Oct
30

Time Machine with a Network Share Howto

Lawrence Sheed // 30 Oct 2008 // 2 Comments

1) Find out the Network name and Mac address for the computer:
Network Name is here:
System Preferences / Sharing / Computer Name
eg  Lawrence’s MacBook
Write it down, we’ll need it in step 2.
Mac Address is here:
System Preferences / Network –  Ethernet / Ethernet
eg
mac address – 00:1b:00:99:cd:1a
Write it down, we’ll need it in step 2.
2) Create a Time Machine Empty Backup file in Terminal
Open up Terminal
Spotlight-> Terminal
Change to the root folder.
cd /
We’ll need to paste this into terminal -
hdiutil create -size 300g -fs HFS+J -type SPARSEBUNDLE -volname “COMPUTER NAME” “COMPUTER NAME_MACADDRESS.sparsebundle”
Replace COMPUTER NAME and MACADDRESS with the ones from step 1. The MACADDRESS needs to have bypass surgery to remove its colons.
eg:
My computer details are
Computer Name: Lawrence Sheed’s MacBook
Mac Address: 00:1b:00:99:cd:1a
So my line would look like this:
hdiutil create -size 300g -fs HFS+J -type SPARSEBUNDLE -volname “Lawrence Sheed’s MacBook” “Lawrence Sheed’s MacBook_001b632eb218.sparsebundle”
3)  Copy file to the network share in root folder \
Once you have the file created in step 2, copy that file to the Network Share where you want to use Time Machine.
The backup file needs to go to the root folder \ on the share.
4) Configure Time machine to allow use on network shares
(in terminal)
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
4) In Time Machine, point to the drive.
System Preferences / Time Machine
Choose the network drive..
It will now allow you to backup to the network share.
Tested and working in 10.5.5 Leopard.
Thats it!
October 30, 2008   //   Apple, Useful Info   //   2 Comments   //   Tags: , ,

2 Comments to “Time Machine with a Network Share Howto”

  • joe p says:
    January 25, 2009 at 10:34 am

    No need to do all that CLI stuff — there is an Automator script to do it for you. Its called “Time Tamer” and is available at drobo.com/droboapps — don’t worry, this will work with any hard drive, not just the Drobo.

    Reply
  • Lawrence Sheed says:
    January 25, 2009 at 10:43 am

    I’ve taken a look at that link, and doesn’t sound like it does the same thing.

    What I wrote above lets you setup a network share time machine backup on a non time capsule drive.
    I’ve used it to setup backups to Thecus, Buffalo NAS *network* drives (NAS) without issues at clients.

    The drobo is a local usb drive, time machine works on usb without all the hoops to jump through above.

    What you linked to is a way to limit maximum backup size, not a way to enable network backups.

    I took a long hard look at the drobo previously, and in the end got a NAS. I wish Drobo would hurry up and release a proper networked version…

    Reply

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