How to use your NAS with Time Machine

[Tellie]

Hi,

So finally my qnap arrived (Late xmas gift), so my first thing was to backup all our presious pictures

Second step was to get my wifes MacBook backed up, since she's gone back to school and write essays all the time.

I think I followed the guide precisely but I'm seeing some odd stuff I hope you can help me with.

System and Language - She's running a danish Leopard and her computername is Christinas MacBook. Don't know if that relates to the problem.

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Jan 5 23:32:58 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Backup requested by user
Jan 5 23:32:58 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Starting standard backup
Jan 5 23:32:59 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Mounted network destination using URL: smb://Christina@tellie-nas:139/TimeMachine [smb://Christina@tellie-nas:139/TimeMachine]
Jan 5 23:32:59 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Backup destination mounted at path: /Volumes/TimeMachine-1
Jan 5 23:33:12 Christinas-MacBook hdiejectd[150]: running
Jan 5 23:33:12 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Disk image /Volumes/TimeMachine-1/Christinas-MacBook_001b63be39d2.sparsebundle mounted at: /Volumes/NAS_TM_BACKUP
Jan 5 23:33:12 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Backing up to: /Volumes/NAS_TM_BACKUP/Backups.backupdb
Jan 5 23:33:13 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Filesystem of Macintosh HD is case sensitive, but the backup disk is not.
Jan 5 23:33:18 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Backup failed with error: 23
Jan 5 23:33:19 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Ejected Time Machine disk image.
Jan 5 23:33:22 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Ejected Time Machine network volume.


So I see 2 odd things:
1) in the log above I first of all get an error regarding the filesystem case sensitivity (I read some forum post about restarting would fix but didn't work)
2) My share is called TimeMachine, but the -1 is added to the name, and fast switching is turned off

Above is the information I have at the moment, I hope it is enough to get started on this issue!

Thank you!
/Peter

[Rogier]

Great guide! If the computername has "spaces" (like: "mad cow" instead of "madcow") in it... the Terminal command doesn't work. Can I use a random computername for the sparsebundle? Or do i need to type is like this: "mad-cow"

[Rogier]

Great guide! If the computername has "spaces" (like: "mad cow" instead of "madcow") in it... the Terminal command doesn't work. Can I use a random computername for the sparsebundle? Or do i need to type is like this: "mad-cow"

Never mind.... it should be like this: ""mad cow""

[chaa]

Thank you for the help.


T.Machine is working ok since 14 november 2008.

small pb when the Nas suddenly got a different IP. - solved : stick to the same IP -

Working fine    -    THANKS

[christoph123]

Hi stevebow,
I followed your great instruction but got stuck on creating the sparsebundle. This is what the terminal says:
noname:~ CvK$ hdiutil create -size 250g -fs HFS+J -volname TS-109_TM_Backup Christophs MacBook_0019e34a3fb2.sparsebundlehdiutil: create: Only one image can be created at a time.
Usage: hdiutil create <sizespec> [options] <imagepath>
hdiutil create -help

Before I found your post I tried something else what I found in another forum on the web: The advice was to type the following command in the terminal:
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
Could this be the problem? After that TM would show me the NAS (which it wouldn't before) but the Backup didn't work. You have any idea? This is my first time I'm using the terminal so I'm a bit anxious...
Thanks in advance!

[Tellie]

I earlier posted a post regarding some errors I had in the setup process.

This guide saved my day and worked straight away. It seems that the sparsebundle has a lot of options, that you can select from.
http://www.naschenweng.info/2008/07/15/os-x-time-machine-backup-to-synology-ds1

btw It works on Qnap eventhough it's written for Synology

[stevebow]

Code: Select all

Jan 5 23:33:13 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Filesystem of Macintosh HD is case sensitive, but the backup disk is not.
Jan 5 23:33:18 Christinas-MacBook /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[133]: Backup failed with error: 23

So I see 2 odd things:
1) in the log above I first of all get an error regarding the filesystem case sensitivity (I read some forum post about restarting would fix but didn't work)

It seems the backupd will only work if both the source HD and backup volume have both the same type of case sensitivity - so I'm not sure how TM will work if you have two source drives formatted with different case sensitivities...

Could you please recreate the Sparse Bundle with the following:

Code: Select all

hdiutil create -size 250g -fs HFSX -volname TS-409_TM_Backup Christinas-MacBook_001b63be39d2.sparsebundle

and please report back if that helps.

2) My share is called TimeMachine, but the -1 is added to the name, and fast switching is turned off

Did rebooting make any difference? Is the volume mounted without the "-1" suffix then?

[stevebow]

small pb when the Nas suddenly got a different IP. - solved : stick to the same IP

That is because TM notes both the IP and protocol (eg. SMB/AFP) used when selecting the backup volume in TM prefs. If you change the NAS's IP address, unselecting/selecting the backup volume in TM prefs should fix that.

[stevebow]

Before I found your post I tried something else what I found in another forum on the web: The advice was to type the following command in the terminal:
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
Could this be the problem? After that TM would show me the NAS (which it wouldn't before) but the Backup didn't work. You have any idea? This is my first time I'm using the terminal so I'm a bit anxious...

If you follow the guide carefully it should work. I would suggest you reboot both the NAS and Mac first to be sure there isn't anything that may cause a problem (especially the Mac). Check that Fast User Switching is disabled as well (see the guide).

[stevebow]

This guide saved my day and worked straight away. It seems that the sparsebundle has a lot of options, that you can select from.

Do a man hdiutil at the Terminal if you want to kill a lot of time.

I see in that guide he has used -fs "Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+", which is the long way of writing -fs HFSX.

btw It works on Qnap eventhough it's written for Synology

This technique actually works for any NAS.

[christoph123]

Hi Stevebow! Done! Problem was my Computers Name that contained a blank space. After renaming it I was able to create the sparsebundle. TM Backup is running right now - thanks so much!

[drafrete]

Thanks very much for this great post. I helped me to get timemachine working with great success

I had a couple of complications that I solved for my TS-409 which I thought I would share.

First, the computer that I was trying to back-up had a name like "Jo Smith's Macbook". The apostrophe in the computer name caused the hdiutil command to fail with an error message like "cannot create multiple volumes at once". Creating the sparsebundle with a name without the apostrophe then re-naming it once it was transferred to the NAS worked. This avoided having to rename the computer. BTW - you can create a name with spaces in the sparsebundle by setting a system variable like IMAGE_NAME="Computer Name with Spaces" and then reference $IMAGE_NAME in the hdiutil command. This saves you having to rename the computer.

The latest Macbook pro seems to use a slightly different suggested switch order in the hdiutil to that given in the original post. It does seem to make a difference to the creation if you follow the order suggested in the man entry. So I suggest that you follow the switch order in the version of OSX that you are running.

Hope this helps...

[qnapeug]

Hi,

Thanks for everyone's help in advance.

I have just gotten my QNAP TS-209 II up and running. I have 2 macbooks and am trying to run timemachine on them both.

I have followed the instructions posted on this forum, as well as many others on the net found by google.

The first time I created a sparsebundle (300gb limit) and timemachine share, I pointed timemachine to the networked drive, and it correctly detected the "size" of the drive as 300gb.

When I tried it on my second macbook (150gb limit) and separate timemachine share, I pointed timemachine to the share, but then it showed it as a 900gb HDD.

I switched back to my first computer, and it suddenly showed the HDD as 900gb! I have retried creating the shares and sparsebundles multiple times, but each time now, timemachine detects the "size" of the networked drive as 900gb?

I'm not sure if this is right or not. Should the size of the HDD that timemachine sees be the size of the sparsebundle created (ie the 300gb for computer one and 150gb for computer 2)? Or will it detect the entire size of the HDD (ie. the 900gb that it is now reporting, I have 2x 1TB drives running in RAID 1). Doies it make a difference? I'm afraid that if it is reporting "900 gb" that timemachine will fill up my drive and not keep to the desired limits.

Thanks again for your help in advance.

Regards,

Eug.

[ADDED]

Just an update, I've backed up my wife's computer (20gb) and it seemed to work alright, and looking at the disk image it says cpacity is 150gb, so it all looks good. Still can't explain why it once correctly reported "300gb" in timemachine, whereas it does not now.

I now however have another question. Unfortunately my MBP has >200gb of stuff to back-up, and I only have a wireless G network (the original airport base station - UFO shaped one). I don't have a spare ethernet port in a router (the TS-209 II is taking up the only one on the router).

I started my back-up, but then decided it would take a week or so, which is unacceptable as I need the computer for work. Anyway, I was wondering if the following work around would work, and if anyone had heard of it being successfully done?

1. Create the sparsebundle file as previously described in multiple posts
2. transfer sparesbundle file to an external USB 2.0 HDD
3. Point time machine to the external USB 2.0 HDD and perform back-up over USB 2.0
4. Plug external drive into qnap and transfer sparsebundle file over to Qusb folder
5. Use FTP client to swap sparsebundle file from Qusb folder to "eug_timemachine" folder
6. Change drive on time machine to the "eug_timemachine" share on the TS-209 II and perform incremental back-ups from then on (and hopefully save a lot of time in the meantime!)

I'm waiting on delivery of my external HDD so I can't try this yet, but thought it would be a nice workaround for it. The only other option is if I can plug the ethernet cable directly from the MBP to the TS-209 II and transfer over gigabit lan. Would this work and how would I configure everything?

Cheers all and thanks in advance again.

Eug.

[stevebow]

I'm not sure if this is right or not. Should the size of the HDD that timemachine sees be the size of the sparsebundle created (ie the 300gb for computer one and 150gb for computer 2)? Or will it detect the entire size of the HDD (ie. the 900gb that it is now reporting, I have 2x 1TB drives running in RAID 1). Doies it make a difference? I'm afraid that if it is reporting "900 gb" that timemachine will fill up my drive and not keep to the desired limits.

The Sparse Bundle is what is mounted ie. the volume. It is (or should be) the size of this that OS X reports.

When you create a share on your NAS it simply creates a new directory in /share (in the NAS) with the name you gave it eg. Time Machine. The size of this will be the remaining free capacity of your NAS's HDs, as with all the shared folders.

You should be able to create two separate Sparse Bundles in the same TimeMachine NAS share ie:
/share/TimeMachine/Computer1Name_Macaddress1.sparsebundle
/share/TimeMachine/Computer2Name_Macaddress2.sparsebundle

You cannot share Sparse Bundles between Macs (they should not show up in TM in any case).

Why your Sparse Bundles were being reported as 900GB I don't know, I haven't seen this before.

I now however have another question. Unfortunately my MBP has >200gb of stuff to back-up, and I only have a wireless G network (the original airport base station - UFO shaped one). I don't have a spare ethernet port in a router (the TS-209 II is taking up the only one on the router).

I started my back-up, but then decided it would take a week or so, which is unacceptable as I need the computer for work. Anyway, I was wondering if the following work around would work, and if anyone had heard of it being successfully done?

1. Create the sparsebundle file as previously described in multiple posts
2. transfer sparesbundle file to an external USB 2.0 HDD
3. Point time machine to the external USB 2.0 HDD and perform back-up over USB 2.0
4. Plug external drive into qnap and transfer sparsebundle file over to Qusb folder
5. Use FTP client to swap sparsebundle file from Qusb folder to "eug_timemachine" folder
6. Change drive on time machine to the "eug_timemachine" share on the TS-209 II and perform incremental back-ups from then on (and hopefully save a lot of time in the meantime!)

Probably, but if you're talking about using your Mac to do the ftp transfer then the data will transfer via the Mac unless your ftp client supports direct host-host transfers. I would be inclined to use the NAS's File Manager to do the transfer so it remains internal to the NAS. I don't know what the directory and file permissions would be after all this and you may get problems with OS X->TM mounting the Sparse Bundle in this case.

The only other option is if I can plug the ethernet cable directly from the MBP to the TS-209 II and transfer over gigabit lan. Would this work and how would I configure everything?

My advice would be to temporarily use your router (or direct to your NAS if your router is not GbE) via ethernet cable and do it overnight to least disturb anyone. The initial backup will be a once-off anyway. I too have my iMac connected via WiFi and I did the original TM via ethernet as well.

All you have to do is disable the WiFi (Turn Off Airport) in the Network Preference Pane in OS X. You should see a green indicator when the ethernet cable is plugged in, and you will need to configure your Mac's ethernet connection just as you would any other. Usually it will be Dynamic ie. "Using DHCP".

[Holmsi]

Hi Guys,

Just ordered a Macbook Air and was googling around for how I'd set it up when I stumbled upon what looks like a great guide. One question though, if I use ifconfig to get the MAC of the ethernet port, what do I do if I'm using a machine (like the Air) which has no ethernet port?

Anyone tried it? Or do I just use the wireless cards MAC address?

Cheers!