New Airport Extreme and using NAS for TimeMachine

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Level 1

14 points

New Airport Extreme and using NAS for TimeMachine

TimeMachine does not work with my wireless router and my NAS server. I really like the idea of having the backups on a fairly reliable system instead of a normal hard drive. However, every month, TimeMachine decides these backups are no longer valid. Crashplan does not have these difficulties.

Does anyone know if connecting the NAS on an airport extreme's ethernet port and using the Extreme as my wireless router would solve this problem? If not, I guess I will just have to rely upon CrashPlan and SuperDuper.

I do some port forwarding and VPN on my existing wireless router. Is that also doable with the Extreme?

I tried using Apple's Customer Support but they keep asking for the serial number of the Extreme and I am not buying one if it does not meet my needs.

Thanks,

Ken

Posted on Jun 13, 2013 7:48 AM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

141,126 points

Jun 13, 2013 7:55 AM in response to Ken Simolo

Ken Simolo wrote:

TimeMachine does not work with my wireless router and my NAS server.

The exhausive list of supported Time Machine configurations includes Time Capsule, a device connected directly to your Mac using USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt, and an internally mounted volume. Anything other than that, including a NAS connected to an Extreme, may not be reliable.

Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Extreme AirPort Disks

OS X Mountain Lion: Disks you can use with Time Machine

"If your backup disk is on a network, the network server must use Apple File Protocol (AFP) file sharing, and both your computer, and the networked backup disk, should have Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later. The AFP disk must also be “mounted” (available to your computer)."

I do some port forwarding and VPN on my existing wireless router. Is that also doable with the Extreme?

Yes, absolutely.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

141,126 points

Jun 13, 2013 8:33 AM in response to Ken Simolo

However, every month, TimeMachine decides these backups are no longer valid. Crashplan does not have these difficulties.

That is the typical failure of an unsupported Time Machine configuration. An unreliable backup plan is arguably worse than none at all.

I do not advocate subscription-based offsite backup services. A disaster recovery strategy is not valid until you have simulated a catastrophic failure by completely erasing your Mac and restoring it from a backup. Are you willing to do that with Crashplan?

A Time Capsule will do everything you want, and you may also use your NAS with it for whatever other needs you have.

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Answer 3

Ken Simolo Author

Level 1

14 points

Jun 13, 2013 8:58 AM in response to John Galt

Hi John,

Thank you very much for your help. I understand what you are saying about CrashPlan. My backup strategy is TimeMachine on a local disk, TimeMachine on the NAS (which fails as mentioned), Crasplan local, Crashplan remote, and SuperDuper. (I may be paranoid but the amount of time I have wasted on recoveries from HD failures makes the effort worth while). Back when I relied only upon TimeMachine, the Airport TimeMachine backup was unreadable because of a system update to Airport that caused the problem. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way because my computer's HD chose to die then.

The NAS is nice - it has relatively inexpensive enterprise rated drives and is setup so that I have to lose 2 drives before I have a problem. The offsite Crashplan also helps in case of something catestrophic like a house fire. For $30/yr, it is worth it but I would never use it as my sole backup for the reason you mentioned. I also will sometimes store a HD elsewhere but that is not something I do reliably. The peace of mind of this multi-backup strategy is nice.

Thanks again,

Ken

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

141,126 points

Jun 13, 2013 9:07 AM in response to Ken Simolo

Redundancy is a good idea, and you have that covered. I like simple, directly connected devices using a combination of clone and Time Machine backups, all in different geographical areas in the event of a drone strike.

Time Capsule is best for users who can't be bothered with that.

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