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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Apps and Programs
Wondering If Any Have Had Success With Time Machine To A NAS Drive
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<blockquote data-quote="PGB1" data-source="post: 1825524" data-attributes="member: 76746"><p><span style="color: #0000CD">Actually using your TP-Link router for use with TM and using SMB setup seems quite simple:</span></p><p><span style="color: #0000CD">How to use Time Machine function on TP-Link routers?</span></p><p></p><p>Thanks Patrick for providing the article from TP-Link. </p><p></p><p>What is surprising is that I searched the TP-Link site off & on for days and never found the article. (Could be my poor search skills.)</p><p>More surprising is that the first time I wrote to Tech Support and asked about Time Machine & the router, I was told that they didn't know if it could be done- yet here is an article by them explaining how do accomplish the task.</p><p></p><p>The article shows the same interface as my TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 router has, so in theory it should work well. I couldn't make it work, but will try again with a drive that is not my important Time Machine backup.</p><p></p><p>TP-Link has conflicting information to their own article (that Patrick posted).</p><p>One of the articles TP-Link has about NAS says: <em>Currently, the FAT/FAT32/NTFS format is supported </em>, so that voids use for Time Machine, which requires Extended Journaled format.</p><p>I again asked TP-Link to verify, saying Time Machine needs Extended Journaled. I was told that Extended Journaled would not be seen by the router, so I can't use it for Time Machine.</p><p></p><p>They seem confused about their products' capabilities. But, I think their tech support people are genuinely interested in helping the customer and tend to explain things well- sometimes conflicting, but well. Based on an unrelated problem I had, they absolutely do not give up until the problem is solved. I'm impressed.</p><p>-----------------------------</p><p>I did try connecting the drive to the router as Extended Journaled and using Connect to Server. The drive manually connected fine & I could move files on & off of it. But, Time Machine did not show it as a choice for what drive to use for backup. Directly in the computer, Time Machine is quite happy with that drive. (TM also does not show any other format as a choice for backup, confirming Extended Journaled only.)</p><p>----------------------------</p><p>I apologize, but I didn't save links to most of the pro and con articles I viewed, Slydude.</p><p>Below is one article about Time Machine as NAS using a sparsebundle. It had the most simple explanation & directions, so I kept it.</p><p><a href="http://code.iamkate.com/articles/time-machine-on-a-network-drive/" target="_blank">Time Machine on a network drive</a></p><p></p><p>Here is one from Apple describing which drives will work with Time Machine:</p><p><a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202784" target="_blank">Backup disks you can use with Time Machine - Apple Support</a></p><p>It has a helpful link to supported drives for NAS.</p><p>--------------------------------</p><p>Thanks MacInWin for explaining how Time Machine backs up on a network drive. It is interesting. And thanks for the warning about the sensitivity of sparsebundle. </p><p>---------------------------------</p><p><em><span style="color: #0000CD">PS: I would never suggest only using a TM backup as one's only backup!!! My opiniom and I have witnessed TM screwup just too many times, but it does seem to have improved somewhat with later OS versions. But your choice.</span></em></p><p>I don't know if what I do is a safe enough plan, so suggestions are very welcome:</p><p>I have iDrive for offsite. Locally I have Time Machine on a USB hard drive and a firewire drive with periodic clones. I also periodically put my most critical work files on a thumb drive.</p><p>The local drives are subject to fire or theft, so hopefully iDrive will be good if it is ever needed. </p><p>-------------------------------</p><p>However, after reading what each of you wrote, I do believe it would be wise to keep on using Time Machine with a drive plugged directly into the computer.</p><p>Knowing me, just for the learning experience, I probably will take my spare drive and try again following the instructions Patrick posted. But I won't rely on it for a 'real' backup. It'll be more for learning.</p><p></p><p>Thanks Patrick, SlyDude & MacInWin for helping me out and for giving sound and honest advice. I really appreciate your efforts!</p><p>Paul</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PGB1, post: 1825524, member: 76746"] [COLOR="#0000CD"]Actually using your TP-Link router for use with TM and using SMB setup seems quite simple: How to use Time Machine function on TP-Link routers?[/COLOR] Thanks Patrick for providing the article from TP-Link. What is surprising is that I searched the TP-Link site off & on for days and never found the article. (Could be my poor search skills.) More surprising is that the first time I wrote to Tech Support and asked about Time Machine & the router, I was told that they didn't know if it could be done- yet here is an article by them explaining how do accomplish the task. The article shows the same interface as my TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 router has, so in theory it should work well. I couldn't make it work, but will try again with a drive that is not my important Time Machine backup. TP-Link has conflicting information to their own article (that Patrick posted). One of the articles TP-Link has about NAS says: [I]Currently, the FAT/FAT32/NTFS format is supported [/I], so that voids use for Time Machine, which requires Extended Journaled format. I again asked TP-Link to verify, saying Time Machine needs Extended Journaled. I was told that Extended Journaled would not be seen by the router, so I can't use it for Time Machine. They seem confused about their products' capabilities. But, I think their tech support people are genuinely interested in helping the customer and tend to explain things well- sometimes conflicting, but well. Based on an unrelated problem I had, they absolutely do not give up until the problem is solved. I'm impressed. ----------------------------- I did try connecting the drive to the router as Extended Journaled and using Connect to Server. The drive manually connected fine & I could move files on & off of it. But, Time Machine did not show it as a choice for what drive to use for backup. Directly in the computer, Time Machine is quite happy with that drive. (TM also does not show any other format as a choice for backup, confirming Extended Journaled only.) ---------------------------- I apologize, but I didn't save links to most of the pro and con articles I viewed, Slydude. Below is one article about Time Machine as NAS using a sparsebundle. It had the most simple explanation & directions, so I kept it. [url=http://code.iamkate.com/articles/time-machine-on-a-network-drive/]Time Machine on a network drive[/url] Here is one from Apple describing which drives will work with Time Machine: [url=https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202784]Backup disks you can use with Time Machine - Apple Support[/url] It has a helpful link to supported drives for NAS. -------------------------------- Thanks MacInWin for explaining how Time Machine backs up on a network drive. It is interesting. And thanks for the warning about the sensitivity of sparsebundle. --------------------------------- [I][COLOR="#0000CD"]PS: I would never suggest only using a TM backup as one's only backup!!! My opiniom and I have witnessed TM screwup just too many times, but it does seem to have improved somewhat with later OS versions. But your choice.[/COLOR][/I] I don't know if what I do is a safe enough plan, so suggestions are very welcome: I have iDrive for offsite. Locally I have Time Machine on a USB hard drive and a firewire drive with periodic clones. I also periodically put my most critical work files on a thumb drive. The local drives are subject to fire or theft, so hopefully iDrive will be good if it is ever needed. ------------------------------- However, after reading what each of you wrote, I do believe it would be wise to keep on using Time Machine with a drive plugged directly into the computer. Knowing me, just for the learning experience, I probably will take my spare drive and try again following the instructions Patrick posted. But I won't rely on it for a 'real' backup. It'll be more for learning. Thanks Patrick, SlyDude & MacInWin for helping me out and for giving sound and honest advice. I really appreciate your efforts! Paul [/QUOTE]
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