AEBS after updating to the 7.3.1 firmware. I can finally use my wireless disk for backups! No need for a Time Capsule. It's preparing to backup right now...Hopefully this works.

I performed the update, restarted my computer and was about to slam you for putting us on. Then I launched my AirPort Utility and it started updating the firmware. After the base station finished updated and restarted and I accessed my AirDisk in the Finder I could finally see it in my Time Machine preferences.

YES

YES

YES

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!

I am really really excited about this and I am VERY GLAD that Apple finally got this working and released the update. I am quite surprised that they did not list this information specifically on their website though.

Frank

 

[knotzo25]

How to get time machine to list extreme drive

I was not able to see the aebs drive in time machine -- even though it was listed in the finder. The following fixed the problem and I can now see the drive in TM

Procedure to remedy problem:

Unmount network drive in finder.
Hook up drive via usb cable to your machine
Run disc utility
verify the disk (i got errors)
repair disk
unmount drive
hook back up to airport extreme
mount drive in finder
you should now see drive in time machine

Hope this fixes all the drives that are not showing up!

 

[bluedoggiant]

Can anyone with two or more machines confirm that you can set it as the time machine drive on the system OTHER than the one you formatted the drive on?

Well, our time capsule is backing up both the MacBook and MacBook Pro (my imac isn't)

It just creates a sparsebundle on the disc for each computer its backing up.

 

[megfilmworks]

I can confirm it is showing on all my macs via my AEBS in Time Machine as an available back up drive. I never formatted this disc.
It's right out of the box; LaCie 500gig.

 

[vansouza]

A

As far as this update goes: I'm thrilled I didn't drop the $$$ (That I really didn't have anyways) on the time capsule when I ordered my new MBP. I guess this whole update was lose-lose for apple, who are going to get heat from those who went out and bought Time capsule after already owning an Extreme.

Why would Apple catch heat; Apple changes its mind all the time as in the price of the iPhone and Lord knows with regular hardware updates. I for one am just as happy with my TC as I was before this update. If Extreme owners are happy also then Apple just added to the happiness of the universe. Get on with it, nothing to see here.

 

[gnasher729]

I'm surprised people haven't insisted that apple take them back and refund their money since it doesn't do what it was advertised to do. Has anyone tried that?

I think you will find that Apple has never publicly advertised that Airport Extreme would work with Time Machine. Time Machine was introduced to the public for the very first time when Leopard was released, and at that time Airport Extreme did _not_ work with Time Machine. Any information that was given to developers (with the usual caveat that everything is subject to change) and then leaked, most likely under breach of an NDA, isn't "advertised" by Apple.

 

[Toe]

I think you will find that Apple has never publicly advertised that Airport Extreme would work with Time Machine. Time Machine was introduced to the public for the very first time when Leopard was released, and at that time Airport Extreme did _not_ work with Time Machine. Any information that was given to developers (with the usual caveat that everything is subject to change) and then leaked, most likely under breach of an NDA, isn't "advertised" by Apple.

IIRC, when Apple first announced Time Machine, the pre-release info on their site clearly said it would work with Airport Extremes.

So, will an AirPort Extreme put a connected USB drive to sleep when it is not being used?

 

[BLACK MAC]

Glad to see apple finally addressed this issue. It seems like I can backup multiple macbooks with my APBE with an external hard drive. My question is if time machine creates backups for each computer, can I easily navigate to the other computers backup folder via finder? Or would I be locked out since I am not that specific user?

 

[jaw04005]

I think you will find that Apple has never publicly advertised that Airport Extreme would work with Time Machine.

Actually, Apple publicly advertised on its Web site that Time Machine would support backing up to AirDisk for months between WWDC 07 and October. The marketing jargon was removed just days before Leopard's release date.

Any information that was given to developers (with the usual caveat that everything is subject to change) and then leaked, most likely under breach of an NDA, isn't "advertised" by Apple.

Apple released the stream to WWDC 07 on its Web site. What Steve Jobs announced at WWDC was made "public" by Apple and is not subject to NDA. Only conference documentation and workshops are under NDA at WWDC.

You can watch Steve Jobs himself tout Time Machine's compatibility with AirPort Extreme Base Station here at 1:03 into the keynote:

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/d7625zs/event/

Many people including myself purchased an AirPort Extreme Base Station after the WWDC keynote and were sorely disappointed in that feature being removed from 10.5.

Internal developer mailing lists showed that there were issues with AirPort Extreme not being able to verify written data. That's why they pulled it from the original release.

I'm thrilled that Apple finally isolated the issue and fixed it.

On another note, I hope Apple now turns their attention to fixing Time Machine's compatibility with SAMBA drives, as that was also a feature discussed privately (under NDA) at WWDC.

Microsoft ignored the NDA and openly announced last summer Time Machine's SAMBA support and that their Windows Home Server O/S would support it natively. Of course, SAMBA support was pulled (along with AirDisk support) before Leopard shipped.

 

[Hawkeye411]

Time Machine Backup Failure Scared Me!!

After the software and firmware updates everything seemed to be working fine until time machine couldn't back up my MacBook. It tried at the normal automatic interval but failed. I tried it a couple more times and it stopped part way through. I was thinking .. oh great .. what now. Then I restarted my Macbook (the first reboot after the software and firmware updates) and everything worked fine. PHEWWWWW

Cheers.

 

[EagerDragon]

Yes to both - a sparsebundle is created and is mounted during backup.

When connecting a drive to time machine Mac system via USB, there seem to be a directory per system and under that directory it puts the backup.

Do you get this effect with AirDisk and TM or does it creates the sparse tree at the root of the drive?

 

[DaveF]

i had Time Machine set up prior and when connecting it via Airport Disk it tried to do a full backup again. so i'm not sure what to do here. i've reformatted the disk and tried to backup with Time Machine over AEBS but its 76GB of data. thats going to take a ridiculous amount of time. however, i'm afraid that if i continue it via USB that it won't take, and it'll try to do a full backup all over again.

Same experience. I unplugged my TimeMachine USB Drive (with about five months of backups) from my MacBook Pro and plugged it into my AEBS. Time Machine recognizes the disk but doesn't recognize the existing backups! It wants to start anew!

Is there any way to keep existing backups in Time Machine when moving a disk from direct USB to ABES?

 

[frankly]

Hack is off... hence why drive isn't showing up.

I'll reconnect the drive to a mac and write a file to it and then re-connect it and see.

*Edit: No luck there. Still doesn't see it.

The question is, did you turn the hack off before or after you ran the update?

 

[ajpprc]

So now I have one question: can you use a Drobo as your Airdisk with Time Machine?

 

[Alrescha]

Can anyone with two or more machines confirm that you can set it as the time machine drive on the system OTHER than the one you formatted the drive on?

My ppc mini is now backing up to the test drive I mentioned in a previous posting. I mounted the drive in finder, started up System Preferences, and it was available to choose as a Time Machine volume.

(and there are now two .<macaddress> files there)

A.

 

[bacaramac]

So now I have one question: can you use a Drobo as your Airdisk with Time Machine?

I thought drobo was for redundancy like a server so if an HD fails you do not loose data and TM is for restoring a deleted item, etc.

Why would you use a drobo for TM? Do you really need redundant back-ups?

Sorry, just curious as I was looking at a drobo and decided it didn't buy me anything since I just wanted a back-up of my data.

 

[sidharth80]

Folks..
Can you tell me if Airdisk will work over airport Express?

 

[bacaramac]

Here is my setup, I was hoping that this would fix my issue. I wanted a true NAS so I bought TC so I have my movies, etc are as close to the network as possible (didn't want to connect via USB on the network). I then have a separate drive for TM. Both are 1TB. I cannot get TM to back-up the TC HD. WHY???

Anyone help with this one? I can see my Airdisk on the TC via Time Machine so I know everything is hook-up correctly, it is just TM will not recognize any of my network drives as a valid HD to back-up. I thought this worked before.

 

[danny_w]

Why would Apple catch heat; Apple changes its mind all the time as in the price of the iPhone and Lord knows with regular hardware updates. I for one am just as happy with my TC as I was before this update. If Extreme owners are happy also then Apple just added to the happiness of the universe. Get on with it, nothing to see here.

I am one of those who bought a Time Capsule thinking that was the only way Apple would support TM backups via wireless, although I never liked the idea of the non-replaceable internal drive; I would have much preferred an AEBS with an external disk that could be easily replaced. I am glad that they got AirDisk working with the AEBS, but at the same time I am frustrated and angry that I have spent good money on a device that I no longer need (and I am probably not the only one). I did actually have the Time Capsule hang up on me twice, so I can probably use that as an excuse to return it (I am within the 14 day return period) without getting charged a restocking fee. If I hear mostly good reports from people about AirDisk and AEBS I may return my Time Capsule this weekend.

 

[jaw04005]

Folks..
Can you tell me if Airdisk will work over airport Express?

No. AirPort Express (802.11g or 802.11n) doesn't support AirDisk. Therefore, won't support Time Machine.

That was the first thing I tried.

 

[vansouza]

Glad to see apple finally addressed this issue. It seems like I can backup multiple macbooks with my APBE with an external hard drive. My question is if time machine creates backups for each computer, can I easily navigate to the other computers backup folder via finder? Or would I be locked out since I am not that specific user?

Why would you want to use finder when TM is able to track your backups and all subsequent additions.?

 

[Mindflux]

Well, our time capsule is backing up both the MacBook and MacBook Pro (my imac isn't)

It just creates a sparsebundle on the disc for each computer its backing up.

Interesting. Have either (or both) of these machines had that drive connected via USB/

The question is, did you turn the hack off before or after you ran the update?

No. But it's a simple system preference change (not like a hacked file or anything).

My ppc mini is now backing up to the test drive I mentioned in a previous posting. I mounted the drive in finder, started up System Preferences, and it was available to choose as a Time Machine volume.

(and there are now two .<macaddress> files there)

Hrm.. I can only get one .<macaddress> file, the one that had it attached via USB.

 

[mpcoady]

Hard Drive Partitioning

I moved all of my stored data off my AirDisk so I can partition it to create separate partitions for Time Machine & general storage.

In the Disk Utility, what format do I select for each of the 2 partitions in order for it to work with Time Machine? I selected Mac OS Extended (Journaled) but neither new partition would show up in Time Machine.

Thanks.

 

[DaveF]

Well now I'm screwed.

I unplugged my drive from the AEBS -- since it didn't recognize the existing Time Machine data -- and reconnected directly to my computer. I can activate Time Machine, and fly through all data normally.

But when Time Machine goes to do a new backup, it thinks it has 90GB of data to backup. This bad because I don't have that much space on my drive, so it fails. And I only have 75 GB of data on my MBP's hard-drive, so I don't know where Time Machine is finding 90 GB!

So now this odd thing has completely hosed my Time Machine setup.

My advice for now: don't connect current Time Machine drives to the AEBS. It's asking for trouble.

EDIT: I reconnected to the AEBS, deleted the Sparse Bundle file, then returned to the USB connection and Time Machine is working again; no 90 GB backup.

 

[nesado]

Why are they addressing airport issue solely for leopard os... Don't they realise they have also broken tiger's airport! Damned it FIX it Apple!!!! I still exprience drop off in wifi for tiger!