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Woebgon · Jan 18, 2008, 11:10 PM

I just switched back to Mac after too many years with a PC. I bought an iMac 24" 2.8GHz with 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM and 750GB Serial ATA Drive.

I'm planning on adding an external hard drive for Time Machine to attach to my AirPort Extreme. From reading information posted on the Apple site and my AEBS I understand that it needs to be connected to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme Base Station.

While I may be opening up a technological "can of worms," I'd like to know what will be the most dependable drive 1TB, USB 2.0 that I can buy. Noise and bright lights are not a consideration here. I just want a drive that I can depend on to work with Time Machine. The "original" data will be stored elsewhere. I've heard of, read about and experienced so many hard drive failures that I'm getting "gun shy" about this subject. Please feel free to let me know what's good and bad. Thanks.

ibook_steve · Jan 19, 2008, 04:26 AM

Unfortunately, this feature was removed in Leopard at the last minute and does not work. That's why Time Capsule (integrated AEBS with hard drive) was released at MacWorld this week. There is no information whether or not using an Air Disk with Time Machine will ever work. Sorry. I'm in the same boat as well.

Steve

Woebgon · Jan 19, 2008, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

Unfortunately, this feature was removed in Leopard at the last minute and does not work. That's why Time Capsule (integrated AEBS with hard drive) was released at MacWorld this week. There is no information whether or not using an Air Disk with Time Machine will ever work. Sorry. I'm in the same boat as well.

Steve

Yes, I had a looooong talk last night with Apple CS trying to return my AEBS because of the reports like this, but since it was shipped (not when it arrived at my home) more than 14 days ago I can't return it (most companies allow 30 days from the dat a product is delivered).

I wanted to get a Time Capsule instead. Apple Customer Service claims that the HD will work through the USB port on the AEBS. ACS quoted the following from their website:

AirPort Extreme lets you turn your external USB hard drive into a drive you can share with all the users on your network. It’s called AirPort Disk, and it’s a simple and convenient way to share files among everyone in your family, office, or class.

So, according to the Apple Store Customer Service rep. I have to buy a HD to hook to the AEBS to see if it works. If it doesn't them perhaps they'll take it back. No, I'm not a happy new customer. If I can "prove" that it doesn't work as advertised they "may" take it back.

ibook_steve · Jan 19, 2008, 02:22 PM

Yes, Air Disk works (barely; it still has problems of its own). Time Machine with Air Disk does not work.

Steve

hwojtek · Jan 19, 2008, 02:37 PM

I've heard about this: defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1 

JKT · Jan 19, 2008, 05:30 PM

If you want to have a corrupted back-up then go ahead and use that setting... there is a reason why it was pulled at the last minute.

hwojtek · Jan 20, 2008, 07:45 AM

The corruption may happen if your source drive is larger than your target drive. I haven't encountered any problems in opposite situation.

hokie17 · Jan 20, 2008, 08:58 AM

I'm using iTimeMachine, which I assume simply modifies that plist, and it works just fine on my MBP. The internal drive is 120GB and the TM drive is 250GB.

MacosNerd · Jan 20, 2008, 09:02 AM

Apple has stated that the feature was pulled because of a bug (or bugs). That means we should see it, beside with time capsule doing the same thing, we should expect to see this feature reappear.

ibook_steve · Jan 21, 2008, 02:59 AM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

Apple has stated that the feature was pulled because of a bug (or bugs). That means we should see it, beside with time capsule doing the same thing, we should expect to see this feature reappear.

Hopefully...

Woebgon · Jan 21, 2008, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

Apple has stated that the feature was pulled because of a bug (or bugs). That means we should see it, beside with time capsule doing the same thing, we should expect to see this feature reappear.

I confirmed this last night when I talked with a very nice, knowledgeable Apple tech. support person last night. He helped me get my Airport Extreme Base Station connected to the Internet (the AP Utility couldn't do it right) and after he was done I asked him about using Time Machine with the AEBS. His reply was that it's not possible. He did not, however, state that a "fix" was in the works. Yes, I'm disappointed.

At this point there isn't much I can do but wait. Since Apple only claimed that a HD, not a HD using Time Machine, would work with the AEBS, I can't find grounds to be able to return it and buy a Time Capsule. For now, I'll just plug a hard drive into the iMac and be happy with that.

I'd love to have some recommendations on hard drives for Time Machine. I've read so many posts and reviews about HD failures. Right now I'm leaning toward a Western Digital MyBook.

anselm · Jan 23, 2008, 09:55 AM

Hi Woebgon ,

You have asked for recommendations for backup drives.
I just posted my thoughts on that in a seperate thread in the hardware components section of this forum:

http://forums.macnn.com/57/consumer-...s/#post3585490