Wireless Time Machine backups with non-Apple router

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Level 1

11 points

Wireless Time Machine backups with non-Apple router

Apple hasn't updated Airport Extremes or Time Capsules in very a long time. Rumor has it that Apple is phasing out routers. My Time Capsule seems to be on its last legs, so I am considering buying a current generation non-Apple router. 100% of family internet use is through two MacBook Pros, neither of which is conveniently located near the Time Capsule or its planned replacement.

Previous "Discussions" questions found on this topic are many years old and say that Apple does not support wireless Time Machine. Has this changed? I know that today's external drives are small and able to contain lots of data. It would be easy to connect one of these drives to each MBP, but even easier if TM backups could be done wirelessly as has been possible since 2013 with Time Capsules.

Thank you for any help or suggestions!

Don

AirPort Time Capsule-OTHER, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Jan 16, 2018 6:39 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,462 points

Jan 16, 2018 7:06 PM in response to skyking744

Previous "Discussions" questions found on this topic are many years old and say that Apple does not support wireless Time Machine

There have been a number of recent discussions about this topic, as a result of newer "mesh" wireless systems that are being introduced to the market.

As far as "support", Apple has always expected that folks that use Time Machine to back up their Macs to a Time Capsule will use the WiFi provided by the Time Capsule, or another Apple AirPort router.

So, Apple does not "officially" support backups to a Time Capsule over a third party wireless network. That being said, in most cases users who have tried this have found that backups will still occur over a third party wireless network.

So things will usually work OK with this type of setup, but the "rub" here is that if they don't, Apple will not help you resolve the issues with the third party wireless.....even if you are willing to pay.

The bottom line.....you won't really know how well....or if....Time Machine backups will work over a third party wireless network until you try them out on your own network. Great if things work, but not so great if they don't, and you have to set up the Time Capsule for Time Machine backups the way that Apple wants you to do.....since you will likely have to manually "switch" networks when you want to back up a Mac to the Time Capsule.

It would be easy to connect one of these drives to each MBP

Not only would it be easy, it would be significantly less expensive, faster, and more reliable than a Time Capsule. And....this type of setup would be supported by Apple.

Another possible issue is that Apple has not changed or updated the hardware on the Time Capsule in over 4 years, but the price remains the same.

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Answer 2

Jan 17, 2018 12:03 PM in response to skyking744

I am currently running Time Machine backups to a USB drive plugged into Asus router.

With USB3 port the disk speed on the Asus is about equal to the TC internal disk.

It was a bit more fussy with particular USB drive.. so some experimentation might be needed. See below.

Since it has been running from 8th Dec 2017 it has been reliable. The nice thing is that the Asus is reading and writing directly to a Mac formatted disk.. so no messing around with virtual disk overlays.

I have also used a Synology NAS which worked fine as well.. you would need of course a wireless router which the synology is plugged into .. for wireless backups.

Finding the right USB disk type.

You want a disk that has no translation through the USB.. the one I used Touro which works fine directly connected to the computer is a model that does some sort of translation .. so if you plug a disk with data on it into the Touro it cannot be read over USB connection. Other USB systems don't do this.. so it is a bit of a gamble. I don't have any kind of list of USB drives that work and those that don't..

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Answer 3

Jan 17, 2018 9:48 PM in response to skyking744

networked external drive that has an ethernet port.

This is another way of saying NAS.

But be careful as the cheap models from Seagate and WD tend to work poorly even if they support Time Machine in theory.

You can buy better grade NAS.. but as remarked.. they are expensive..

And if you need mesh system.. Apple has now started to sell the Linksys Velop system.. it will be interesting to see if it will support Time Machine at some point. Eero I don't think support Time Machine at least directly. (To a USB hard drive for example).

If you are using a local disk on your computer let me also recommend Carbon Copy Cloner which will create a bootable clone .. which allows you to boot your computer directly from the backup.

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Answer 4

skyking744 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 19, 2018 7:41 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for the amplification. You’re right, NAS would be expensive overkill for 2 retirees with MBPs. I’ll just go with what I mentioned earlier and hope that Apple provides and supports a suitable wireless Time Machine backup alternative if/when they discontinue selling Time Capsules.

Re CCC, I wouldn’t be without a bootable backup. I use SuperDuper and enjoy excellent support from Dave Nanian, but many other members in our 500-member Mac club use CCC.

Thanks once again! People like you really make Apple Discussions a wonderful source of help and information.

Don

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Answer 5

skyking744 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 16, 2018 8:28 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks, Bob!

You are correct in that portable drives would be far less expensive, but my AirPort Extreme and later my Time Capsule have always worked superbly, providing coverage throughout the entire house once I located them centrally and high off the floor. The convenience of wireless backup was worth the extra cost, allowing us to move around freely with our MBPs without having to eject or carry around external drives.

If Apple offered a new, current technology Time Capsule I'd buy one today. However it seems that Apple routers are been abandoned (along with my Mac mini) as far as updated models are concerned. I wanted to prepare for the day my Time Capsule's hard drive bites the dust by seeing if there would be a way to recreate the effortless and totally automatic Time Machine backups we have been enjoying for the past decade with Time Capsule and before that with the ability to have network-attached-storage by attaching a USB hard drive to the AirPort Extreme.

Thanks again for your informative response. Sorry I missed the other discussions on this topic.

Don

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Answer 6

skyking744 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jan 17, 2018 6:17 PM in response to LaPastenague

Whoa! Thanks for that recommendation. Slightly above my pay grade, but I can ask my Apple buddy to explain the finer points of what you are talking about (“virtual disk overlays” / “translation”…). Your suggestion would give me a second non-Apple solution. His recommendation yesterday was to try an Eero router with a networked external drive that has an ethernet port.

Fortunately, my Time Capsule seems to have recovered from whatever was ailing it yesterday. However I’m going to start using portable external drives to create a second Time Machine volume for each MBP. I hope my wife will remember to eject her device or carry it with her when she moves from her normal Mac using place. I hope I will remember....

Thanks again for your help!

Don

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