Mac Air Looking for Time Capsule When I Am Away from Home

fourwheelcycle
fourwheelcycle
Community Member

I am away from home at a conference and every time I start up my Mac Air it is giving me error messages that it cannot find my Time Capsule. I have called Apple Support and they said to be sure (1) my Mac is not looking for the Time Capsule to do Time Machine backups (no, it is not) and (2) that my home wifi network (the Time Capsule) is not listed first, or above my conference hotel, in my list of past-joined networks (I turned off Remember Networks and I moved my home network to the bottom of my list of past-joined networks).

Now I can't think of any other reasons my Mac would be looking for the Time Capsule EXCEPT that my 1P4 sync vault is on the Time Capsule. However, my Mac is looking for the Time Capsule as soon a I start up the Mac, BEFORE I have turned on 1P4. 1PA is not a login item on my Mac, so there should not be a reason why 1P4 would make my Mac look for the Time Capsule at start-up - am I right? Or, is there a reason 1P4 might make my Mac look for the Time Capsule as soon as the Mac boots, before I start 1P4?

Comments

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @fourwheelcycle‌

    Please check in Preferences > General. Do you have ‘Always keep 1Password mini running’ checked off? If so, then 1Password Mini is starting up as soon as you boot your computer, and would naturally look to find your database.

    Please note that we do not recommend storing your database on an external drive. If you are using Folder Sync, the general idea is that you store your data on a local folder and use a secondary sync solution to sync to the external drive, as 1Password will get a bit nervous if it can't access the data in the sync location. :)

  • fourwheelcycle
    fourwheelcycle
    Community Member

    Megan,

    You were right, 1P mini was causing my Mac Air to look for my Time Capsule as soon as I start up my Mac.

    1P mini starts running in the background as soon as I start my Mac, even before I open 1P4 or Safari, even though 1P mini does not show up in my system preferences as a Login Item. The only way to prevent this is to turn off 1P mini in my 1P4 preferences. I did this, and then I discovered 1P4 will not run (!) if 1P mini is disabled. It simply will not run, and there is no way to re-enable 1P mini until I get home and get within range of my Time Capsule. I'm going home tomorrow, so this is not the end of the world.

    In your response you said it is not a good idea to keep my 1P4 database on an external drive, like my Time Capsule. However, until I disabled 1P mini 1P4 was working fine w/o access to my Time Capsule, so I assumed it must be getting its password data from someplace here in my Mac Air. I even created one new login item while I have been away from home and the new login works fine. So 1P4 must have access to some type of database, and be able to create and store new login items, even though it does not have access to its sync folder.

    Bottom line, I like the setup I have, with my three Macs and my wife's two PCs all pointed to a common sync folder located on our Time Capsule, which all the computers access automatically when they are connected to our home wifi network. I now realize keeping 1P mini enabled is a "must". When I am away from home I will just live with the inconvenience of several "can't connect to Time Capsule" messages each time I start up my Mac Air.

  • fourwheelcycle
    fourwheelcycle
    Community Member

    Megan,

    Another development - even though I previously said 1P4 would not run, at all, after I disabled 1P mini, quit 1P4, and restarted my Mac Air, about a half hour later a message suddenly popped up on my Mac that 1P mini had been restarted. It certainly was not restarted by me, because I could not turn on 1P4 to get back into my preferences. 1P mini just started by itself.

    Now that 1P mini has restarted, I can also start 1P4 and everything is working fine again, except of course that each time I restart my Mac Air I get several "can't connect to Time Capsule" messages until 1P mini gives up and stops looking for its sync folder.

  • fourwheelcycle
    fourwheelcycle
    Community Member

    Megan,

    A related question - looking through the forum I learned about the new 1P4 for Mac multiple vaults feature. At first I thought I might be able to address my away from home issue by creating a second vault on my Mac Air. However, I can't find any discussion about assigning a new (local folder) sync location for the second vault, so I'm guessing multiple vaults still sync to the same location (Time Capsule folder) specified in my Sync preferences. If this is the case, 1P mini will still look to my Time Capsule to sync the second vault, so this would not help with my problem.

    In any event, I can live with the error messages when I am away from home, since they stop after a few minutes.

  • littlebobbytables
    littlebobbytables
    1Password Alumni

    You set individual sync locations for vaults all from the same place in the preferences, it's all based on what vault is currently in focus. It won't help though as while you create separate copies of vaults when syncing, all the 'local' vaults are actually held in a single repository and I believe 1Password mini will attempt to sync all vaults with sync currently enabled.

    Probably the best course to take in your case is to disable syncing before setting out on a trip and then re-enabling it afterwards, assuming the number of trips you take isn't too many (the annoyance factor will probably increase as the number of trips does ;-))

    The reason Agilebits don't recommend a networked location is that the local syncing isn't quite there and tends to fall over when the location isn't present. I believe it used to be worse in the past.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @fourwheelcycle‌

    I did this, and then I discovered 1P4 will not run (!) if 1P mini is disabled. It simply will not run, and there is no way to re-enable 1P mini until I get home and get within range of my Time Capsule.

    1Password Mini is essentially the brains behind both the main app and the extension, so it is required to be running, at the very least while the main app is open. We do give you the option to leave it running at all times when your computer is on to allow you the convenience of the browser extensions, without having the main app in the way.

    I assumed it must be getting its password data from someplace here in my Mac Air. I even created one new login item while I have been away from home and the new login works fine. So 1P4 must have access to some type of database, and be able to create and store new login items, even though it does not have access to its sync folder.

    Yes. Your 1Password data is stored locally as well as in the sync location (in this case, Time Capsule). However, if the sync location is unavailable to for 1Password to sync to, it will continue to give you a warning - the goal here is to ensure that you do not change data with the expectation that it will be synced to your other devices.

    I like the setup I have, with my three Macs and my wife's two PCs all pointed to a common sync folder located on our Time Capsule, which all the computers access automatically when they are connected to our home wifi network. I now realize keeping 1P mini enabled is a "must".

    I'm glad to hear that your set-up works for you! Because it's not a fully supported solution at this time, you might see a few glitches. But as long as you're aware that 1Password will prompt you with a warning if it is at any time unable to access the datafile on your Time Capsule, you're welcome to continue using the current set-up.

    When I am away from home I will just live with the inconvenience of several "can't connect to Time Capsule" messages each time I start up my Mac Air.

    An alternative here would be to temporarily disable syncing for your Mac Air while you are out of town. ;)

    At first I thought I might be able to address my away from home issue by creating a second vault on my Mac Air. However, I can't find any discussion about assigning a new (local folder) sync location for the second vault, so I'm guessing multiple vaults still sync to the same location (Time Capsule folder) specified in my Sync preferences. If this is the case, 1P mini will still look to my Time Capsule to sync the second vault, so this would not help with my problem.

    As @littlebobbytables‌ says, vaults are synced individually. So a secondary vault would have it's own unique sync settings and would not have to be synced to your Time Capsule. However, his suggestion of simply disabling sync for your computer when you are out of town is much more straightforward than duplicating your data into a secondary vault. If you're interested though, we have a support article on Multiple Vaults that will explain how they work and what the benefits are.

    I think I've addressed most of your questions here, but if I've missed anything, please do let me know!

  • fourwheelcycle
    fourwheelcycle
    Community Member

    Thanks to Megan and littlebobbytables (I need to think a bit about where that name may have came from!)

    I understand my Time Capsule setup is not supported/recommended. So far I have not encountered problems (except for these recent away from home "can't connect to Time Capsule" messages), but I realize I need to be aware issues could arise in the future. For now I will disable syncing on my Mac Air when I take it on trips.

    I also understand Dropbox is the recommended multi-platform syncing solution, and I know AgileBits believes their encryption is secure even if Dropbox is hacked (or if its server is wide open again in the future as it was one weekend in the past). I moved from LastPass to 1P4 to keep all of my financial institution passwords off the internet, so for now I am hoping to stay with my Time Capsule setup.

  • littlebobbytables
    littlebobbytables
    1Password Alumni

    Think no longer! It came from xkcd. What's even more impressive is I managed to write this when very, very drunk (we're talking one eye to focus here!)

    I fully understand you're reservations about using Dropbox. I'm very unhappy about any non-local sync method myself which limits me to WiFi given my OS X-iOS requirements. While I won't use Dropbox myself, the people in the know support Dropbox and who am I to contradict the likes of jpgoldberg who clearly is more astute than I when it comes to security and encryption. Nevertheless, I don't trust Dropbox or iCloud - I can't help it.

  • fourwheelcycle
    fourwheelcycle
    Community Member

    lbt,

    Thanks for the name info.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @fourwheelcycle‌

    I apologize if I sounded a bit harsh there. I don't want to discourage you from using the solution you've chosen, just to ensure that you're aware of the potential annoyances. I'm glad that this set-up is working well for you (I suppose it's likely that a Time Capsule is a bit more reliable than some of the network drive solutions I've helped to troubleshoot in the past.)

    Keeping your data off the cloud is certainly a valid concern. @littlebobbytables‌ is right, a lot of us here at AgileBits do use Dropbox to store and share our data, but we want to be sure that there are options for users who prefer to store their data locally. We're committed to improving our local storage options, so it's good to know that users are making use of the existing options. :)

  • fourwheelcycle
    fourwheelcycle
    Community Member

    I'm on vacation now, in a motel on our way to Bar Harbor. I disabled 1P4 syncing on my Mac Air before leaving home and now it is working perfectly away from home, with no error messages that it can't find my Time Capsule.

    Overall, 1P4 is working perfectly for me and it is doing everything I hoped it would do. I have several two-step logins set up and they are all working fine.

  • Megan
    Megan
    1Password Alumni

    Hi @fourwheelcycle‌

    I'm so glad to hear that 1Password is behaving properly for you! Thanks for checking in and letting us know.

    Enjoy your vacation. :)

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