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Q: Using Time Machine with an External HD attached to a Netgear Wireless Router

I'm trying to use a Seagate external HD as a Time Machine drive over Wi-Fi.

 

  • The Seagate HD is connected to a Netgear Wireless Router USB port.
  • The Seagate HD is formatted as "Journaled HFS+".
  • I can "see" the Seagate HD -- via Wi-Fi -- in Finder.

 

But, Time Machine does not recognize the Seagate HD.

 

Anything I'm missing?

 

TIA

MacBook Air, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 19, 2015 12:51 PM

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Q: Using Time Machine with an External HD attached to a Netgear Wireless Router

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  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Jul 19, 2015 12:54 PM in response to Offshore...still
    Level 10 (270,935 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 19, 2015 12:54 PM in response to Offshore...still

    Requirements to use Time Machine

     

    Time Machine is only available with Leopard or later.

     

    1. External FireWire or USB 2.0 drive mounted on Desktop
    2. Time Capsule
    3. Drive shared by a Mac running 10.5 or later using File Sharing
    4. Drive shared by a Mac running 10.5 Server
    5. SAN volume managed by Apple's Xsan file system

     

    A TM drive must be partitioned with either APM (PPC) or GUID (Intel) and formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jul 19, 2015 1:47 PM in response to Offshore...still
    Level 10 (105,062 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 19, 2015 1:47 PM in response to Offshore...still
    • The Seagate HD is connected to a Netgear Wireless Router USB port.
    • The Seagate HD is formatted as "Journaled HFS+".
    • I can "see" the Seagate HD -- via Wi-Fi -- in Finder.

    Can you mount the hard drive on the desktop of your Mac...and...drag/drop or copy/paste files to the drive that way?

     

    If you cannot mount the drive on your desktop, then there is no chance that Time Machine will be supported with the drive. And.....even if you can mount the drive, that does not mean that Time Machine will be supported.  But....you can try it.

  • by Offshore...still,

    Offshore...still Offshore...still Jul 20, 2015 1:42 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (5 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 20, 2015 1:42 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    I can mount the drive from any of our Macs and, in Finder, I can drag-and-drop files to/from that drive.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jul 20, 2015 5:05 AM in response to Offshore...still
    Level 10 (105,062 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 20, 2015 5:05 AM in response to Offshore...still

    Then, if it will not show up as an available Time Machine target, the process is not supported.....probably because Netgear uses a different protocol for network drive (SMB) than Time Machine.....Apple....does (AFP).