Time Machine wireless backup

cheef

cheef

cheef

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Joined
18 Aug 2009
Posts
195
Hello fellow Apple peeps. I have a query, and I'm wondering whether any of you have spotted the answer whilst on your internet travels.

I have an iMac in "Room A", with a 2TB external disk connected via firewire 800. My iMac backs up to this disk quite nicely via Time Machine using the standard Backups.backupdb folder structure. The iMac is connected to a gigabit wired network.

Also in Room A, I have a Mac mini which is also connected to the same wired network, and backs up to the 2TB disk connected to the iMac over the LAN. This uses the <mac_name>.sparsebundle format.

In Room B, which is on another floor and doesn't have a wired network facility, is a second Mac mini. This mini is connected to my network via a 5GHz wireless network.

I want the mini from Room B to back up to the same 2TB disk (connected to iMac) using Time Machine, over the wireless network.


Achievable?


Thanks in advance.
 
Are you not putting all you're eggs in 1 basket?

Wouldn't a small external be better placed (yes it will look unsightly next to the mini)?

Alternatively... If the mini in room B can't see the drive, network it properly into the router and not the machine... That should allow you to backup wirelessly and wired depending on the machine
 
Thanks for the replies, folks.

PardonTheWait:

Can you expand?


Skyboat:

If I connect to the 2TB disk (on the iMac) from the mini in Room B, it'll show up as a connected server no problem. I use the Time Machine preferences to select the disk, which it does, but when I try to do a backup I get this error...

20110621-11ret3h13w5cpggm1mh64ay7h4.jpg


... so it doesn't look as plain sailing as I first thought - unless you mean there is something different I should be doing?


sbi5ar:

Can't have another external disk in Room B I'm afraid, it's in a bed room and I don't want any further noise. As 'silent' as the mini is, there's still a small 'hum' and I don't want to add to that. Your "wirelessly and wired" statement has triggered something that I'm going to try.

Remove the mini from Room B and connect it to the router. Select the backup disk via the iMac and let it backup, to first create that sparsebundle. I'm hoping that when taken back into Room B and connected via wireless, it'll see the previously created sparsebundle and backup the increments to it over wifi.

Worth a shot, anyway.


Thanks for the suggestions thus far.
 
Last edited:
cheef said:
Thanks for the replies, folks.

PardonTheWait:

Can you expand?
Click to expand...

OSX Server includes specific Time Machine Server tools which are designed for this sort of stuff, so you might find it a cleaner way of doing it.

However on re-reading your OP, I'll be honest, I wasn't aware you could just back up to another machine's drive if you could see it on the network, so OSX Server might be tremendous overkill if it's doable that way!

Lion will apparently have a cheapish set of server tools you can add on from the App Store, so that might be a more sensible way of going it come next month. Worth looking into :)
 
If they are all connected to the same network, then it is possible.

Need to do the following.


1. Go into Applications / Utilities and open up terminal
2. Copy and paste this command into terminal (all on one line)

Code: 
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

3. Mount Share.
4. Select Share in Time Machine

Works for me - however I have a Airport Extreme. But should work as normal with a non-apple product.
 
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