Unable to use Time machine Wirelessly?.....I got the solution :) [ Edited ]

[jaqmol]

The same for me. I lost 2 backups already because of corruption. The MyBook Live doesn't work for TimeMachine backups done wirelessly. Additionally I found out, that when connected locally and directly to the computer, the drives configuration panel is inaccessible. I think due to it being inable to access the internet like that. The drive is also never entering sleep-state if it cannot connet to the internet.

Summing it up: This drive is not working like supposed.

[sbeattie2]

To jaqmol - Try the following.

With the MBL connected to your network (not to the Mac's ethernet port directly) - Open the UI at http://mybooklive.local  (assuming you have not renamed the drive to something other than mybooklive).

Go to System / Utilities and go to Shutdown / Reboot.  Select "shutdown".  Wait for the MBL to power off (no illuminated LED on the front).  Then pull out the power cord - let the MBL sit without power for 15 minutes - to clear anything out.

Reconnect the power to the MBL and let it reboot.  After the drive is ready (Greed LED - not flashing) - Open the finder on your Mac (you should see the MBL listed under shared devices).  On the finder menu - select GO - then select Connect to Server - for the server address type in afp://mybooklive.local  - and connect as the admin user (you might also be able to connect as "guest" - but admin might be better.

During the connect to server process - you will see a list of shares on the MBL - one of these share is called TimeMachine - select that share and allow the connection process to complete.

In your finder sidebar you will now see a share mounted called MyBookLive-  (note the - dash).

Click on this MyBookLive- share in finder and open it.  You may have to supply a user id and password.  If it asks for user/password - use the admin user - if you have assigned a password to admin - otherwise connect as guest.

In this share you will see the sparsebundle files from any prior backups that you have attempted.  There will be one sparse bundle matching the name of each Mac that you have backed up to the MBL.  Delete all of the backup files from this share.  Just move them to the trash.  I'm assuming these are first backup attempts and you don't really care that you are deleting them.

Now eject the MyBookLive- share from the finder sidebar.

If possible - try to connect your Mac to your network via ethernet (not wireless for the first initial backup).

Open Time Machine preferences - and unlock the padlock at the bottom.  Next - click on select drive - and then select the TimeMachine on MyBookLive share that should be listed.

Allow it to start the Time Machine backup - the backup should complete at a reasonable speed provided you have connected via ethernet vs wireless.  If the backup is working - you may see some slight hesitations while the backup runs - but you should not notice any "stalling" or what appears to be a lock up.  If you experience this type of behavior on a wired backup - then something is not right - and the backup you are doing may be corrupt.  It's probably best to cancel and repeat these steps - rather than waiting for the "slow" backup to complete.

I hope this helps.

~Scott

[jaqmol]

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Allow it to start the Time Machine backup - the backup should complete at a reasonable speed provided you have connected via ethernet vs wireless.  If the backup is working - you may see some slight hesitations while the backup runs - but you should not notice any "stalling" or what appears to be a lock up.  If you experience this type of behavior on a wired backup - then something is not right - and the backup you are doing may be corrupt.  It's probably best to cancel and repeat these steps - rather than waiting for the "slow" backup to complete.

I hope this helps.

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Sorry, but it doesn't help at all. What you are describing is what I am doing every time the backups got corrupted once again. What else could I do anyway? As I cannot pull cables through the whole house and I don't want the drive on my desk because it is far too loud, it is absolutely not working for my purposes. This drive is not usable at all for making backups via a wirless network, it seems.

[sbeattie2]

Sorry to hear that my suggestion did not improve the situation.  It seems that some people (myself included) are experiencing unstable behavior with Time Machine backups (both wired and wireless) on the MBL.  There is a possibility that this will be resolved in the next firmware release which is hopefully coming soon. 

~Scott

[scatman]

Unfortunately all the tips here have not worked out for me. My other NAS (Linkstation Live) does work without a problem with TimeMachine. Therefore I assume that it has something to do with the firmware of WD.

Is there any chance of uploading an older version of the firmware because the problems started for me with the latest version?

Kind regards,

Scatman

[sbeattie2]

I have experienced the problems with Time Machine since day one (which for me was version 02.02.02-020).  Although you could go backwards on the firmware - you might be inviting more problems than you currently have - since the prior versions of the firmware had a lot of issues that have been resolved.

I am not exactly sure how to go backwards on the firmware - but you would have to obtain a prior version - and use the manual file update method for installing the older firmware.

I suggest waiting until the next version of MBL firmware to see if WD has resolved this issue - and use your other drive that is known to be working for TimeMachine backups.

~Scott

[Bill_S]

We are looking into hopefully making this better.

[jaqmol]

Very nice to see someone from WD reading over the stuff here. So can we hope now, that the WD-staff is working on bringing actually usable TimeMachine functionality to the drive? I mean: you are selling those drives with that claim on the box. Is there really someone working on exactly that issue, or is the staff kept back from solving those problems because of the flood in Thailand?

[Technaz]

It does not work all the time. The way it worked is same steps you mentioned but reboot the MBL once before you connect to the Time Machine.

[rjb12]

Mine's getting returned this weekend.  Constant problems with slow/stalled Time Machine backups; everything works for a week or so on multiple machines, then all the problems others are having here start cropping up.  Sick of dealing with it.  WD should not be advertising Time Machine compatibility as it's clearly broken.

MacPro Nehalem OSX 10.6.8, Macbook OS 10.6.8