“Time Machine is a generally quick and convenient way to back up your data and has come a long way in terms of reliability since its inception in 2007,” Jay Vrijenhoek writes for Intego. “You simply connect an external drive to your Mac and you will be up and running with Time Machine in a matter of minutes.”
“If you prefer a more centralized approach, you can use one of Apple’s Time Capsules and your backups will run so long as you’re on the same network as your Time Capsule,” Vrijenhoek writes. “But what if a Time Capsule isn’t big enough? What if you don’t want to spend $300 or $400 on a backup solution you can’t expand over time?”
Vrijenhoek writes, “Well, if you have a spare Mac around, you can set up your own Time Machine server for just $19.99 plus the cost of whatever size hard drive you want to use.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Backup, backup, backup!
Except macOS Server is dead. And he recommends the use of still quite powerful and energy hungry hardware. So it’s a silly tip. You’re better off selling that Mac and buying a Synology for that money.
Most NAS boxes have time machine servers, and you can use any Mac as a server too without other software.
I agree with the other comments. The advice in this article is dated. High Sierra has time machine services built in. macOS server isn’t needed.
chrish1961 can you explain how HighSierra is used to do Time Machine backups without an Apple base station (Time Capsule, Airport Extreme etc)? Since Apple is no longer updating them, I want to switch to mesh base stations like Eero and fear losing automatic Time Machine backups
Why not continue to use the Time Capsule with your new Eero network? Plug in a. Ethernet patch cable to one of the LAN ports on your TC and plug the other into a LAN port on your primary Eero. In the Airport Utility, under the Wireless tab set the Network Mode to “Off” and turn off NAT & DHCP (Off – Bridge Mode) under the Network tab.
How to Use Time Machine Server in macOS High Sierra
https://www.kirkville.com/how-to-use-time-machine-server-
in-macos-high-sierra/
Well NAS aren’t a silver bullet. I lost everything because Synalogy has a bug in their timemachine software when you encrypt the archive. I have ran OSX server for years and never had any problem.
My Mac OS Server running Time Machine keeps crapping out. The connected macs to the TMS lose their ability to connect over time and I have delete the backups, create a new TMS name for the clients to connect to and start over. Very frustrating.