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Recommendation needed for difficult backup solution
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Minnesota
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Jan 2, 2010, 08:29 PM
 
I have three computers in my home, each containing important files that need to be backed up. I am considering Time Machine to an external USB drive on my Airport Extreme, but the last time I tried this, my internet connection on each machine went out for about five minutes after waking from sleep while the Time Machine backup updated. I currently have two external hard drives I can use (1 TB and 500 GB) and I'm open to buying new devices, if necessary. I would, however, like to minimize the clutter and not stick hard drives at each machine unless they are unobtrusive and small.

My house is entirely wireless, so network drives must be wireless to connect to each computer.

Any ideas? Or am I stuck with a drive at each machine?
     
Andy8
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Hong Kong
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Jan 2, 2010, 08:53 PM
 
You can backup as many Macs as you like on the same drive with Time Machine, so as long as the drive has enough space there is no real need for a separate drive for each.

Are all your Macs using 802.11n or are you using a mixed network? Do you have a cordless telephone in the house causing interference with your wireless network perhaps?
     
Cold Warrior
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Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Polwaristan
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Jan 2, 2010, 09:24 PM
 
How often do your Macs go to sleep? An alternate solution would be to setup a wake schedule for something like 10-15 minutes before you'd need to use them or your network.

Or I suppose you could try ipfw rules to limit Time Machine's bandwidth. I don't know what port(s) it uses though. mac | Limit bandwidth in Mac OS X using ipfw | macfidelity
     
   
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