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Resolved Timemachine with external SSD?

T

TekGuy

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 30, 2014
59
7
Hi Everyone,

I got a Samsung 840 Evo 512GB SSD that was used in my previous Windows laptop. It's only few months old and now I got a Macbook Pro Retina I have no particular use for it.

It has my data on from when i was using Windows and will be purchasing Paragon NTFS for Mac 12 so i can transfer my data from it to the MBP.

I was thinking a good idea would be to use it with Timemachine to backup my MBP incase of disasters.

Now obviously I would rather not have to manually connect it to MBP to do a backup so was thinking 'How could I use my Samsung SSD for Timemachine backups wirelessly?'. I own an Asus RT-AC68U Router. The router has a USB2 and USB3 port on it.

Does anyone know if this would work? if I connect my SSD (waiting for caddy case to be delivered) to the USB3 port on my router. Could I use timemachine to make backups to the SSD wirelessly?

I'd appreciate any help on this, new to Apple and Macs and would love to save money instead of buying an Apple Time Capsule.

Thank you! :)
 
Last edited:
TekGuy said:
I own an Asus RT-AC68U Router. The router has a USB2 and USB3 port on it.
Click to expand...

To backup over the network like that the router needs to support Apple's AFP network protocol. From a bit of searching, it does not appear that your router supports AFP... so it is a no go.

Also, OS X can natively read NTFS disks, so if you don't need to write to that disk in NTFS you should be able to just plug it in to your Mac and copy over any files you need with Paragon.
 
TekGuy said:
Hi Everyone,

I got a Samsung 840 Evo 512GB SSD that was used in my previous Windows laptop. It's only few months old and now I got a Macbook Pro Retina I have no particular use for it.

It has my data on from when i was using Windows and will be purchasing Paragon NTFS for Mac 12 so i can transfer my data from it to the MBP.

I was thinking a good idea would be to use it with Timemachine to backup my MBP incase of disasters.

Now obviously I would rather not have to manually connect it to MBP to do a backup so was thinking 'How could I use my Samsung SSD for Timemachine backups wirelessly?'. I own an Asus RT-AC68U Router. The router has a USB2 and USB3 port on it.

Does anyone know if this would work? if I connect my SSD (waiting for caddy case to be delivered) to the USB3 port on my router. Could I use timemachine to make backups to the SSD wirelessly?

I'd appreciate any help on this, new to Apple and Macs and would love to save money instead of buying an Apple Time Capsule.

Thank you! :)
Click to expand...

That router does not support Time Machine as Weaselboy stated. However, you can purchase a USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt adapter to connect the SSD as a Time Machine drive directly to your Mac. Also, the AirPort Extreme is capable of this function to USB drives.
 
My advice:

1. Put the SSD into an external USB3 enclosure. This one looks good:
http://firmtek.stores.yahoo.net/dlite1.html
(no financial interest in above link)

2. Connect it to the new MBPro and transfer what you need to transfer from the drive to the Mac.

3. Once you have everything off of it, re-initialize it to Mac format (HFS+, journaling enabled)

4. You might consider partitioning the SSD. I would use the "first" partition to serve as a cloned backup of the MBPro's internal drive (you can use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create it).
I'd use the second partition for a Time Machine backup if that suits you.

Or -- just leave it as a single partition and use CCC (or SD) to create a cloned backup which you update periodically. I sense that cloned incremental updates from one SSD to another will go VERY quickly...
 
Thanks everyone, appreciate the replies.

I will save for an AirPort Time Capsule. But do it manually once a week for now :)

On Windows I could access the HDD which was connected directly into router via usb3 from my Windows 8 laptop wirelessly.

How do I do this in Yosemite? Would like to try it (obviously I understand I cannot use it for TimeCapsule wirelessly) but can't see anything in Yosemite, not sure how i access the HDD (connected in usb3 on router) wirelessly from my Macbook Pro.

Thank you,
Mat
 
Bruno09 said:
Are you sure ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc3oYW1cmcQ
Click to expand...

Thank you! Will try this tomorrow :D

Many thanks!

----------
Bruno09 said:
Just seen that :

"Asuswrt-Merlin: Customized firmware for Asus routers
Github: github.com/RMerl - Twitter: RMerlinDev"

But sure, no Time Machine support in the "legit" specs :
http://content.abt.com/documents/53176/E8119_RT_AC68U_Manual.pdf
Click to expand...

Just had a look and i'm using Asus Original Firmware and there is an option "Time Machine", It does support it but entirely forgot about it and never used it as this is my first rMBP.



So pleased saves me buying a AirPort Time Capsule just for the sake of the wireless backup as my Asus RT-AC68U Router is only few months old and is much better as a router.

Thank you!
 
Works Great :)

Just a quick update people.

I bought a ssd optimised caddy for my samsung evo 840 512GB SSD.
I bought Paragon NTFS for Mac 12 and must admit an amazing app.

I moved all contents of ssd (had my windows stuff on it) to my rMBP. Then I Formatted/partitioned samsung ssd using disk utility.

I then plugged the ssd into the usb3 port on my asus rt-ac68U router. Then I logged into my router administration panel turned on time machine, selected the ssd plugged into router as backup device and then I set a max limit time machine can use for backups then saved.

I turned time machine on my rMBP and the ssd plugged into router was showing in devices I could choose to backup to. I selected the ssd which is plugged into router and time machine is now performing it's first backup.

First backup is recommended being done via ethernet for obvious reasons. I don't have a thunderbolt to ethernet adaptor cable so letting it do it wirelessly. So far all is working as should.

Saved myself £279 :eek:

Thanks everyone!
 
Last edited:
ahaaja said:
Any update on how this backup-system kept up with time? Any failures?
Click to expand...

I just plug it directly into laptop once a week now, every few weeks it would complain about not being able to verify backup, became annoying, I no longer get the problem doing it through USB.
 
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