How-To: Use Time Machine with a Windows Home Server

I built a Windows Home Server a few weeks ago. It has been great and I would recommend it to anyone. While I do have Windows computers, I also have some Mac computers. I have a Mac Mini, MacBook and a MacBook Pro. I wanted all my Macs to backup to the Windows Home Server just like my Windows computers do. But the Connector software is only for Windows and probably always will be. There is a way around it and it works very well.

Things you will need:
1. Windows Home Server
2. iTimeMachine – on your Mac

Let’s get started:
1. Login to your Windows Home Server. You will need to create a new shared folder. I called mine JJ’s Mac Backup, you can call yours whatever you want. You will need to tell Windows Home Server what account to use.

2. Install iTimeMachine on your Mac computer. This program lets Time Machine access networked drives. Once installed run the program and click use network drives.

3. In order for Time Machine to see your network folder you need to login to the shared folder. Now my Windows Home Server shows up under “Shared” when I click on the hard drive. You might need to click “Go” -> “Connect to Server” if your Home Server isn’t list in “Shared”. You will need to login to the folder you created.

4. Now that you are logged into the Windows Home Server folder go to Time Machine and choose your drive. That folder should show up as a disk.

That’s all there is to getting your Mac to backup to your Windows Home Server.

To make things easier on the laptops I created a shortcut to the shared folder on the desktop. I just have to double click on that to login then click on the new time machine icon by the clock and tell it to backup. On the Mac Mini I saved the password to the shared folder and let it automatically backup whenever it wants.