WD Anywhere Backup on Wireless LAN

[jay c]

I set up a MyBookWorld network drive for a client and installed WD Anywhere Backup on four Macs running Leopard. The MyBook is plugged into the router via ethernet, and all of the Macs are wireless. On each of the Macs I configured a server connection to the MyBookWorld public share and configured Anywhere Backup to backup all data to that share. The newest of these Macs (only a month old) works fine. On the other three Anywhere Backup fails to connect to the network drive when the computer starts up. One of the people in the office goes to each computer and starts the backups manually after she turns the computers on.

I suspect that the backup software is starting up faster than the wireless networking. It can't find the backup location and doesn't retry.

Does anyone know of a way I can force the Anywhere Backup service to delay for 60 seconds or so? Alternatively, do you know if there's a way to get it to retry the connection every few minutes?

P.S. I'm still a Mac newbie.

 

[MrUnknown]

I think you should get rid of the WD software.

I recently set this up as a backup system for a client of mine. 3 windows machines. No matter what I did the software couldn't see the drive, but I could map it just fine in Windows. So we baught him Acronis and set it up that way. Has been working perfect for a week or two now.

 

[jay c]

The one Windows PC on their network is running ok. It's just the Macs that aren't.

 

[MrUnknown]

Well, I am biased but I think the software just sucks.

Try removing it from startup (however that is done on a mac) and running it manually once you know the network is running. If that doesn't fix it then it is a software issue.

 

[jay c]

That's essentially what I'm already doing. If I wait until the wireless is connected and the drive mapped, I can open the WD Anywhere Backup interface and start the backups manually.

But I'd like it to run automatically.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

If all the machines are running 10.5 or newer just configure time machine on all other the Macs and let them do their own backups. I guarantee it will do a hell of a lot better job of backing up then the WD software. Its like having an image that gets updated every hour of every machine and once the initial backup is done you won't even notice the incremental backups going in the background. Not to mention you set it and forget it. The only hitch is the Windows machine will need a separate backup drive of its own because time machine will need the drive formatted as HFS+(journaled), but thats a small price to pay for the convenience that it will provide. An even better more professional way of doing it is to configure a machine with 10.5 or 10.6 server to handle the backups. We have that going at the shop and mine or anyone elses drive could crash tomorrow and we'd be up and going in no time like nothing ever happened.

 

[DarDar]

try this if you want to stick with the WD software
http://www.downloadbestsoft.com/how...y-programs-that-starts-automatically--47.html

alternatively you could run a batch file with a delay in it at start up. This sounds better as it removes the need to install nother app on a machine.
http://www.computerhope.com/batch.htm#4

Forget that!!! Just realised you are on a mac. I don't much about it but you could probably use an apple script in place of the batch file method?

 

[jay c]

If all the machines are running 10.5 or newer just configure time machine on all other the Macs and let them do their own backups. I guarantee it will do a hell of a lot better job of backing up then the WD software. Its like having an image that gets updated every hour of every machine and once the initial backup is done you won't even notice the incremental backups going in the background. Not to mention you set it and forget it. The only hitch is the Windows machine will need a separate backup drive of its own because time machine will need the drive formatted as HFS+(journaled), but thats a small price to pay for the convenience that it will provide. An even better more professional way of doing it is to configure a machine with 10.5 or 10.6 server to handle the backups. We have that going at the shop and mine or anyone elses drive could crash tomorrow and we'd be up and going in no time like nothing ever happened.

They were using Time Machine before. It worked well, but they outgrew the drives they were using. The owner heard about networked drives and wanted to go that route. I can't remember what the problem was with Time Machine, but it didn't look like it would work with a shared network drive. If I format the drive, will that erase whatever native OS it is running or is that firmware? Can you point me to some instructions on setting it up to work with a shared MyBook?

Thanks!

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

They were using Time Machine before. It worked well, but they outgrew the drives they were using. The owner heard about networked drives and wanted to go that route. I can't remember what the problem was with Time Machine, but it didn't look like it would work with a shared network drive. If I format the drive, will that erase whatever native OS it is running or is that firmware? Can you point me to some instructions on setting it up to work with a shared MyBook?

You wouldn't be able to use that drive unless you set it up through 10.5 or 10.6 server to do it right. Otherwise they could invest in a Time Capsule which will essentially do what they want. Other than that there is a hack to do it, but of course I wouldn't do this type of setup for paying clients. Time Machine should have worked fine before because even if they filled the drives, Time Machine has a really efficient way of deleting the oldest backups and consolidating past snapshots that are very similar to each other. But if they ever had to use Time Machine to restore their data in the past and are expecting that same kind of functionality from the built in WD software, they will be sorely disappointed at the quality of their backups with the WD software compared to what they were getting from Time Machine.

 

[jay c]

True. It's definitely not as easy or as thorough as Time Machine.

This site has more detailed instructions on setting up TM to work with NAS. Do those instructions look right to you?

Where do I find the computer name and/or machine ID on a Mac?

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

The link I left you in my previous post is basically the same thing but a better explanation including a graphic and comments from people who've got it set up. Its kind of a do at your own risk kind of thing. The interesting thing about it is that Apple included support for network drives in Leopard but at the last minute cut it out before release (exactly like how they cut out writing to NTFS volumes with 10.6). So you are essentially hitting a switch in terminal to turn it back on. But as I stated with the link above, this is considered a hack. My recommendation to do it right is either look into a 2TB Time Capsule or set up one of the machines to run 10.5 or 10.6 server to direct the backups.

 

[jay c]

Thumbs down for Anywhere Backup

Only one (the newest) of the Macs will start the Anywhere Backup automatically at logon. I asked WD about this, and here's their reply:

If you turn off your computer you have to restart the backup software manually when you restart it, once you restart it and the software is running it will continue to backup your data as long as everything is left on and running.​

Two thumbs way down.

I implemented the Time Machine hack on one computer to see how it will work. It seemed to be doing OK on Friday. I'll check it again on Monday, and if everything is working well, then I'll do the same on the others and get rid of WD Anywhere Backup.

On a side note, I've been hearing bad things about Time Capsule, all related to hardware longevity. Leo Laporte (not always right, I know) also gave it a bad review, recommending real SMB NAS solutions instead.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

I implemented the Time Machine hack on one computer to see how it will work. It seemed to be doing OK on Friday. I'll check it again on Monday, and if everything is working well, then I'll do the same on the others and get rid of WD Anywhere Backup.

On a side note, I've been hearing bad things about Time Capsule, all related to hardware longevity. Leo Laporte (not always right, I know) also gave it a bad review, recommending real SMB NAS solutions instead.

Time capsule is a combo wireless router/external HD. Once a week I get a customer with an external HD thats crapped out looking for data recovery. You can get about the same life expectancy from most non commercial wireless routers. Apple never intended Time Capsule to compete against an enterprise backup solution. Of course a real NAS solution is going to be preferential than implementing something primarily made for a home user. That's why I was suggesting doing it right and setting up Leopard server for doing the backups. You can get a Mac Mini running Leopard Server for $1,000 that will let you implement the WD NAS drive that has already been purchased long with any other server network tasks imaginable and have nothing to worry about except the reliability of the backup drive that has already been purchased. I don't know in your situation if it is unprofessionalism on your end, or a cheap client that is having you implement a hack for doing backups. Either way the client should be fully aware that his data is being gambled with and what is being implemented for backups right now is like duct taping something and calling it a solution.

 

[jay c]

They want to do this as cheaply as possible. They've been one of my best customers until lately, but the relationship is getting weird.