Do I need two Mac computers to connect to external HDD connected to AirPort Extreme for wireless time machine backup

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Level 1

8 points

Do I need two Mac computers to connect to external HDD connected to AirPort Extreme for wireless time machine backup

I have MacBook Pro Sierra and AirPort Extreme with Western Digital 4TB HDD connected to it usb. I want to use Time Machine to backup my MacBook Pro Wirelessly on a MAC extended HFS partition of 3.5 TB the second Partition is exFat. I am currently about 40% encrypted. I am already backed up three days in time machine which I did using USB directly plugging WD HDD into MacBook Pro. But I want to continue any future time machine backups with WDHDD plugged into AirPort Extreme wirelessly. Do I need two macs to use Back to Mac to share HDD for backups to my single MacBook Pro? Do I need to setup in airport utility reserved DHCP IP adresses for my devices? I am not seeing Share tab in Finder After setting up back to Mac sharing and Apple ID. Why? It’s not hidden either. Tried router up in connect as but it’s using “SMB://my-AEBS-ip-address” not Should it be prefixed AFP instead?

macOS High Sierra (10.13.2), Internet’s wi-Fi working/DHCP & NAT

Posted on Dec 17, 2017 9:49 PM

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Answer 1

LarryHN

Level 10

106,110 points

Dec 17, 2017 10:09 PM in response to Craigsme

It is not clear what this has to do with iCloud for mac where you posted

But in any case you can not use TimeMachine to backup to an exFAT formatted drive -- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202784

LN

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Answer 2

Craigsme Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2017 10:28 AM in response to Eric Root

Yes, I did External HDD backup directly connected to Mac but the question is whether I can do so connected to AirPort Extreme wirelessly. Apple says you can Best Buys too. But don't have static IP and other alternative is Back to Mac which I have turned on and sign in my Apple ID and set finder sidebar shared enabled. I put in IP: smb://10.0.1.1 and afp://10.0.1.1 for Connect to Server in Go, it fails.

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Answer 3

Craigsme Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 19, 2017 10:32 AM in response to LarryHN

Yes, I am Partitioned 500 tb for exFat and 3.5 tb partition for Mac Extended Journaled (GUID and encrypted). But the drive takes a long time to encrypt the directly connected Time Machine Backups. I am still encrypting 73% after a few days. Maybe the encryption needs to finish before I can Connect to Server? If I connect then I can see the Shared folder in Sidebar, right?

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Dec 18, 2017 11:02 AM in response to Craigsme

Can't the MacBook Pro backup to the external drive directly? You shouldn't need 2 Macs And Back to My Mac to run a Time Machine backup.

Is Shared enabled in Finder/Preferences/Sidebar?

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Answer 5

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Dec 20, 2017 11:30 AM in response to Craigsme

Can you connect to the Airport Extreme normally? Does it give you a functional WiFi signal? Does the drive show in the Finder Sidebar? Does the drive show in System Preferences/Time Machine?

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