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March 12, 2008 9:00 AM PDT

Correction: AirPort update does not bring back Time Machine for AirDisks

by CNET staff

[Wednesday, March 12th]

Early, pre-release builds of Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) included the ability to use Time Machine with USB disks connected to AirPort Extreme Base stations. That feature was mysteriously removed in the final release, making way for the Time Capsule, which offers similar functionality. At the time, we conjectured that Leopard was released with known AirPort disk connection reliability issues.

We initially reported that Apple quietly reinstated the ability to use Time Machine for AirPort-connected USB disks ("AirDisks"), but this assertion was premature. While AirPort Extreme-connected disks now show up as volumes in Time Machine for some, the actual backup functionality does not work.

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    by designr graphics March 12, 2008 9:16 AM PDT
    And, what about AFP/SMB/FTP Network attached drives?
    Reply to this comment
    by k9spen March 12, 2008 9:21 AM PDT
    It says USB attached, but does it work for wireless Time Machine Back ups as was promoted originally before Leopard?
    I hope it works for Wireless Backup, but it doesn't seem clear from the quote.
    "Mount a USB disk thats attached to an AirPort Extreme, go to Time Machine preferences, change disk, and voila, there's your External hard drive attached to AirPort Express to add as Time Machine backup!"
    Reply to this comment
    by jmbcs_dotmac March 12, 2008 9:56 AM PDT
    Doesn't work here. I've got a couple of drives on my APE's and they don't show up in TM prefs after installing the update...
    Reply to this comment
    by cclauset March 12, 2008 10:05 AM PDT
    Apple hasn't updated their <a href="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306833">technote</a> to indicate that Time Machine will back up to Airport Disks, and in testing while it appears that Time Machine is recognizing the disk, it consistently fails:
    <pre>
    3/12/08 12:48:17 PM kernel hfs: Initializing the journal (joffset 0x951000 sz 0x1800000)...
    3/12/08 12:48:31 PM com.apple.KernelEventAgent[43] KernelEventAgent: sysctl_queryfs: No such file or directory
    3/12/08 12:48:33 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[394] Error 22 creating backup disk image
    3/12/08 12:48:33 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[394] Failed to create disk image
    3/12/08 12:48:33 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[394] Backup failed with error: 20
    </pre>
    Reply to this comment
    by Stempnakowski March 12, 2008 10:24 AM PDT
    Since I've had the Final Release of Leopard, I've been able to select a disk connected to an Airport base station in Time Machine Preferences, but I've never been able to have it work. Time Machine always exits with a Failure to create backup image. I don't see any difference with this update.
    Reply to this comment
    by krinkly March 12, 2008 2:48 PM PDT
    Apparently not. Outside of the one guy you quote, I can't find anyone else who confirms this, and plenty of people who say it doesn't work. It certainly doesn't work for me. Your post amounts to nothing more than unconfirmed and incorrect rumor.
    Reply to this comment
    by chashulme_dotmac March 12, 2008 3:18 PM PDT
    No updated base station firmware accompanied the recent Airport Utility changes. Without this, I can't see how the original problem can possibly be resolved.
    Reply to this comment
    by end-user-guy March 13, 2008 7:03 AM PDT
    <b>I'm glad to see that this correction has finally been posted.</b><br> I'm also sorry to see MacFixit posting information without first verifying it, especially for features which hold so much promise. There's too much emphasis on "being first with the news" creeping into the Apple/Mac reporting community; accuracy is suffering. I wasted an hour trying to get this to work after seeing the original post. <br><br>I don't believe we'll see Time Machine working through an Extreme base any time soon. The new Time Capsule hardware is obviously the reason - sales; profit. Apple has slowly become more greedy than I ever imagined. Considering all Apple does with Mac products in regards to efficiency and quality, this situation is a knife in the back of Time Machine, and otherwise excellent backup concept for the every-day user.<b>
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