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Great News!!

It "kinda" works. It starts a new backup from scratch instead of using your previous time machine backups.

Mar 19, 08 - 07:36 pm Comment from: El Guapo

Does this work for the older AEBS? Mine's the UFO-ish looking kind.

@El Guapo

Your Apple router is not the airport "extreme". It's just the regular Airport. Hence, it will not work for you.

Over in the other thread, rahrens says: "If you don't see it in Time Machine, you'll need to open the window for your HD, then click on the Airport disk icon in the shared section on the left sidebar. Then click on the icon to the right so it will mount on the desktop. Then time Machine prefs will pick it up."

That same process was true *before* this firmware update. Nothing has changed. What needs to change is the auto-mounting of external drives so Time Machine can use them. There should be no extra steps.

Mar 19, 08 - 07:44 pm Comment from: El Guapo

Actually, it is an Airport Extreme.

It's not working for me, and I have a brand new Airport Extreme with an attached USB drive. All software and firmware updates applied.

Wow, this new Apple, the one that actually listens to their customers is scaring me. Thank goodness they finally fixed this.

Nothing has changed for me after this update that I notice.

I was able to back up to an external drive previously by first manually mounting it in Finder. The external drive is *not* seen by Time Machine until I mount it, so that part hasn't yet changed.

What *may* have changed is the reliability of the process. Maybe before, something wasn't working very well, whereas now it does.

Are others getting a different behavior? Are their attached drives auto-mounting without doing anything?

Anyone having a problem with this, try attaching the drive directly to the computer via USB, and repairing permissions. It worked for me after that.

Mar 19, 08 - 08:02 pm Comment from: Brau

Thank you Lord Stevus! My faith is restored! I AM a believer again! Moreover, I won't have to tell my sister I wasted her money when she bought her Extreme expecting this feature, only to have it withdrawn. (I still wish Apple would have at least released a statement as it would have settled a lot of discontent.)

Mar 19, 08 - 08:08 pm Comment from: BiZarRo BaLlmEr

Anyone know how to make an Epson stylus C84 printer work with AEBS? The air port sees it but epson software does not. I call Epson is at fault here. Updates all drivers.

Mar 19, 08 - 08:16 pm Comment from: eMax

anyone know how to use a linksys WAP54G as a bridge to a TimeCapsule/Aiport wireless network?

ive seen stuff about the router, but i have the access point only.

Thanks.

@eMax,

Probably not something you want to do -- have another router between you and the backup drive. Can't you switch the two routers around, and make your Time Capsule the primary router?

It works on my intel iMac but not a PPC Mac Mini.

MDN, thank you for posting those screenshots. I suppose you're trying to illustrate that this new functionality somehow exists as of today. But just for the benefit of your readers, everything you're showing is exactly the same as before today's software/firmware updates. I saw all of that exactly as posted in your screenshots.

I'm still waiting for official confirmation that Time Machine automatically sees the attached drives.

I assume those are shots directly from your own computers. Are you saying that Time Machine saw your backup drive without you manually mounting it in Finder? That's really the answer I'm after.

Someone, please, help shut me up about this. I'm not convinced that anything has changed.

@coolfactor
Look at the first screen shot. It shows an Airport Extreme and a "Samsung" external drive. This was _not_ happening before this update.

Mar 19, 08 - 09:28 pm Comment from: Eric

Coolfactor,

Don't take this the wrong way. I am not trying to be snarky or anything, but this site is called MacDailyNews (emphasis added), not MacFixIt, or Apple Support Discussion Forums. You'd be better advised to check those sites for help with your problem, and you might also consider other support resources which can be found at Apple Support Site, including support contact info which can be found at Apple's Contact Us page, and of course, you can always call/go to your "local" (assuming you don't live in some remote village in the middle of nowhere or something) Apple Store and see an Apple Genius for assistance, and then there are also independent Apple Consultants whose lives revolve around fixing these sorts of problems for people. Just some suggestions that are likely to be more useful than posting here over and over.

Eric

By the way, those should all be clickable links by the way (but I can't preview this post before submitting - hint hint, that's a suggestion, MDN admin dudes... 8^p ).

Is the update really working to make Time Machine work with AEBS? Coolfactor's whining, and the fact that this would be a MAJOR change that folks have been wanting for a long time yet no one is making a big deal about it (least of all Apple), makes me wonder what's really going on. Can any other AEBS users confirm this and the fact that the disk is automatically mounted?

Anyone know if this speeds up the USB performance? I have an external USB drive connected to the Airport Extrene, and a G4 MacMini wired into it. I can open an AVI off the drive and watch it fine, but if I open any H.264 encoded quicktime file it stutters like mad. I'd love to have the drive attached but stuttering is no good for a media center machine.
Thanks.

Mar 19, 08 - 09:41 pm Comment from: rahrens

Over on TUAW, there's a thread where some folks are saying they've got it working.

I've posted there, too, but a couple of my posts are in regards to my experience with Apple support:

They DO NOT support Time Machine over AEBS!! They were very clear on this, that a wireless connection is NOT supported.

I am assuming they mean not at all, because while I can get TM to recognize the drive as a TM drive, it will not back up "until Mac is plugged back in".

...and that's wired or wireless.

I can confirm this. My Airport Extreme just did a firmware update that includes the Time Capsule firmware update. Although I'm not using it, My hard drives connected to my AEBS are now available to use with Time Machine. I have a spare USB drive - I will have to try it later.

Mar 19, 08 - 10:11 pm Comment from: Chuch

no problems with a G4 powermac. Just mount the shared drive, and all is well....

Mar 19, 08 - 10:18 pm Comment from: KevinOpp

one point--since my AEBS only has one USB port to which my printer is connected for household wireless printing, i guess there's no way to take advantage of the hard drive that my iMac backs up to (via Firewire 800) for my MacBook to back up wirelessly. no one else has their lone USB port used already? i already have an 8-port USB hub connected to the iMac; am i supposed to hub the AEBS as well? that doesn't seem like that would make for a happy base station.

I hope I didn't just mess something up, but... I used this publicised terminal hack a couple months ago back: "defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1" and I did get this AE USB HD backup feature with intermittent "volume cannot be mounted" errors. I applied all the patches today and I couldn't get it to work, so I tried reversing with this terminal command: "defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 0" and it came up, but I just got another "mount" error -- bleh. Any ideas?

Mar 19, 08 - 11:14 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

MikeMilzz...

You can't be serious about improving USB performance. USB is the worst for file backups. Why didn't Apple include FireWire (Time Capsule and MacBook Air) is beyond me.

Anyway, it's good that they finally activated this feature in the AirPort Extreme!

Now I can upgrade my old TiBook to Leopard and use an old external drive for Time Machine backups. Yeah, it'll be slow as hell, but we only use it as a 'floating' Mac around the house. Since he optical drive is dead, it'll be like a fat MB Air.

Mar 19, 08 - 11:20 pm Comment from: Norrin Radd

@ El Guapo

I have the same one you do and it will not work. The AEBS we have will only update to 5.7 and not beyond. Although they are called "Extreme", our base stations do not have whatever is necessary, and apparently included with the new "Extreme" base stations (the square ones) that allows for this update to be successful and functional. Time to upgrade to Time Capsule....

Oh, and can I have your watch when you are dead?

Mar 19, 08 - 11:53 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ Norrin Radd & El Guapo

I have an "Extremer" AEBS, which is square, but is not "Extremest", meaning it has no internal drive. I think mine will work, because it has a USB port, which means it has a serial bus, which, I believe, yours do not.

I think.

Mar 19, 08 - 11:54 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ MikeMilzz

I love your bass line on "Old Man Kensey"

Mar 20, 08 - 12:38 am Comment from: Spark

I just got back from the Apple Store with a new Time Capsule, having given up on the hope that I'd be able to use my AEBS for Time Machine. I open up MacDaily and see THIS story! WTF!

I even said to the MacGenius that I wish I could use my existing AEBS instead of buying a new device. He just shook his head in commiseration. Jeez, Apple, how about a little "heads up"?

Mar 20, 08 - 02:03 am Comment from: flappo

my aebs is still on 5.7

are there different types of base stations ??

it's the white ufo shaped one , i bought it in 2002-3 ish

This only works with the squarish Airport Extreme (the N one).

You have to update your OS with the new fix and also update the airport base station firmware to 7.3.1 (done from in the base station config ap)

Then mount the disk and launch time machine config (working fine on my macbook air right now)

Reverse the hack if you've implemented it by substituting a zero for the one at the end and reinstall the update and restart as required. The fix detailed above worked for me; if you haven't already, update the base station, then plug your drive via USB directly to your computer (ie not FireWire). Repair disk permissions and move your drive over to the base station and connect to it in Finder. For me, Time Machine recognised it immediately and without having to go into System Preferences.

At long last!

I'd imagine there's likely to be a speed difference between a Time Machine and AEBS+USB. Maybe not with a lot of wireless networks, but wired will probably show that the USB connection is slowing things down.

Mar 20, 08 - 05:59 am Comment from: rahrens

I will repeat what Apple told me last night - that they do NOT support this! You may see it work, but they will not pull your chestnuts outta the fire if it fails...

Great! Now fix iMovie'08 DV video quality problem and I'll be a very satisfied customer

Is there a hack for this to work w/Airport Express??

Mar 20, 08 - 10:14 am Comment from: Norrin Radd

@ ChrissyOne

Actually, mine (& El Guapo's) UFO Extreme's DO have a USB port - works great for wireless printing - but doesn't work at all for this (too bad - oh well - time for Time Capsule!).

Time Machine backups are working great for me now. With regards to the Auto-Mounting of the drive... once you have mounted it the first time and then chosen it as the backup drive Time Machine will automatically mount it and back up every hour. If you are using a laptop it will back up every hour as long as your Mac is plugged in. You will NOT be able to backup without plugging your Mac in because your backup could get corrupted if a backup job doesn't complete because of losing power.

BiZarRo BaLlmEr sez: "Anyone know how to make an Epson stylus C84 printer work with AEBS? The air port sees it but epson software does not. I call Epson is at fault here. Updates all drivers."

The current Epson drivers do not support Bonjour. Yeah, you will see "Epson Stylus C84 Bonjour" (or whatever model of Epson you have) listed in Printer Setup Utility Printer Browser / Default Browser window. But this is BOGUS. Try it if you like, but printing will throw a communication error. This is indeed Epson's fault, and I consider it inexcusable considering that the Rendezvous/Bonjour standard is many years old and is free Open Source code from Apple.

However, there is a very good solution. Install the latest STABLE version of Gimp-Print which is currently 5.0.2.
*** (Do NOT NOT NOT install any version of the 5.1.x series as it is currently for developer TESTING ONLY and will mess up your Mac's printing ability)

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-print/

Once it is installed here is what to do. (Note that there are Gimp-Print drivers for most other Epson printers as well).

1) Be sure your Epson is ON and connected via USB to your AirPort Extreme / Time Capsule Base Station.
2) In Printer Setup Utility hit the 'Add' icon.
3) In the Printer Browser window click the 'Default Browser' icon.
4) Click on the listed Printer Name of your Epson printer to highlight it.
5) In the lower box you should see the 'Name:' of your printer and the 'Location:' name of your Base Station. You need to CHANGE the 'Print Using:' driver selection in its popup menu. Open the popup menu, move your cursor down to 'EPSON' in the Gimp-Printer driver list.

6) A new 'Model' list will open up in the Print Browser window. Scroll down to the driver for your printer and click on it to highlight it. (In our example here, the driver name is something like 'Epson Stylus C84 - CUPS+Gutenprint v5.0.x'. Note that 'Gimp-Print' is equivalent to 'Gutenprint' for the time being until the developers sort out the name confusion).

7) With your printer driver selected, click the 'Add' button on the bottom right of the Printer Browser window. You are now ready to go.

8) When you Print be sure you select the Epson Gutenprint driver. Do NOT select the 'Bonjour Printer' listing for your Epson printer. If you happen to have Epson's version of its driver setup up for printing, it will be selected (versus Gutenprint) and will fail.

Be sure to play around in the Epson Gutenprint interface before you print. In particular check out the multitude of settings under the 'Printer Features' popup menu item in the printing interface. For the Epson Stylus C84 there are 14 (!) different 'Feature Sets'. It is likely the only ones you will need are "Set 1" and "Printer Features Common". The other settings are for professionals. It is also useful to go into the 'Scheduler' popup menu item to speed up your printer output by selecting 'Urgent'. Note that as usual you can SAVE all your printer selections for your convenience in the future. For example, I have a setup for 'Epson C84 Urgent Economy Black' for rough test prints.

:-Derek

Mar 24, 08 - 07:21 pm Comment from: Tommyr

FYI, I alerted MacDailynews of the update.