I suspect Time Machine won't work on NAS drive

[tdemarco]

I'm running Time Machine on a Western Digital network storage device from my iMac. It works fine. I can go back any amount of time and recover files as they were backed up then. But I also want to be able to depend on Time Machine backups to allow me to recover files if my iMac goes down. So just as a test, I tried to use the Browse Other Time Machine Disks feature from my MacBook Air. I can't make it work. It shows me a Choose Time Machine Disk to Browse window, but there are no disks in the choose pane.
People have been telling me that I have to "mount" the volume, but I see no way to do so. Clicking Go - Connect to Server - Browse, shows me that the backup disk is there; it's called <mydiscname>-backup. But when I try to connect to it I get an immediate connection failure.

I'm beginning to suspect that there is no way to restore from another computer when the Time Machine backups are on a network storage device. If this is true, people need to know it and stop using network storage for Time Machine, as it won't be safe if their principal Mac goes down.

Please tell me that I'm wrong.

Thanks in advance for help,

t.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

 

[DeltaMac]

10.5.2?

Is there some reason that you don't have your 10.5 system up-to-date?

 

[jbarley]

This is the 3rd thread you've started with the very same question, it's starting to get a bit tiresome.
I can mount and access my Time Machine backups from another computer, not that this is a way I would choose to restore a failed system though.
Far better is to boot from the install disc and pick your TM backup from there to restore.
Your problem of not being able to mount and access your TM backup sounds to me as more of a network problem rather then a TM problem.
So just because you cannot get it to work is not a valid reason to sound a general alarm regarding TM backups on network drives.

Please tell me that I'm wrong.

So it would appear that you are wrong.

 

[Satcomer]

Time Machine+NAS

 

[tdemarco]

So just because you cannot get it to work is not a valid reason to sound a general alarm regarding TM backups on network drives.

So it would appear that you are wrong.

Sorry to disagree. So far not a single person has replied saying he/she could Browse Other Time Machine Disks when TM is on a network drive. If it can't be done, then lots of people are deluding themselves thinking that they are protected in case of catastrophic failure.

You say you can browse TM from another machine? Is your TM backup on a networked (NAS) drive?

If I can't get it to work, then probably other people can't get it to work either. And no one here has been able to suggest a workable remedy. I believe lots of trusting users of TM may be in for a rude awakening. So I'm supposed to shut up about this?

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

So I'm supposed to shut up about this?

No, but you're supposed to continue related discussions in the original thread you started -- not start numerous new threads. If someone doesn't know the answer in the first thread, starting a new thread won't magically make someone here know the answer -- it only serves to slightly annoy people that two out of the three new threads posted in the last XXX hours are by the same person, covering the same topic, and asking the same questions.

No harm, no foul, though -- let's just keep this discussion going in a single thread until it's either resolved or we collectively decide we don't know what's going on...

Question: if you use the NAS as a regular network drive (for storing files -- usic, movies, documents, what-have-you), does it work properly (i.e., you can read and write and copy files on it successfully)?

 

[jbarley]

Sorry to disagree. So far not a single person has replied saying he/she could Browse Other Time Machine Disks when TM is on a network drive.

I said I could, surely I count as as 'person'.
I'll try once more to show you..
In the photo I'm accessing a TM backup of my old-MBP stored on a LinkStation NAS, Im accessing this from my G5 powermac.
Note in the get info window, "Server: afp://LS-WSXL58A-TimeMachine.afpovertcp._tcp.local/Time_Machine"
If this does not convince you that it is possible then I don't know what else I or any one else could tell you that would.

 

[tdemarco]

Question: if you use the NAS as a regular network drive (for storing files -- usic, movies, documents, what-have-you), does it work properly (i.e., you can read and write and copy files on it successfully)?

Yes, it works fine. Evidently when I set up Time Machine, it partitioned the NAS Drive, which I named PressOn into two "drives" or partitions or shares. So when I Go - Connect To Server - Browse, I get the result shown in the attached png. I can double click on PressOn to mount it, and then read/write to it as I like. But when I doubleclick the one called PressOn-backup, I get an immediate connection failure.

 

[tdemarco]

I said I could, surely I count as as 'person'.
I'll try once more to show you..
In the photo I'm accessing a TM backup of my old-MBP stored on a LinkStation NAS, Im accessing this from my G5 powermac.
Note in the get info window, "Server: afp://LS-WSXL58A-TimeMachine.afpovertcp._tcp.local/Time_Machine"
If this does not convince you that it is possible then I don't know what else I or any one else could tell you that would.

You said you could browse to another TM disc but I didn't get that it was a NAS disc.

Anyway, when I try to replicate what you've got in your image, I get the attached.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

What happens if, in the window that says "connection failed," you click the "connect as..." button on the right-hand side and enter valid credentials (username and password for the NAS)?

Many times, OS X will try and connect as an unauthenticated user to network shares, and if the server or network share requires authentication, you will experience that "connection failed" message.

Short answer: try to authenticate to the NAS for that share.

 

[tdemarco]

What happens if, in the window that says "connection failed," you click the "connect as..." button on the right-hand side and enter valid credentials (username and password for the NAS)?

Many times, OS X will try and connect as an unauthenticated user to network shares, and if the server or network share requires authentication, you will experience that "connection failed" message.

Short answer: try to authenticate to the NAS for that share.

When I click on Connect As, nothing happens: no dialog box opens up.

t.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

What protocol are you using to connect (SMB, AFP, NFS, etc.)? Have you tried doing a "manual" connect (in other words, directly connecting via IP address instead of double-clicking the icon) by selecting "Go > Connect to server..." from the Finder?

You can include a user login name doing this by something similar to:

ftp://username@IPaddress

 

[Satcomer]

You say you can browse TM from another machine? Is your TM backup on a networked (NAS) drive?

You are really a tool!!! I gave you like to tell you how to setup a NAS drive for Time Machine a while ago. If you want to ignore that than fine/ I am done with your kind of people who go through life just looking for fight.

1. Time Machine needs a HFS+ drive. That's Apple rule, not mine!

2. IMHO Time Machine to a NAS is asking for trouble. There is a stably reason why Apple didn't activate this when they releases Time Machine.

3 .IMHO a user is better off using a clone on a NAS. This way a user could boot to that clone when their machine hard drive dies.

 

[jbarley]

3 .IMHO a user is better off using a clone on a NAS. This way a user could boot to that clone when their machine hard drive dies.

Sorry but I got to call you on this one point.

Neither SuperDuper or Carbon Copy can create a bootable clone on a NAS drive, the best they will do is create an img file which is not bootable.
So you would need to boot from some other source, before you could restore this img file.
If you know of an application that can create a bootable clone on a NAS drive, please enlighten the rest of us.

 

[zen.state]

Time Capsule = NAS Drive. It's essentially just file sharing without the need for a 2nd computer.

NAS compatibility is much more about a proper network connection than the OS or hardware it's running on.

 

[DeltaMac]

That's mostly false.
A Time Capsule is not a complete substitute for an NAS.
The Time Capsule does not have many of the features that an ordinary intelligent NAS has. You can not run services like FTP, HTTP (web server), use RAID or use surveillance.

 

[zen.state]

That's mostly false.
A Time Capsule is not a complete substitute for an NAS.
The Time Capsule does not have many of the features that an ordinary intelligent NAS has. You can not run services like FTP, HTTP (web server), use RAID or use surveillance.

I agree and I never meant to imply it was a total replacement. The OP is obviously a bit of a newb so I was just pointing out that a TC is somewhat of a NAS so therefore NAS does work on Macs since Apple sells a product that uses the basic part of the tech. It runs on 10.5+ or 10.2+ for just printer sharing.

 

[tdemarco]

You are really a tool!!! I gave you like to tell you how to setup a NAS drive for Time Machine a while ago.

Nice helpful language.

I tried all the solutions suggested by members of this forum and couldn't get any of them to work. Perhaps the problem is unique to the particular NAS server I'm using: it is a MyBookLive made by Western Digital. But I did eventually figure out a way to make the Browse Other Time Machine Disks feature work with MyBookLive. In case anyone else may have the same problem, here is a solution: Connect to the NAS dashboard via bonjour and go to Settings / Network to determine the IP address assigned. Then via the finder, Go / Connect to Server and enter IP address as an afp: address, EG:
afp://10.1.0.3
That gives you a window that allows you to mount the drive. Then pull down Time Machine / Connect to Other Time Machine Disks to display a pane in which the now mounted server will show up.
If not, you can open the Time Machine disk via the finder, open the sparsebundle, and manually restore files. Getting it mounted turns out to be the key. Why MacOS would allow afp://10.1.0.3 but not allow afp://discname is still a puzzle to me.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Why MacOS would allow afp://10.1.0.3 but not allow afp://discname is still a puzzle to me.

Probably because afp://discname doesn't tell Mac OS X what server the disc is located on. In your example above, 10.1.0.3 and "discname" are not the same thing (discname is located on the server 10.1.0.3, but they're not the same), so trying to use them interchangeably is incorrect.

Typically, you want to do something like this:

afp://servername/sharename

...where "servername" is either a network server name or an IP address, so you're probably looking for (using your direct examples):

afp://10.1.0.3/discname

Simply using afp://sharename doesn't tell Mac OS X which server that share is located on. It sounds like this may have been what you were trying to do previously.

Your solution of typing afp://ipaddress and then selecting the actual disk name from the pop-up menu can be shortcut by entering afp://ipaddress/sharename where "sharename" is the name you selected from the pop-up menu.

Hope that helps for future reference.

 

[Satcomer]

Nice helpful language.

Well if you acknowledge my post either way if it worked or not i won't have been so critical. When a poster trues to help you try to replay if it worked or not to that poster. Just annoying it will make you look like a troll and jerk.