Mac users | Tell me about your wireless backups with asusWRT-Merlin (Time Machine, CCC, etc)

[MRxROBOT]

The main reason I switched to asusWRT-Merlin from DD-WRT is the support for Time Machine (AFP & HFS+). This all looks good on paper but what are people's experience with Time Machine over Wifi. Is it working seamlessly, are you getting corrupted images etc?

To the Mac users that aren't using Time Machine. What are you using for backups over Wifi, Carbon Copy Cloner etc? What are your experiences with your setup?

[ My wireless backups are done in addition to local USB backups. ]

 

[BeachBum]

Not using my AC3200 as the router anymore, but when I did I had no issues with Time Machine. Had it backing up to my Synology NAS via wifi. I don't know about corrupted images, never had to restore any files, and I never got any alerts from Time Machine.

I also have the NAS and my desktop(s) backed up to Amazon Cloud Drive via a program called Arq.

 

[MRxROBOT]

Not using my AC3200 as the router anymore, but when I did I had no issues with Time Machine. Had it backing up to my Synology NAS via wifi. I don't know about corrupted images, never had to restore any files, and I never got any alerts from Time Machine.

I also have the NAS and my desktop(s) backed up to Amazon Cloud Drive via a program called Arq.

Thanks for taking the time to relay your experience. How long did you have the setup with the AC3200 and Time Machine running?

 

[sfx2000]

The main reason I switched to asusWRT-Merlin from DD-WRT is the support for Time Machine (AFP & HFS+). This all looks good on paper but what are people's experience with Time Machine over Wifi. Is it working seamlessly, are you getting corrupted images etc?

To the Mac users that aren't using Time Machine. What are you using for backups over Wifi, Carbon Copy Cloner etc? What are your experiences with your setup?

[ My wireless backups are done in addition to local USB backups. ]

There are really only three ways to safely/reliably do TimeMachine - direct attached storage, OSX Server, or a TimeCapsule..

The third parties - they'll create a sparsebundle image, and use netatalk (afpd) to mimic TimeMachine support, and it'll work for a while until the timemachine client decides to 'thin' the image, and things tend to go badly and the TM client will suggest it's time to verify, and it'll fail...

The other risk with TimeMachine emulation is that Apple doesn't fully document it, and makes changes to suit their needs - so occasionally it just breaks...

CCC might be a better approach..

 

[BWR]

I've been using it for ~2 years over wi-fi on a Macbook Pro, no problems. Had to restore files a couple of times, worked as expected.
Time Machine is set to check for changes every hour (had to use some utility to set the interval, by defualt it's buried somewhere in the command line).

 

[sfx2000]

Time Machine is set to check for changes every hour (had to use some utility to set the interval, by defualt it's buried somewhere in the command line).

info tmutil

TMUTIL(8)                 BSD System Manager's Manual                TMUTIL(8)

NAME
     tmutil -- Time Machine utility

SYNOPSIS
     tmutil verb [options]

DESCRIPTION
     tmutil provides methods of controlling and interacting with Time Machine,
     as well as examining and manipulating Time Machine backups. Common abili-
     ties include restoring data from backups, editing exclusions, and compar-
     ing backups.

     Several, but not all, verbs require root privileges.

 

[BeachBum]

Thanks for taking the time to relay your experience. How long did you have the setup with the AC3200 and Time Machine running?

~6 months
I now just use the AC3200 as an access point connected to a pfSense box. Time Machine seems to be fine in this situation as well.

 

[MRxROBOT]

There are really only three ways to safely/reliably do TimeMachine - direct attached storage, OSX Server, or a TimeCapsule..

The third parties - they'll create a sparsebundle image, and use netatalk (afpd) to mimic TimeMachine support, and it'll work for a while until the timemachine client decides to 'thin' the image, and things tend to go badly and the TM client will suggest it's time to verify, and it'll fail...

The other risk with TimeMachine emulation is that Apple doesn't fully document it, and makes changes to suit their needs - so occasionally it just breaks...

CCC might be a better approach..

So you're saying the Time Machine App in the asusWRT-Merlin is not a good idea. I knew there were issues with TM and Sparse Disk Bundles without AFP, but I thought asusWRT worked that out. Bummer. I wonder why Asus markets their routers/firmware as supporting Time Machine if it's only a matter time before clients data backups fail...

 

[jrmwvu04]

I wonder why Asus markets their routers/firmware as supporting Time Machine if it's only a matter time before clients data backups fail...

The same reason any company markets any product as supporting anything - they want you to buy it.

That point aside, I tend to agree with sfx2000 on all points. Every now and then, firmware changes (or Apple changes) break Time Machine support.

Time Machine backups should be thought of as a safety net for your data. The notion of playing around with the reliability of your safety net feels, to me, like it defeats the entire purpose.

edit: To illustrate my point, if something happens to your Mac and your information is compromised or destroyed, that's not the time you want to find out that something went wrong with your backups.

 

[MRxROBOT]

The same reason any company markets any product as supporting anything - they want you to buy it.

That point aside, I tend to agree with sfx2000 on all points. Every now and then, firmware changes (or Apple changes) break Time Machine support.

Time Machine backups should be thought of as a safety net for your data. The notion of playing around with the reliability of your safety net feels, to me, like it defeats the entire purpose.

edit: To illustrate my point, if something happens to your Mac and your information is compromised or destroyed, that's not the time you want to find out that something went wrong with your backups.

Is Carbon Copy Cloner a better alternative? Does that have any problems I should be aware of?

So much to learn still.

 

[MRxROBOT]

I should add that I'm not looking to make a bootable backup. This for just the important stuff like documents/photos etc. I prefer to do clean installs and transfer the rest over myself when the time comes.

 

[jrmwvu04]

I should add that I'm not looking to make a bootable backup. This for just the important stuff like documents/photos etc. I prefer to do clean installs and transfer the rest over myself when the time comes.

I typically do clean installs myself about once a year when OS X is upgraded. I just plug in a WD Passport and dump my home folder to it about once a month, because I'm not concerned about the other stuff. I make a new copy when I do that and usually keep the past two or three instances in case I have made a change to something I don't want to keep (never really happens though).

I have, however, been toying around with the idea of getting a mini and buying OS X Server for a more automated process. My hesitancy to do that is that I'm afraid I'll start to rely on that and not do the offline backups.

 

[MRxROBOT]

There are really only three ways to safely/reliably do TimeMachine - direct attached storage, OSX Server, or a TimeCapsule..

The third parties - they'll create a sparsebundle image, and use netatalk (afpd) to mimic TimeMachine support, and it'll work for a while until the timemachine client decides to 'thin' the image, and things tend to go badly and the TM client will suggest it's time to verify, and it'll fail...

The other risk with TimeMachine emulation is that Apple doesn't fully document it, and makes changes to suit their needs - so occasionally it just breaks...

CCC might be a better approach..

Since this is all Linux, I can see why Ext2/3 is the preferred format to be used. I'd like my backups to be held in HFS+ so I can access them after a fresh install and restore them without accessing my router if need be. Is it ill advised to use a GUID formatted HFS+ partition with Carbon Copy Cloner via Samba on AsusWRT-Merlin?

 

[loadbang]

Time Machine is my lazy backup copy. I have a 5TB drive attached and it does hourly backups of three Macs. It has been used to recover files several time already and has worked as good as expected. I never trust it 100%, and you should never do. I have a second 5TB drive I plug in at least every week or two, and every couple of months I have another 5TB hard drive that has all the important things such as photos and documents backed up on to it and is then given to my brother to keep an off-site copy.

My parents Asus router is also set up for TM. They back up their Macs in the same way as me, but it also means whoever I go round to see them ever 2-3 weeks I just take my Mac and it backs up on their 5TB attached HDD. Which is handy.

 

[MRxROBOT]

Time Machine is my lazy backup copy. I have a 5TB drive attached and it does hourly backups of three Macs. It has been used to recover files several time already and has worked as good as expected. I never trust it 100%, and you should never do. I have a second 5TB drive I plug in at least every week or two, and every couple of months I have another 5TB hard drive that has all the important things such as photos and documents backed up on to it and is then given to my brother to keep an off-site copy.

My parents Asus router is also set up for TM. They back up their Macs in the same way as me, but it also means whoever I go round to see them ever 2-3 weeks I just take my Mac and it backs up on their 5TB attached HDD. Which is handy.

Just to be clear, you are using Time Machine via your 5TB drive with your asusWRT router syncing 3 Macs wirelessly? No issues to date? Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[sfx2000]

Is Carbon Copy Cloner a better alternative? Does that have any problems I should be aware of?

So much to learn still.

CCC is pretty good - used in conjunction with TimeMachine is like having a belt and suspenders...

 

[BeachBum]

Is Carbon Copy Cloner a better alternative? Does that have any problems I should be aware of?

I use CCC also. I keep a external USB HD plugged into my machine and CCC keeps a bootable clone of my system. Actually came in handy when I recently bought a new machine, I could easily mount it and copy over anything I needed. No need to network the old and new machines together.

 

[MRxROBOT]

CCC is pretty good - used in conjunction with TimeMachine is like having a belt and suspenders...

Yeah I'm not looking to use both. After all I read about issues with Time Machine on non Apple routers I think I'm going to shy away from it. You said there were issues with netatalk and AFP. Is there any issues with the Tuxera drivers and GUID/HFS? Can I use those formats without worries or do I need to just stick with Ext2/3?

 

[basketball]

I begun expecting troubles with TM backups a couple weeks ago as I upgraded my router to 380.58.
Now my fresh backup lives only 7-10 days, then it reports that sparse bundle is corrupted.
Before upgrade encrypted wireless backup worked on my ASUS RT-AC56U a half year without any problem.
And it's not because of SMB2, I checked.
Just make the new backup right now.

 

[Skoven]

I use ChronoSync with my NTFS-formatted HDD on my router.... works fine so far. I choose NTFS, because i then have the ability to unplug my HDD if needed and take it with me to use on my Mac or windows machine. Haven't tried TimeMachine, and don't plan to either.... if my primary drive fails in my Mac, i will just make a clean install on a new drive, and copy back my files.
ChronoSync is very quick to detect changes to your Mac HDD sync folder/drive, if set correctly + you have a lot of different backup/sync-options to choose from. The amount of settings can be overwhelming at first though....