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Backup macOS using an AirPort Extreme via Ethernet

seme332

seme332

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 30, 2013
226
41
Berlin
Hey everybody,

even thought these are exciting times for macOS in the future I have a question/problem regarding the normal non-beta use of macOS. I have a MacBook Pro which I would like to backup to an AirPort Extreme. Now in the past I just did this wirelessly by connecting the AirPort to my router via Ethernet, but since this is always quite slow and I don‘t have a use anymore for the router functionality of the AirPort Extreme I wanted to switch to a wired setup to backup my MacBook. Therefore I got a Ethernet-to-USB-C adapter and connected the AirPort Extreme to my MacBook. Now since there had been older configurations on that AirPort I reset settings to the default ones but kept the old Backups on the drive. I quickly made my first backup this way, but was always quite confused as I couldn‘t clearly tell how the Mac was connecting to the AirPort as there is no such indication when connecting via Ethernet like seeing a drive show up on the Desktop or something, at least I couldn‘t tell. Is there a way to see this better possibly? Also while connected via Ethernet my MacBook was still connected to the Wifi network, but my internet connection didn‘t work anymore. I guess that this is because any internet activity is automatically routed to the Ethernet connection, which in the case of my AirPort Extreme wasn‘t actually connected to the internet. This meant that even though I was connected to my standard WiFi router I couldn‘t do anything internet related while the Ethernet cable was plugged in.

Now this all doesn‘t seem perfect, so I am wondering: Is there a better way to do this? Do I have to change some settings here and there and will be able to just see the AirPort Extreme disk as a backup drive which has no other use?

Thanks already for any help!
 
cmaier said:
Then why not connect the airport extreme as a wifi extender, so it’s connected to the network?
Click to expand...

My router is in a different location then the MacBook/AirPort Extreme, which means I can't connect the AirPort to my router using Ethernet. If I try to set up the AirPort as a wifi extender during setup the next step automatically goes back to setting up a new network, for some reason, it doesn't stay on the "extend existing network" option.
 
seme332 said:
Hey everybody,

even thought these are exciting times for macOS in the future I have a question/problem regarding the normal non-beta use of macOS. I have a MacBook Pro which I would like to backup to an AirPort Extreme. Now in the past I just did this wirelessly by connecting the AirPort to my router via Ethernet, but since this is always quite slow and I don‘t have a use anymore for the router functionality of the AirPort Extreme I wanted to switch to a wired setup to backup my MacBook. Therefore I got a Ethernet-to-USB-C adapter and connected the AirPort Extreme to my MacBook. Now since there had been older configurations on that AirPort I reset settings to the default ones but kept the old Backups on the drive. I quickly made my first backup this way, but was always quite confused as I couldn‘t clearly tell how the Mac was connecting to the AirPort as there is no such indication when connecting via Ethernet like seeing a drive show up on the Desktop or something, at least I couldn‘t tell. Is there a way to see this better possibly? Also while connected via Ethernet my MacBook was still connected to the Wifi network, but my internet connection didn‘t work anymore. I guess that this is because any internet activity is automatically routed to the Ethernet connection, which in the case of my AirPort Extreme wasn‘t actually connected to the internet. This meant that even though I was connected to my standard WiFi router I couldn‘t do anything internet related while the Ethernet cable was plugged in.

Now this all doesn‘t seem perfect, so I am wondering: Is there a better way to do this? Do I have to change some settings here and there and will be able to just see the AirPort Extreme disk as a backup drive which has no other use?

Thanks already for any help!
Click to expand...
WIFI problem: goto System Prefs->network and in the low left corner, under interfaces list, click the wheel and click service order. drag wifi so it goes over ethernet.
Time Machine indicator: check if System Prefs->Time Machine->"Show Time Machine in menu bar"is "ticked"
 
LuisN said:
WIFI problem: goto System Prefs->network and in the low left corner, under interfaces list, click the wheel and click service order. drag wifi so it goes over ethernet.
Time Machine indicator: check if System Prefs->Time Machine->"Show Time Machine in menu bar"is "ticked"
Click to expand...

Thank you for those tips! That network fix is great.

With the indicator, I was actually referencing an indication if my computer is connected to the AirPort via wireless network or if it is using the Ethernet connection. But I don't know if there is even a way to figure that out.
 
seme332 said:
Thank you for those tips! That network fix is great.

With the indicator, I was actually referencing an indication if my computer is connected to the AirPort via wireless network or if it is using the Ethernet connection. But I don't know if there is even a way to figure that out.
Click to expand...
Just disable wifi in your AirPort Extreme if you're not using it for WIFI anymore. I have a Time Capsule (1st Gen.) as one of my backup devices with wifi off connected to a switch in my network. If you have, as you said, the Airport device connected directly to the Mac, it doesn't need to have the wifi radios active anymore. Enter Airport Utility and disable wifi
 
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