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Heroes182

Q: Time Machine - Multiple addresses for the same disk.

I have Time Machine backing up to a network drive at home, and have recently set up port forwarding so I can access this drive from outside the network.

This means I now have 2 addresses for the same disk.

 

How do I explain this to Time Machine?

-If I give it both addresses, will it figure out they're the same disk and write incrementally, or will it just back everything up twice?

-If I just give it the external address, it'll connect successfully but it'll be routing the backup through the internet even though I'm on a LAN (right?).

-I'm currently switching target disks manually as necessary, but this is obviously not ideal.

 

Thanks in advance!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Sep 5, 2014 2:32 AM

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Q: Time Machine - Multiple addresses for the same disk.

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  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Sep 5, 2014 12:19 PM in response to Heroes182
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
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    Sep 5, 2014 12:19 PM in response to Heroes182

    Have you actually tried to enter the remote address as a backup destination? I don't see how that would work.

  • by Heroes182,Solvedanswer

    Heroes182 Heroes182 Sep 5, 2014 12:35 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 5, 2014 12:35 PM in response to Linc Davis

    I've (mostly) solved the issue

     

    You're right, entering the remote address directly doesn't work (I guess Time Machine isn't set up for that), but mounting the drive as a smb share does.

    This also solves the problem of getting Time Machine to identify both as the same drive; As far as I mount the drive first, Time Machine will always find it ready to go.

     

    The only thing that still doesn't work (and probably never will) is that thing where Time Machine auto-mounts the drive when it needs it, but that doesn't really bother me as I tend to work with the drive mounted all the time anyway.

     

    If anyone else is interested:

    -Mount your network drive first (cmd+k, "smb://192.xxx.xxx.xxx")

    -Set Time Machine's target disk as the **mounted volume**, not the network drive

    -Forward your smb port (445) to the network drive so your backup drive can be accessed remotely

    -When not home, mount the drive remotely as soon as you log in (cmd+k, "smb://your.public.ip")

     

    That's it. Time Machine will never know the difference