USB disk and AEBS 802.11 for TimeMachine

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USB disk and AEBS 802.11 for TimeMachine

Hello,
I have a brand new Macbook 13-inch aluminum. It has the time capsule software on OS X. I have an Airport Extreme Base Station 802.11n. I was curious about plugging in an external USB hard-drive into the back of the AEBS and using that for my TimeMachine destination backup disk. Is this possible?
I found the following article ( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2038). I do not quite understand what the article is telling me. Is this saying that what I want to do is not possible?

Thanks for helping me understand!

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Dec 2, 2008 5:32 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,670 points

Dec 2, 2008 8:50 AM in response to macnewbeez

Although there are a number of articles that say it is possible, Apple does not yet support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks. Backup integrity may be compromised if doing so. Interestingly Apple does support USB drives attached to the Time Capsule's USB port for Time Machine backups.

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Answer 2

macnewbeez Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 2, 2008 9:00 AM in response to Tesserax

Thank you.
What is the difference between an "AirDisk" and a UBS-disk (external USB hard drive) plugged into an AEBS? (Is that what an "AirDisk" is?)

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

158,670 points

Dec 2, 2008 9:14 AM in response to macnewbeez

Nothing really. The terms "AirPort Disk" or "AirDisk" can be used interchangeably and both refer to a USB drive attached to the USB port of the AEBS.

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Answer 4

macnewbeez Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 2, 2008 9:19 AM in response to Tesserax

(I apologize if I'm repeating my question ... I'm pretty new to this, just trying to wrap my head around it.)

You said: "Apple does support USB drives attached to the Time Capsule's USB port for Time Machine backups." In layman's terms, does that mean that if I were to plug my external USB hard drive into a TimeCapsule (which is essentially an AEBS+internalHD) then it's supported. But if I plug the same external HD into a regular AEBS (which is essentially an AEBS-internalHD) then it is not supported?

Thanks again!

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

158,670 points

Dec 2, 2008 9:30 AM in response to macnewbeez

In layman's terms, does that mean that if I were to plug my external USB hard drive into a TimeCapsule (which is essentially an AEBS+internalHD) then it's supported. But if I plug the same external HD into a regular AEBS (which is essentially an AEBS-internalHD) then it is not supported?

That is correct! Again, you will find articles on the web that support TM backups to AirPort Disks, but a number of users who employed this configuration have reported file corruption over time. If my data is important to me, I wouldn't use a method not supported by the manufacturer.

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