Time machine - Does it work ok with mobile HDD constantly being taken off Macbook?

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi all,


I can understand how the back up utility “time machine” works works well with desktops, for a comprehensive IT office type backup process.


Question 1) Mobile backing up:
How well does Time Machine work with mobile laptops, likes MacBooks and the ad-hoc nature of when the external HDD are physically connected?

I can imagine macbooks not being docked into the USB-C Hub as much during the day, if at all.



Question 2) Hotspot connection?
If the SE2 mobile phone is physically connected to the Hub as a hot spot, with the External HDD also connected and powered on, can the Macbook “See” and transfer files to the External HDD, even though the Mackbook is not phyically connected to the USB- Hub?



Hope you can advise.


Kind regards
Martin

 

[James_C]

How well does Time Machine work with mobile laptops

Best advice is to get a Wifi router with a USB port and Time Machine compatible, plug your External Drive into that, and Time Machine will be able to back up over WiFi. You don't have to worry about connecting your external disk to backup then.

If you don't want to do the above, then yes Time Machine will backup an incremental backup when it is connected.

Can you restate your second question as I can't follow it, in particular a phone physically connected to what ?

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Hi James,

many thanks for all the advice, much appreciated.

I would love to attach the HDD to Wi-Fi and forget about it. Unfortunately, we have really bad Wi-Fi, 3Mbs Landline, believe it or not!

I’m currently connecting via hotspot, my mobile speed is 20mbs

My missus is using the landline WiFi , and I’m using my mobile.

For my work desk, I hope to set up a USB c hub, to connect my windows work laptop, to monitor, keyboard and mouse et cetera.
after work, I can then connect my MacBook, to the monitor et cetera as well.

Part of this set up, will include the external backup hard drives.

My Wi-Fi connection for this workstation set up, will be my mobile hotspot. I have a iPhone SE2

Getting there! So my question is, if I am working, and my MacBook is not connected to the USB hub, however the external backup drive is physically connected to my phone which it is hotspotting off, if my MacBook is on the same hotspot, can the MacBook connect to that external hard drive, and do Time Machine backups to it?

Got there! Hope that made sense 🙂

Hope you could ask advise James, after all that

Regards
Martin

 

[hallux]

No, the phone hotspot won't work like that.

 

[James_C]

Yep, @hallux is correct. You will not be able to use your iPhone as a backup device with a external disk connected.

Your best bet will be to connect your external to the Hub and when you plug your MacBook in at night it will backup to TimeMachine.

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Damn, shame, oh well 😟

 

[psingh01]

Just plug it in overnight. It will be faster anyway and cheaper than jumping through the hoops The iPhone is the weak link in your setup. But...

There are wireless/wifi enabled hard drives. You can try going that route. Have them connect to your iPhone hotspot to do backups.

Or you can get a better mobile hotspot like https://www.netgear.com/landings/nighthawk-mr1100-mobile-router/. This has ethernet and USB ports you can connect things with. Normally you would have it's own sim/internet account. So that is an added cost. You can try sticking the iPhone SIM in there and see if it works. Your carrier might not like that though. Although I have used a mobile hotspot for years using my iPad SIM card. My hotspot isn't as fancy as this one and I usually just plug drives in directly to my Mac when I need them.

Maybe you can try doing the iPhone hotspot -> usb cable -> ethernet -> router -> all your devices.

Seriously consider getting a mobile router. You'll kill your iPhone battery using it like that all the time. I eventually had to replace my hotspot battery but it only cost me $8

 

[Marty_Macfly]

Thanks for all the advise guys, much appreciated

Apologies for the delay in reply, crazy busy with work this week.

Onto the next questions!


Regards
Martin