Multiple Time Capsules - For Redundancy

Question

Level 1

0 points

Multiple Time Capsules - For Redundancy

I'm looking for ways to improve my off-site backup transfers. Currently I use a single Time Capsule to backup my home computers and once a month or so I archive my Time Capsule to an external disk and drop it off at a friends house just to make sure that most of my data is offsite in the event of some sort of home disaster (flood, fire, theft, etc). However, the archive feature of the TC is pretty annoying and takes a long time to complete so now I'm considering buying a second TC, configuring it exactly the same as my current one and then just swapping TCs once every two weeks or so. I'm not too concerned with the gaps in backup coverage I'll get from this approach that I'll get from this - I'm mostly just looking for disaster recovery.

I know you can swap out Time Machine backup disks easily but has anybody tried swapping out Time Capsules?

Posted on Mar 11, 2010 7:22 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Darcyjs

Level 1

0 points

Mar 12, 2010 12:58 PM in response to zaque

+1. I'm trying to do something similar. I have a time capsule at the office, to which I want to back up a subset of my data. I also have a time capsule at home, to which I want to back up all my data. I hope someone's done this before, since it's not self-evident to me how to do it.

Reply

Answer 2

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Mar 12, 2010 1:22 PM in response to Darcyjs

Darcyjs wrote:
+1. I'm trying to do something similar. I have a time capsule at the office, to which I want to back up a subset of my data. I also have a time capsule at home, to which I want to back up all my data. I hope someone's done this before, since it's not self-evident to me how to do it.

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

It will be better for you to give the two Time Capsules different names, so you know which is which.

Then all you have to do is tell Time Machine each time you swap, via TM Preferences > Select Disk (connect via Ethernet cable if at all possible for the first backup on each one -- it will be much faster than WIFI).

Each TC will have completely separate, independent backups.

Reply

Answer 3

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Mar 12, 2010 1:29 PM in response to zaque

zaque wrote:
I'm looking for ways to improve my off-site backup transfers. Currently I use a single Time Capsule to backup my home computers and once a month or so I archive my Time Capsule to an external disk and drop it off at a friends house just to make sure that most of my data is offsite in the event of some sort of home disaster (flood, fire, theft, etc). However, the archive feature of the TC is pretty annoying and takes a long time to complete so now I'm considering buying a second TC, configuring it exactly the same as my current one and then just swapping TCs once every two weeks or so. I'm not too concerned with the gaps in backup coverage I'll get from this approach that I'll get from this - I'm mostly just looking for disaster recovery.

I know you can swap out Time Machine backup disks easily but has anybody tried swapping out Time Capsules?

Yes, you can do that, by giving each one a different name and telling TM when you switch from one to the other via TM Preferences > Select Disk.

It might be easier (and perhaps cheaper) to get a portable external HD and periodically connect it to each Mac and use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to make a "bootable clone." You'll need a partition for each Mac. Preferably the partitions should be the same size as the internal HD of the Mac it's backing-up, but it could be 120% the size of the data on each one.

Better yet, get a pair of them; back up to one, then take it off-site and swap with the other, so one is off-site and secure at all times.

Reply

Answer 4

zaque Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 17, 2010 4:48 PM in response to Pondini

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll give this a shot. I was hoping to name and configure the TCs exactly the same in hopes that I could literally just swap them out and have the macs that backup to them continue as if nothing happened (obviously the first backup would involve a larger update but after that it would run smoothly) However, if it turns out they need to be named differently I can manage reconfiguring each mac after the swap has taken place.

In regards to being cheaper to use a pair (or more) 1TB disks for backups the cost of another TC is close to the cost of two USB 1TB drives hence my thinking that having another TC would be more convenient but I'll have to give the 2 drive option more thought.

Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 5

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Mar 17, 2010 4:58 PM in response to zaque

zaque wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I think I'll give this a shot. I was hoping to name and configure the TCs exactly the same in hopes that I could literally just swap them out and have the macs that backup to them continue as if nothing happened

No, the different names is for you. Time Machine knows they're different. About the only way you might be able to do that is copy the sparse bundle from one to the other. But that may not work, either, unless the network names, passwords, etc., are also the same.

For info on copying the sparse bundle, see *Time Capsule and Mac OS X v10.6: How to transfer your back up from an existing Time Capsule to a new one* towards the end of Time Machine 101

Reply