Introduction: Backup Macs to a SAMBA (SMB) Share
In this Instructable you will learn how to backup a mac to a Windows Home Server box or any other SAMBA share.
You will need:
Windows Home Server (Or an SMB network share) with free space as big as your mac's HDD used space
Apple computer running 10.4 or 10.5
Network Connection between the two
I have not tried this with 10.4 Tiger, but i know its much easier than Leopard.
Step 1: Enable SAMBA Backup on the Mac
In this step you will enable your Mac to backup to SAMBA shares
Step 1: Open Terminal
Step 2: Type the command:
"sudo defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1"
with no quotes. Then type in your password.
You have enabled Time Machine SAMBA backup.
Goto Step 2 for Leopard, or skip step 2 if you have Tiger
Step 2: Create the Backup Image (Leopard Only)
Step 1: Open Disk Uitility
Step 2: goto File => New> => Blank DIsk Image...
Step 3: A Box will pop up. Fill it out with the following information
Replace #ComputerName# with your computer's full name with all Symbols and correct Capitalization (ex: Steve Job's Macbook)
Replace #MACAddress# with your computer's mac address, making sure that all letters are lowercase
Save As: #ComputerName#_#MACAddress#.sparsebundle
Location: Desktop
Volume Name: Backup of #ComputerName#
Volume Size: The maximum size you want the Mac Backup to ever get
Volume Format: Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
Encryption: none
Partitions: No partition map
Image Format: sparse bundle disk image
Step 4: Hit "Create"
Step 5: When it is done creating, copy the ".sparsebundle" file on your desktop to the root of the target SMB share
Move onto Step 3 =>
Step 3: Backing Up
In this step you will set up your Mac to backup to the SAMBA share
Step 1: Make sure the target SMB share is mounted on your Mac
Step 2: Open System Preferences and go to the Time Machine section
Step 3: Select "Change Disk..." and then select your SAMBA Share
Step 4: When your computer starts the initial backup (in about 5 mins. of you changing the disk) it will take a while, so let it sit overnight. every backup after that will be seamless and under 5 mins long, without you even noticing its backing up.
Enjoy!
5 Comments
14 years ago
Hey, this is a great instructable and is very informative. Just one thing is missing... pictures! It really helps a lot when trying to follow directions so you should consider taking some photographs. Once you do that and leave me a message when you have so that we can publish your work. Thanks! Thanks for the cool instructable and we hope to publish this soon!
13 years ago on Introduction
The backup to SMB share is not a trick. But how to recover when you boot from CD/DVD. The simple command: mount -f smbfs //login@server/share does not work. The error message referencing the absence of some library. I guess that MAC standard installation media does not have SMB support. Or it should be set up in some way, the question is how? Regards Leonid
14 years ago on Introduction
nice. now if only i could get the mac running on my windows laptop. The installation was succesful (ideneb 10.5.6 osx86 leopard) but it hangs on the apple screen when it boots.
Reply 13 years ago on Introduction
Try Typing -v For Verbose Mode This Will Get You Past The Spinning Apple And Into Your Os. Nice Tut Thanks
13 years ago on Introduction
Just a quick note, when you are making the name of the sparse bundle be sure to remove any spaces or hyphens between the parts of the mac address. It needs to be one long string.