HT204078: How to migrate Time Machine backups from one AirPort Time Capsule to another

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Ron Guest
Level 1 (9 points)

Q: Airport Extreme Disk Disappearing

I added a USB disk to my Airport Extreme and am using it for Time Machine from a couple of Macs as well as a network file store. Periodically (roughly every few weeks) Time Machine will be unable to mount the disk and also if I click on the Airport Extreme in the Finder sidebar it is unable to connect. Restarting the AE fixes the problem each time.

 

Any known solution for this?

Thanks.

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)

Posted on Jul 13, 2015 8:19 AM

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Ron Guest

Q: Airport Extreme Disk Disappearing

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  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jul 13, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Ron Guest
    Level 10 (105,108 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 13, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Ron Guest

    Which model of AirPort Extreme do you have?

     

    Yosemite (10.10.x) is well known for lost AirPorts and other devices.  Might that be what you are using?

  • by Ron Guest,

    Ron Guest Ron Guest Jul 13, 2015 3:24 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Jul 13, 2015 3:24 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    It's a fairly new ME918LL/A. The Macs are using Yosemite 10.10.4 but only some are using Wifi to connect, others using Ethernet. I'm not sure the Yosemite problems effect Ethernet connections (I've only seen Wifi complaints).

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jul 13, 2015 3:42 PM in response to Ron Guest
    Level 10 (105,108 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 13, 2015 3:42 PM in response to Ron Guest

    Most folks use wireless, so you won't see a lot of "lost" Ethernet devices.

     

    On your Mac, open up System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)

    Open Sharing

    Make sure that the correct name of your Mac appears here, and there is not a (2), (3), etc after the name of Mac.

     

    You want all of your devices and network names.....Macs, AirPorts, etc to have short simple names. No more than 20 characters, less would be better. Use only normal letters and numbers (no special characters like an apostrophe, asterisk, etc), and no blank spaces in the names.

     

    Reason....Yosemite, perhaps more than any other operating system system to date.....tends to lose track of where devices are located on the network.  Long, complicated network and device names make it just that much harder for things to communicate well.

     

    I would say that the drive on my AirPort Extreme gets "lost" about once a week or so.  If there is a permanent fix, I haven't found it.