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Apple says Time Machine over AirPort Disk is unsupported feature - Page 2

post #41 of 78
4/8/08 at 7:51pm
I was on the phone yesterday with an Apple representative and explained the situation with my Airport. We went through the motions until he got to the script where he is supposed to tell the customer that the Airport is unsupported. I went off on him like you couldn't believe. I for one am tired of Apple's holier than thou attitude. I have a perfectly good Airport sitting in the closet because I went out and bought the New Airport last year to be ready for Leopard and the wireless backup. I also bought a 500GB disk to connect to it. Two items I did not need and WOULD NOT have purchased if Apple had not promoted this product as gospel. Well, Steve, it is time to put down your water bottle and pack away your salesmanship as you wait for the audience to applaud you and Apple for the next greatest breakthrough. As a loyal Apple consumer and an Apple stock holder, I am pissed! You made a commitment and you left good customers hanging. Not right, not prudent and I for one am not going to stand for it. I guarantee that I am not the only person who became an early adopter of your new Airport. I have been financially damaged and you and your company misled the public on this one. Maybe not intentionally, but you need to make it right. If Time Capsule is the product to do want you intended, then take my Apple Airport in trade and make me a happy camper again. When the I phone came out within two-months the price dropped and you were ready to let good loyal early adopters take the hit on that one. Steve, you are starting to worry me here. You keep this pattern up and you might qualify as Hillary's running mate. She doesn't know the truth either!

Uncle Phil

PS I did the video on I-Grease when we got hosed on the iPhone, and I will be happy to create a sequel with Airport.
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post #42 of 78
4/8/08 at 8:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Phil View Post

I was on the phone yesterday with an Apple representative and explained the situation with my Airport. We went through the motions until he got to the script where he is supposed to tell the customer that the Airport is unsupported. I went off on him like you couldn't believe. I for one am tired of Apple's holier than thou attitude. I have a perfectly good Airport sitting in the closet because I went out and bought the New Airport last year to be ready for Leopard and the wireless backup. I also bought a 500GB disk to connect to it. Two items I did not need and WOULD NOT have purchased if Apple had not promoted this product as gospel. Well, Steve, it is time to put down your water bottle and pack away your salesmanship as you wait for the audience to applaud you and Apple for the next greatest breakthrough. As a loyal Apple consumer and an Apple stock holder, I am pissed! You made a commitment and you left good customers hanging. Not right, not prudent and I for one am not going to stand for it. I guarantee that I am not the only person who became an early adopter of your new Airport. I have been financially damaged and you and your company misled the public on this one. Maybe not intentionally, but you need to make it right. If Time Capsule is the product to do want you intended, then take my Apple Airport in trade and make me a happy camper again. When the I phone came out within two-months the price dropped and you were ready to let good loyal early adopters take the hit on that one. Steve, you are starting to worry me here. You keep this pattern up and you might qualify as Hillary's running mate. She doesn't know the truth either!

Uncle Phil

PS I did the video on I-Grease when we got hosed on the iPhone, and I will be happy to create a sequel with Airport.

I can sympathize with you regarding the AE(n) + External HD feature pull.

I'd ask why you think you got 'hosed' on the iPhone, but I don't think I can be bothered reading such a long paragraph again. Actually, I know why ... and I disagree. Be thankful you got $100.
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post #43 of 78
4/8/08 at 8:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Phil View Post

I was on the phone yesterday with an Apple representative and explained the situation with my Airport. We went through the motions until he got to the script where he is supposed to tell the customer that the Airport is unsupported. I went off on him like you couldn't believe. I for one am tired of Apple's holier than thou attitude. I have a perfectly good Airport sitting in the closet because I went out and bought the New Airport last year to be ready for Leopard and the wireless backup. I also bought a 500GB disk to connect to it. Two items I did not need and WOULD NOT have purchased if Apple had not promoted this product as gospel. Well, Steve, it is time to put down your water bottle and pack away your salesmanship as you wait for the audience to applaud you and Apple for the next greatest breakthrough. As a loyal Apple consumer and an Apple stock holder, I am pissed! You made a commitment and you left good customers hanging. Not right, not prudent and I for one am not going to stand for it. I guarantee that I am not the only person who became an early adopter of your new Airport. I have been financially damaged and you and your company misled the public on this one. Maybe not intentionally, but you need to make it right. If Time Capsule is the product to do want you intended, then take my Apple Airport in trade and make me a happy camper again. When the I phone came out within two-months the price dropped and you were ready to let good loyal early adopters take the hit on that one. Steve, you are starting to worry me here. You keep this pattern up and you might qualify as Hillary's running mate. She doesn't know the truth either!

Uncle Phil

I was an early adopter of the iPod Shuffle. I paid $79 for it and 3 years later Apple drops the price to $49 and, to add insult to injury, they offer a new one with twice the capacity for $10 less than what I paid. What kind of skullduggery is this, where technology prices drop and companies lower prices to shore up unit sales?

Seriously though, gospel—in the way you use it—means "a thing that is absolutely true", yet Apple clearly stated—and this IS gospel with any beta product—"that features/specs are subject to change". You should be pissed at yourself for jumping the gun, not with Apple, and not with CSRs scraping out a meager living. Shame on you for your "holier than thou" attitude toward the poor CSR. Do you kick kittens too? Perhaps you should take yourself out to your own woodshed, Uncle Phil.
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post #44 of 78
4/8/08 at 8:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by coremonkey View Post

The reason they don't support it is because you obviously are using a 3rd party external hard drive. Apple never has supported 3rd party software or devices.

DUH.

Cool, I can select any drive on the network now. I think the real reason they don't support it is because they want to sell time capsule. However to give them the benefit of the doubt, it could be due to the critical nature of a back-up system, they want to have a proven and reliable system of a given high bandwidth and not just any old network drive on any ol network. Na, more likely, the marketing dept has taken over operations.
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post #45 of 78
4/8/08 at 8:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by seadoodude View Post

Cool, I can select any drive on the network now. I think the real reason they don't support it is because they want to sell time capsule. However to give them the benefit of the doubt, it could be due to the critical nature of a back-up system, they want to have a proven and reliable system of a given high bandwidth and not just any old network drive on any ol network. Na, more likely, the marketing dept has taken over operations.

Your latter answer is more likely. Leopard came out 56 months before Time Capsule and Time Capsule was obviously in the works at Apple that they could have removed the feature listing a lot earlier than they did. It makes sense they wanted to add the feature but were possibility warned that data loss due to shoddy syncing could be a legal issue. Whatever the reason, it does suck to expect one thing and get another, but we need to be careful not to be overzealous and assume more than is promised. There were more that one feature that did not show up in Leopard, and there were things that worked fine for my in Leopard beta but for some reason failed to work properly once the GM was released.
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post #46 of 78
4/8/08 at 8:35pm
Oh, Uncle Phil, I just noticed the title of your post:

'Anyone for a Class-Action Lawsuit?'

Good luck with that.
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post #47 of 78
4/8/08 at 9:31pm
Wonderful. I just ordered an AEBS last night. Only after going to the local Apple Store and being reassured by the local techies that this very feature existed. I also wanted it for print sharing, but was REALLY looking forward to the Time Machine feature through Airdisk.

Makes me wonder if they're doing this to push more sales of Time Capsule. Wouldn't surprise me at all.
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post #48 of 78
4/8/08 at 9:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by urbansprawl View Post

I'm in love with Apple just as much as the rest of you, but it's clear they make business/profit-motivated decisions over making users happy. It's pretty obvious they pulled the feature at first just to push new hardware (Time Capsule). Granted, I don't know about possible hardware changes between AEBS and TC, but it seems that it should just work for both.

You are wrong. I know for a *fact* that it was pulled because it didn't work reliably. Period. This was an engineering decision 100% of the way. The problem was not in leopard. The problem was in AEBS and with certain USB drives.

And yes, I can say "Period" because I've read the radar case notes. And no, it was not under NDA but instead from a friend in engineering at Apple.
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post #49 of 78
4/8/08 at 9:49pm
I cannot believe how crazy people are getting over this.

Apple advertised, at first, the feature. They STOPPED doing that. Everyone who rushed out to by their AEBS before Leopard was ready should have waited. I bought mine too for the Airdisk/TM machine reason. But because Apple stopped advertising the feature and did not include in the final product, I cannot get angry. Do I want it to work? Yes. Do I wish it would? Yes. Does it kind of work now? Yep. Will Apple support it? No. Did they say they would support? No.

Did Apple activate the feature? Yes! But it's not supported and they never said it was. If you want to play around and use the 'feature' then feel free, but don't expect Apple to help if it fails. I can do all kinds of things with my Mac that are not supported. Before Apple went Intel, I used to run Linux on my iBook G4 by modifying the bootstrap and a few other things. Apple never supported the feature. I can't get angry if they don't help me with it when it doesn't work. Apple never advertised it as a feature (I agree), but Apple did stop advertising the TM feature (so the example fits again).

Long before Leopard came out people had noticed that the 'Feature' had been 'dropped.' Next time wait for the final product and it's supported feature list.
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post #50 of 78
4/8/08 at 10:09pm
Many of us did- and then Appleinsider (who I have the beef with- not Apple) pretended like it WAS a supported feature- and then went on for DAYS reporting a series of articles that compared this feature with TIme Capsule. Annoying to say the least.
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post #51 of 78
4/8/08 at 11:47pm
Wow, lots of angry people out there. It would have been nice had Apple said what the deal was with TM backups, but they didn't. I think it would generally help customer relations, so either they only want to sell more TC's, or they can't seem to make TM work with myriad third party HD's and are working this issue out with an uncertain outcome. My guess is it's the latter, otherwise why would it be a feature that they were talking about pre Leopard launch? Then again, maybe the marketing guys decided it would be better to force people to buy TC's. But what bugs me about that is, what do you do when your 1TB TC drive fills up?

Either way, if you're so pissed about this, take a breather! I tried to get it to work with my AEBS right after the latest version came out, and it didn't work, it fouled up my internet connection, and I had to start all over. Dang, that was annoying. But then again, Apple NEVER OFFICIALLY SAID IT WAS SUPPORTED. So I moved on with life. It's sad when people's lives revolve around their tech gear so much that they freak out like a lot of the people on this forum when things don't live up to their expectations.

But even MacWorld (who I guess I respect, sort of) touted this feature in their latest issue. I think they should have done a little more journalistic research to make sure it actually did before they fired off a story that lacks credibility at this point. Seems like most of the Mac writers/bloggers jumped the gun.
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post #52 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:10am
{deleted}
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post #53 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by efithian@mac.com View Post

You can connect your macbook to the AEBS using ethernet and do the initial backup. You must turn off airport for this to work. When it is finished, turn airport back on and disconnect the ethernet. Do a forced backup and all should be fine. Worked for me. Creates a sparseimage. It has been working with a mac mini with gigabit ethernet and a macbook with wireless-g. Trying soon with a G5 wired ethernet.

Hi, just wanted to let you guys know that you can do the initial time machine back up to an external drive via connected firewire or USB (to the computer), then connect it to the airport extreme and continue to do incremental TM backups to that initial back up via wireless. On another note, I guess I got lucky here. My time machine works to not one, but two drives (one for my laptop, another for my girlfriends) connected via a usb hub which then connects to the usb. You don't even have to have the drives mounted as airdisks on your desktop. It will mount the disk image when it runs a back up. You just have to remain connected in the "shared" servers (your airport disk) in the sidebar of the finder window. Which is an automatic action.
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post #54 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by coremonkey View Post

The reason they don't support it is because you obviously are using a 3rd party external hard drive. Apple never has supported 3rd party software or devices.

If that were true, then they wouldn't support Time Machine via any third party drive connected directly. But they do.

So think again!

Besides, if they stopped the feature tomorrow, you could disconnect the disk from the Airport Extreme, connect it to your computer, mount the disk image and do a backup. See this is why I don't think it's a feature Apple are deliberately keeping from us, I reckon it's just not properly tested and official yet.
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post #55 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 8CoreWhore View Post

I hook up a HDD to my AEBS just like Apple says I can. I turn on Time Machine. TM sees the HDD and asks if I want to use it to back up my computer. I confirm I do. It works. To me, that is IMPLIED support.

I guess that if it actually invited you to use that specific disk, over AirPort, as a Time Machine backup, then you have a case. Can you confirm this is definitely the case?
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post #56 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jobberphoto View Post

Wonderful. I just ordered an AEBS last night. Only after going to the local Apple Store and being reassured by the local techies that this very feature existed. I also wanted it for print sharing, but was REALLY looking forward to the Time Machine feature through Airdisk..

Again, if the salesman tells you the feature is supported, but it is not, you have a case. Well at least in the UK; it is called Statutory Rights. If you are sold any goods falsely advertised (verbal or written) then you are entitled to a full refund or replacement.
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post #57 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Free2B View Post

But what bugs me about that is, what do you do when your 1TB TC drive fills up?

Time Machine was designed to work to the limits of a hard drive. Once the drive fills up, the oldest backup is removed and so on. This is the way Time Machine was made to work, and always has been. If you want a different backup method, you need to use different software.
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post #58 of 78
4/9/08 at 5:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post

I have got mine working perfectly too! It has been running flawlessly for over a week. I will be l ticked off if were stooped by an update!

The problem is, as it stands, Time Machine is a completely desktop-centric app. I.e., mine works well too, but my MacBook Pro only backs up when it's plugged into a power source, and does not (to my knowledge) back up when the lid's closed.

This works great for a desktop machine. It's plugged in, period, and while it sleeps, there has to be something with hibernation and laptop sleep that differs from desktop sleep.

Also, as laptops travel more, backups aren't hourly, only hourly when you're in your network. Plugged into the wall. Sitting at the computer.

I'm grateful they opened the feature (even if by accident), but I definitely see why they're all OMGoops! about it.
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post #59 of 78
4/9/08 at 5:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BdeRWest View Post

Also, as laptops travel more, backups aren't hourly, only hourly when you're in your network. Plugged into the wall. Sitting at the computer.

I'm grateful they opened the feature (even if by accident), but I definitely see why they're all OMGoops! about it.

You seem to be justifying their mistake on how Time Machine works wirelessly for wireless machines. However you seem to have missed that Time Machine works perfectly fine with Time Capsule, and is supported.

Someone using Time Capsule to backup their MacBook is completely supported.
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post #60 of 78
4/9/08 at 6:00am
Hi,

My name is Joe average consumer. I bought an Imac yesterday and a Macbook Pro. -I'm tired of Vista crashing and I love my Ipod. I also bought an Airport extreme.

I took them home, set them all up, and plugged something called an external drive into the little rectangular spot on the airport extreme.

I saw in the Apple store this nifty thing called time machine and thought I should use it. I turned it on and it chose that big hard drive to do the back up.

It took several hours, but it's probably because it had to go over that M (maybe it's called N) network. Anyway, it's all good now, I'm backed up and living happily ever after.

Right?
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post #61 of 78
4/9/08 at 6:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BdeRWest View Post

The problem is, as it stands, Time Machine is a completely desktop-centric app. I.e., mine works well too, but my MacBook Pro only backs up when it's plugged into a power source, and does not (to my knowledge) back up when the lid's closed.

This works great for a desktop machine. It's plugged in, period, and while it sleeps, there has to be something with hibernation and laptop sleep that differs from desktop sleep.

Also, as laptops travel more, backups aren't hourly, only hourly when you're in your network. Plugged into the wall. Sitting at the computer.

I'm grateful they opened the feature (even if by accident), but I definitely see why they're all OMGoops! about it.

This makes no sense at all. If it were "desktop centric" it would not tell me that the next backup would occur when I'm plugged in.

With laptop sales far outpacing desktop sales, Apple clearly designed this app with the ability to assist in solving the problem of backing up a mobile device.
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post #62 of 78
4/9/08 at 7:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by beninden View Post

This makes no sense at all. If it were "desktop centric" it would not tell me that the next backup would occur when I'm plugged in.

I have no doubt Apple designed the app with the mobile computer in mind. They'd be stupid not to. The way their .Mac service integrates several Macs seamlessly is on the forefront of this "cloud computing" model everyone keeps touting.

I'm saying in its current iteration, as I use the program, I find myself saying "man, this would be perfect if I had a desktop."

As it is, I run the risk of actually deleting something unless I dock my computer and me to my desk more frequently than I might otherwise.

I'm sure when it becomes "official," it won't feel this way.

But for now, it does.
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post #63 of 78
4/9/08 at 8:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BdeRWest View Post

I'm sure when it becomes "official," it won't feel this way.

But for now, it does.

Errr but that's the thing, it IS official.

Time Capsule + MacBook = wireless backup = Official way of using Time Machine.
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post #64 of 78
4/9/08 at 9:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jowie74 View Post

I guess that if it actually invited you to use that specific disk, over AirPort, as a Time Machine backup, then you have a case. Can you confirm this is definitely the case?

Exactly right!!

All you posters on here who are agreeing that this is not a supported feature really do not have a clue what you are talking about, much like Apple.

I have a hard disk attached to my Extreme that I have always used for backing up important files from any of the macs we use in my house. Last week I read about the Apple update and turned on Time Machine, immediately Time Machine recognized my Airdisk and asked me if I wanted to use it as my time machine disk. I now have both mine and my wives laptops using it.

So don't tell me that this is not a supported feature because Apple's own software asked me if I wanted to use this feature!!! This is not a hack or a workaround, I have not changed anything or not done anything that is unsupported - The Airport Extreme does support the use of a USB hard drive for storage and always has done, the only difference is Time Machine now recognizes it as a valid Time Machine disk and asks me if I want to use it. Apple can claim this is unsupported all they like but I cannot believe that anyone sensible is backing them up on this.


On a similar note, does anyone know if Wireless networking has become an unsupported feature on the Airport Extreme? I have three networks at home, two are wireless G networks running on my Cisco router and the other is a wireless N network using an Extreme and extended with an express. I am currently connected to one of my G's as yet again my MBP connects to my apple network but no data is forthcoming, this is happening far to often at the moment and I am getting bored of rebooting my Extreme all the time.

I just thought maybe using the Airport Extreme has become unsupported too?

* HaHa along with the 'delete' key on my MBP which stopped working last week at exactly the same time as the first use of my new Apple USB keyboard I bought. I wonder if 'delete' is no longer a supported feature now too?

Looks like a trip to the repair center for my MBP which is just what I chuffin need.
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post #65 of 78
4/9/08 at 10:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikwax View Post

I quite agree. Apple has been making it very clear that this is NOT a supported function of the AirportExtreme.

Apple hasn't been making *anything* "very clear". That's exactly the problem.
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post #66 of 78
4/9/08 at 10:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by murphyweb View Post

Exactly right!!

All you posters on here who are agreeing that this is not a supported feature really do not have a clue what you are talking about, much like Apple.

I have a hard disk attached to my Extreme that I have always used for backing up important files from any of the macs we use in my house. Last week I read about the Apple update and turned on Time Machine, immediately Time Machine recognized my Airdisk and asked me if I wanted to use it as my time machine disk. I now have both mine and my wives laptops using it.

So don't tell me that this is not a supported feature because Apple's own software asked me if I wanted to use this feature!!! This is not a hack or a workaround, I have not changed anything or not done anything that is unsupported -

Sigh. No one ever said you couldn't do it. The point being made is that Apple does not OFFICIALLY support this functionality. Call Apple Support and ask them for help in making it work- you won't get any.

Why is this an issue for those of you that are using this unsupported functionality? Apple could come out with an update in the future disabling this functionality and you will no longer be able to wirelessly back up your Mac through Time Machine using an AEBS and USB connected hard drive.

Not the end of the world- but it could happen- and anyone using it should be prepared for such an event. Of course- if that happens- expect an even bigger set of flaming posts in a future thread.
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post #67 of 78
4/9/08 at 10:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by joltguy View Post

Apple hasn't been making *anything* "very clear". That's exactly the problem.

There is a difference between being unclear and reading what you want to read. Apple has never said this is a supported feature. They did have it as a feature that was subject to change, and did, when Leopard was in beta. To assume anything else is an error in reading comprehension.
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post #68 of 78
4/9/08 at 11:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism View Post

There is a difference between being unclear and reading what you want to read. Apple has never said this is a supported feature. They did have it as a feature that was subject to change, and did, when Leopard was in beta. To assume anything else is an error in reading comprehension.

Actually, it has nothing to do with reading comprehension. It has to do with the fact that I can currently open up Time Machine and see a disk which is connected to the AEBS, using only the software Apple provided.
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post #69 of 78
4/9/08 at 11:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism View Post

Supported means that Apple has clearly specified this as a feature, will assist you if you have trouble setting it up and that you'd have a case for litigation if it doesn't work.

Support, schmaport. Look through the support forums... people screaming that the Cupertino based iPod maker won't help them with their Macs. Even if it were "official" with a neon sign... they wouldn't "support" it. They ignore our pleas now. Why does my MBP keep saying "Airport: scanning.../Airport: on" even though it's connected the whole time? Do they support printing over AEBS?? Why did mine stop working after 10.5.2?? (I tried EVERYTHING) Do we have to hire lawyers to get them to listen?

I Love my Mac, hate everything else... but I refuse to be an apologist for their failures.... like some wussies around here.
2011 13" 2.3 MBP, 2006 15" 2.16 MBP, iPhone 4, iPod Shuffle, AEBS, AppleTV2 with XBMC.
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2011 13" 2.3 MBP, 2006 15" 2.16 MBP, iPhone 4, iPod Shuffle, AEBS, AppleTV2 with XBMC.
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post #70 of 78
4/9/08 at 11:09am
The reason is simple: if you ever worked with third party USB enclosures and drives, you know how crappy even certain "high-end" brands are. (Need I e.g. mention all the issues there were with certain french-sounding drives that had massive issues with FW firmware and failing power supplies, and then the company wouldn't sell you a $5 spare part to fix a $400 drive that was a few days out of warranty?)
There are drives out there with imperfect drivers, with odd-behaving sleep modes, with power issues, lose USB connectors, etc.
Apple's TechSupport would be in a world of pain trying to support all the resulting issues.

Sure, Apple could create a program of officially certified TimeMachine USB drives, but that costs time and resources, and the manufacturer's would need to pay Apple, and they would increase the price, etc. All said and done, the people who are cheap would still buy uncertified drives because of the price differential, and those who really want an Apple sanctioned solution might as well just go and buy the TimeCapsule: there are less wires, less clutter, a built-in power supply, and if you look at the cost of 1TB drive plus an AirPort Extreme you pay really no premium for a solution that's better.

I really don't get what all the whining is about. Unsupported doesn't mean "won't work", it just means that Apple will not provide support or make any warranties, and how could they, if they have no control over what you attach to your base station?
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post #71 of 78
4/9/08 at 11:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by joltguy View Post

Actually, it has nothing to do with reading comprehension. It has to do with the fact that I can currently open up Time Machine and see a disk which is connected to the AEBS, using only the software Apple provided.

A feature working and a feature being supported are not synonymous.
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post #72 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism View Post

A feature working and a feature being supported are not synonymous.

Look, all I really want is some clarification from the mother ship. Some 3rd party saying "Apple told me so" on their blog doesn't count. Apple needs to come out and say it, whatever the case is. The feature is in the software. That's the only "official" indication from Apple at this point. Hence the confusion.
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post #73 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joltguy View Post

Look, all I really want is some clarification from the mother ship. Some 3rd party saying "Apple told me so" on their blog doesn't count. Apple needs to come out and say it, whatever the case is. The feature is in the software. That's the only "official" indication from Apple at this point. Hence the confusion.

Al the clarification you and anyone needs is that if Apple doesn't promote that feature on their website or in their store then it is not a feature supported by Apple. You are making a TB out of Kb*.



* Sorry, but I hate clichés.
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post #74 of 78
4/9/08 at 12:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism View Post

And it WAS officially advertised by Apple that features are subject to change.

I would be a lot more comfortable with the situation if they had come out and said announced the redaction of the feature, rather than just did an Orwellian wipe of the feature and hope people didn't notice. I really don't think it's insignificant for those that bought the AEBS in part because of that feature.
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post #75 of 78
4/9/08 at 2:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism View Post

Al the clarification you and anyone needs is that if Apple doesn't promote that feature on their website or in their store then it is not a feature supported by Apple. You are making a TB out of Kb*. ]

Sollipsism, Your fanboyism sometimes is far too much, if you cannot see that Apple by announcing they are not supporting this feature are reneging on their responsibilities and in turn shitting on their customers then I do not know what is wrong with you.

From the Apple website on the Time Machine page..

Quote:
You can designate just about any HFS+ formatted FireWire or USB drive connected to a Mac as a Time Machine backup drive.

It does not say anywhere that you cannot use an Airdisk. So based on this information from the Apple website I go out and buy myself a 500GB disk to plug into my network purely to use Time Machine. I plug this disk into my Extreme, it is then therefore "connected to my mac" (And yes it is connected to my mac, via ethernet, wireless ethernet or USB does make any difference all ways to legitimately connect a drive to my mac) And turn on Time Machine, as soon as I turn on Time Machine Apple ask me if that is the disk I want to use, I click yes and hey presto it starts working.

A week later something goes wrong and it stops working, I call Apple support. They tell me it is actually not a supported feature, not a supported feature?

"But I do not understand? Your website says any drive connected to my mac"

"Ah but we meant not one connected via wireless"

"But you never said that"

"We kinda just figured you might have special psychic ability"

"But your software asked me if I wanted to use that disk"

" Yeah, kinda strange that one, just because we invite you to do something it does not actually mean it is a feature"

"But that makes no sense at all"

"Sorry, thats just the way it is. Any other issues?"


Sorry but if you cannot admit this is crap then I dunno what is wrong with you, Apple have to support this feature because they have designed their own software to not only make this feature work but tell people this feature is supported.

Yes, that is right they do say this feature is supported. By Time Machine actually asking me if I want to use my mounted Airdisk as a Time Machine back-up they are telling me it is supported.
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post #76 of 78
4/9/08 at 3:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by murphyweb View Post

From the Apple website on the Time Machine page..

You might try reading it as marketing has written it (i.e: where they write the truth, not the whole truth) and as legal likes to write (i,e,: not agreeing to anything you can't fully support in order to prevent litigation), instead of just what you want to read.

The full paragraph you partially quoted:

You can designate

just about any HFS+ formatted FireWire or USB drive connected to a Mac as a Time Machine backup drive. Time Machine can also back up to another Mac running Leopard with Personal File Sharing, Leopard Server, or Xsan storage devices. There is plenty of evidence in that paragraph that indicates that a HDD connected to an AEBS—which doesn't run OS X, much less being labeled a Mac—is not supported by Apple. If it's working for you, Great! Stop complaining! There are plenty of others who still aren't able to back up to a USB HDD connected to an AEBS.

As far as being an Apple fanboy, I have a MS Windows Storage Server with RAID 5. I've mentioned it on AI before and have given it high praise on several occasions.
Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"
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Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"
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post #77 of 78
4/9/08 at 5:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by murphyweb View Post

Sollipsism, Your fanboyism sometimes is far too much, if you cannot see that Apple by announcing they are not supporting this feature are reneging on their responsibilities and in turn shitting on their customers then I do not know what is wrong with you.

From the Apple website on the Time Machine page..



It does not say anywhere that you cannot use an Airdisk. So based on this information from the Apple website I go out and buy myself a 500GB disk to plug into my network purely to use Time Machine. I plug this disk into my Extreme, it is then therefore "connected to my mac" (And yes it is connected to my mac, via ethernet, wireless ethernet or USB does make any difference all ways to legitimately connect a drive to my mac) And turn on Time Machine, as soon as I turn on Time Machine Apple ask me if that is the disk I want to use, I click yes and hey presto it starts working.

A week later something goes wrong and it stops working, I call Apple support. They tell me it is actually not a supported feature, not a supported feature?

"But I do not understand? Your website says any drive connected to my mac"

"Ah but we meant not one connected via wireless"

"But you never said that"

"We kinda just figured you might have special psychic ability"

"But your software asked me if I wanted to use that disk"

" Yeah, kinda strange that one, just because we invite you to do something it does not actually mean it is a feature"

"But that makes no sense at all"

"Sorry, thats just the way it is. Any other issues?"


Sorry but if you cannot admit this is crap then I dunno what is wrong with you, Apple have to support this feature because they have designed their own software to not only make this feature work but tell people this feature is supported.

Yes, that is right they do say this feature is supported. By Time Machine actually asking me if I want to use my mounted Airdisk as a Time Machine back-up they are telling me it is supported.

Can you understand what you read? Your tirade suggests not.
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post #78 of 78
4/16/08 at 4:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rcfa View Post

The reason is simple: if you ever worked with third party USB enclosures and drives, you know how crappy even certain "high-end" brands are.

Again, you have missed the point. Time Machine works perfectly well with third party drives connected directly to the Mac. It has nothing to do with supporting third party drives. It has everything to do with the way the Airport Extreme was never designed for Time Machine.

The fact that Time Machine invites you to backup to your AirDisk is the problem here. Until they either remove it or support it, they will have to deal with the complaints from people who use AirDisk if it suddenly stops working.
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