If the iMac Pro is on all the time…just create a share on it named Laptop or something and then set CCC to that as the destination using the Remote Mac option under destination…then the backups will happen even if the machine is asleep. I don’t do that one hourly, just daily, due to transport time and I o ly backup /Users since the rest of the boot drive gets periodically backed up to a Samsung T7 that gets plugged in weekly. If you e got a TM destination set but the drive is t plugged in, the laptop will still do local hourly TM backups to itself for in between recoveries if necessary.
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I turn it off when I am not using it. The MBP stays on all the time. I thought about buying a refurbished MBA and using that as an always on “file server”. But that is too expensive and too complicated. I already have three Macs in a house with two people…
David
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This is a very interesting solution, both in the segregation of Time Machine components and CCC components, as well as using ZFS to store Mac-originated files, which is not something I would have conceptually trusted enough to even try. The fact that even resource forks survive seems remarkable to me, but I guess speaks to the versatility of that file system. Are you using AFP or SMB with it?
As for restoring – in 90% of the situations I’m helping with, restoring over Ethernet isn’t viable; think iMac and modem on opposite sides of a (non-wired) home, or MacBook with misplaced Ethernet adapter, etc. So for a full restore, it’s all night and crossed fingers over Wi-Fi if direct attachment isn’t an option. But what became clear to me when I was looking at the various options is that one size does not fit all, and if you’ve got a setup where you’re confident when it comes to network restore, and the benefits of a file system like ZFS outweigh those of directly attachable storage, then sure, that’s the right setup for you. However, even setting wired vs. wireless aside, I’m not sure that a system like TrueNAS is accessible for everyone (and a prebuilt unit ain’t cheap), and even as a consultant, I prefer to deploy broadly supported solutions for my clients in case I’m not available to help in a moment of need. But your solution sounds robust; thanks for sharing it.
Just to be perfectly clear, I don’t think the My Cloud Home is some kind of amazing product that I suggest you switch to, especially if you want to use it for network file storage. It’s adequate and super easy for network Time Machine, but that’s all I can say about it. And, thank you for correcting me regarding the OS – regardless, its variant of the My Cloud OS is certainly very different from all the other My Cloud products, much to the consternation of many of the people who purchased it, expecting a NAS in the vein of previously released My Cloud models.
I’m glad to see what I was hoping would emerge in the comments – different ideas about the best way to address a common need.
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I understand - I think you made the limitations clear. The fact that you can’t create file folders and use it (conveniently) for file storage was a problem - and the idea that you have to connect as “Guest” without being able to secure the data with a password was really bad (you noted that the TM database should be encrypted). Also, apparently it is exposed to the internet by default - I have that turned off for my WD NAS - too risky. I could live with a TM backup only - but it seems too risky. And Mike Bombich of CCC specifically says to avoid the My Cloud Home device - apparently he has lots of customers who have tried to use it with no success.
The article is a nice overview of NAS backup - but my conclusion would be Don’t do it!
David
Unless you have an old Apple Time Capsule or connect the drive directly to your Mac, the Time Machine feature over a network is basically unreliable. I never could find anything that would reliably over a network with the same features (backup verify and disk repair), so I bought a few extra Time Capsules to keep in service. Time Capsules just worked. There are of course other solutions but none are as good as Time Machine.
If you have an old time capsule, you may want to replace/upgrade it’s HDD.
Here are some iFixit links to various models of Time Capsule so you can review the procedure. It doesn’t look too complicated, but some models have some delicate cables you need to be careful about not damaging.
Once you replace the drive, you need to format it in the Time Capsule. According to this article, you do that using the AirPort Utility.
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For some reason, Apple supported using a drive connected to an AirPort Extreme for Time Machine
for only the last model of the AirPort Extreme. If you were using a prior model of the Extreme, however, you could still select the drive in Time Machine, and it seemed to work.
Like others, I found backing up my MBP to the AE’s disk to be flaky at times. In contrast, the iMac, which backed up to the same drive, rarely had a problem. I suspect the problem was caused when I would close the lid of my MBP during the middle of a backup. Usually Time Machine and the AirPort Extreme could handle that, but occasionally, it would result in a corrupted backup. The problem seemed to go away in later versions of macOS after I set Time Machine to run only when my MBP was plugged into power.
About a year ago, I received a Synology NAS as a Christmas gift, and I use it now for backing up with Time Machine. (Well, at least I do with the iMac. Time Machine doesn’t work on my M1 MBP running Monterey.) One advantage of the Synology over the AE is that it can do a lot more than just provide access to storage over the network. For instance, I use mine as a Plex server, an OpenVPN server, and a Channels DVR server.
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But the Synology RT2600ac DOES support Time Machine under SMB! I have had 3 computers making Time Machine backups to my RT2600ac for a year now. Since the MR2200ac runs the same OS, I would guess that it too DOES support Time Machine (I use them only for mesh networking).
However, the documentation is just plain wrong, and the setup is counter-intuitive: Under “Mac File Service/Enable Mac file service/Time Machine:”, change “Time Machine:” from Time Machine (which seems logical) to Windows (which does NOT seem logical, since Windows does not support Time Machine nor vice-versa), and voilà!
Does that change your calculus of solutions?
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Great tip! Who knew that this works with SRM. The UI would suggest anything but. (Certainly a different experience from DSM 7.0, which is straightforward in terms of what you might expect). I sent back my MR2200ac, so I can’t verify, but, based on your report, I don’t think it would change my calculus much, at least for the MR2200ac, because the performance was still weak.
Generally speaking, I think router-as-network-time-machine solution can certainly make sense if you need a new router anyway, and the one you choose performs well (I felt I could only sustain so many Amazon returns, so I didn’t make an exhaustive survey of this category). Or if you’ve already got one that has the feature. But if you’re already happy with your router (e.g. if you already have an Eero mesh or whatever), then I’d probably veer towards one of the other solutions.
As I have mentioned a few times on other threads, a big plus for Time Machine is its ability to alternate backups between several drives. It even reminds me when I forget to connect an off-site backup drive from time to time. I am disappointed that Apple dropped the Time Capsule but other drives are working well for me (touch wood!)
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Yep…which is exactly why I have my roll your own CCC jobs alternating destination between the two Macs on my network that are always on.
This is an extremely helpful article, that is very timely for our household, after spending a whole weekend restoring a MBP from an old Time Capsule, and looking for better solutions in the future. We eventually had to archive the TC to another drive over USB-2 to get Migration Assistant to work. However, I would like to ask whether anyone understands why Apple has abandoned the Mac community in this way. I understand them not wanting to make Time Capsules any more, but surely they could have licensed other manufacturers to create equivalent products that don’t require arcane knowledge of file systems or network protocols? Is the market for Mac-compatible NAS backups so small that there is no commercial opportunity here? Is there a danger perhaps of Apple dropping Time Machine altogether in favor of iCloud sync’s?
I just noticed that my Asus ZenWiFi AT-8 mesh network supports the Time Machine for disks attached via the USB port of the router. You need to turn on the support via the system’s web interface USB section (not the mobile app support), but the process looks pretty easy. If you considering a stand-alone router or mesh system from ASUS, you can check to see if there is Time Machine support by looking at the USB Application section of the specs for a router from ASUS’s web page.
There already was a lot of competition in the market for routers and backup storage equipment, but nothing that added it all together in a way that was super easy to set up and use. When Time Capsule was introduced, it was a totally new, easy to implement and an extremely innovative product. It followed the recent introduction of iPhone, and iMac was still relatively new. Steve Jobs was already laser focused on wireless communications and secure networking for all Apple devices. He realized that Apple users and prospective consumers and business would welcome easy to set up and maintain WiFi networks. He also stressed privacy and security; IIRC, it was another unique selling point for Time Capsule.
The strategy behind Time Capsule was like the strategy for LaserWriter, which was developed because nobody at Apple or Adobe could convince printer manufacturers that there would be a business or consumer market for any personal computer, including anything DOS. Once comparable printers hit the markets at much lower prices than LaserWriters, Apple exited the market. Strategic planning such as this is why and how Apple became the first, second and third three trillion $ company in the world.
A similar argument could be made for dropping wireless routers, once mesh networks became cheaper to buy and easier to set up. But this whole thread shows that the analogy doesn’t work for wireless backups. There are no alternatives on the market. You can’t go to an Apple Store and buy third-party replacements because none exist.
I should have mentioned that Time Capsule has also been competing with cloud backups and storage in the business and consumer markets for many years now. I’m sure that iCloud is a gazillion times more profitable for Apple than Time Capsule ever was or could ever hope to be. And the storage market is flooded, and hard drive storage is really suffering. The scenario for hard drives is likely to get a lot worse a lot sooner
But they don’t market iCloud as a destination for Time Machine backups. Basically though you are saying that Apple doesn’t care about the user experience for Mac owners as long as they persuade enough of us to keep buying laptops. That may be true, but it is also depressingly cynical. Steve Jobs wanted the entire experience of owning a Mac to be insanely great, but we seem to have lost that vision forever.
I’ve got my 2012 iMac on a shelf serving as the Time Machine server (and other important uses), with internal backup drives mounted in a 2-slot OWC “toaster” drive adapter. I rotate a number of drives through, with some offsite. As noted in the article, this only requires Mac OS X High Sierra or later.
I found a different Apple support article on this than David C. above,–this one suggests setting SMB.
I do get occasional errors when the backup fails to complete, but these are transient, and subsequent backups are ok. Why yes, Adam, I do verify my backups by restoring something on International Verify Your Backups Day as you recommend, and other times. Networked TM is a lot less painful than when I kept a drive connected to the Mac, and was continually waiting with the Finder frozen for 5 seconds when the drive had to spin up.
There are concerns about Time Machine that you can read about in Take Control of * books, and I do clone from time to time.
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Frankly, I think the time capsule was just a victim of Apple deciding not to continue to offer wifi routers. Apple continues to decide that it’s better to concentrate on specific product lines, ones I assume that are profitable to them, and likely decided that maintaining wifi router hardware and software wasn’t worth the effort anymore.
You can connect any external disk to a Mac to use for Time Machine and I’m sure that’s what Apple would recommend going forward.
Which is a little surprising at this point.