Time Capsule can't function as backup drive?

My main work computer's logic board fried yesterday. (Under AppleCare, so shouldn't be the end of the world, just a pain). I have it set for continuous hourly backups to a 1TB Time Capsule. So I should have all my files accessible.
I'm working on another computer now, that uses Time Capsule as a router, but doesn't back up to it. I need to pull some files off the Time Capsule in order to continue working. Is this possible? Calling Apple Support indicated that it was not, but then why tout this thing as a backup drive?? What's the point of having backups if you can't access them from anywhere but the computer that they were backed up from?
I'm desperate here. Any help would be hugely appreciated.

Below are two ways in which to get a file from the Time Machine backup.
When Time Machine does a backup it creates a 'sparsebundle' image file on the backup disk. This file is named after the computer so to locate and identify it easily. All you need to do is mount the 'sparsebundle' (by mouse double click or other method) from any computer that has access to the backup disk. When mounted it should show on the desktop or in a Finder window (depending on your Finder preferences).
Once mounted you can manually browse the disk by opening this newly mounted disk (named after your computer - example: backup of yourcomputer). When you open it, there should be a folder inside named 'Backups.backupdb' and inside are all the contents of the backup - just find what you need and copy and paste. Or once mounted, right mouse click (or hold 'control' and mouse click) on the Time Machine icon in the dock and select 'browse other disks' (or click the icon in the menu bar - upper right of screen - and when the menu comes out press and hold the 'option' or 'alt' key to bring up the 'browse other disks' choice). And it should now show the 'backup of yourcomputer' available to browse. You will now enter the Time Machine as normal. To retrieve a file - locate the file you want and then click the action (or gear like) icon and select the 'restore to' option and choose a location to put the file.

Similar Messages

  • How can I close my Time Machine Sparsebundle so Time Capsule can do a scheduled backup?

    "Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "Your Time Capsule". The backup disk image “/Volumes/Steven Weinberg's Time Caps-1/Steven Weinberg’s MacBook Pro (4).sparsebundle” is already in use."
    I have both a Time Capsule and a 2Tb external drive using Time Machine to back up my laptop.
    Is it as simple as when the Time Capsule goes to do a backup and finds that the other drive is in the midst of using Time Machine to do its backup that I get this notice on my desktop?
    It's 10:30 AM now.  The last Time Capsule backup was almost 12 hours ago.
    There have already been 6 Time Machine backups today on the 2nd drive.
    Sounds like the Time Capsule really is being blocked from doing its job.
    THe 1 Tb Time Capsule backs up to a .sparsebundle document which fills the Time Capsule at 985 Gb.  You can't open and peek inside the .sparsebundle backup file.
    The other drive backs up to a .backupdb folder within which are subfolders for each backup which appears to be a complete recreation of thebacked-up 500 Gb hard drive on my MacBook Pro laptop.  And even though there are 37 separate folders with backups going back to Sept 2013 when I installed the second backup drive, it's only used about 500 Gb of its 2 Tb capacity.
    1.  How can I solve my primary problem of freeing up the .sparsebundle file for the Time Capsule?
    2.  Since both drives are using Time Machine to do the backup, why are they producing such diffrent backup file structures?
    Steve

    David Bean wrote:
    So copying from a one-week-old TM volume was failing
    Have you run Repair Disk on it?
    I now realize that the folder in which the problem file(s) are stored on the backup,.DocumentRevisions-V100, is the folder in which OS X stores its versioning data for all users. I am now trying to work out whether I can safely delete these files from the backup
    That does get damaged on occasion.  I haven't seen it in quite a while, so it's pretty rare.
    You can delete it from the backups, via the TM interface, but you must be able to show invisible items). 
    First, open the Terminal app (in your Applications/Utilities folder). Be very careful with this app.  It's a direct link into UNIX, the underpinnings of OSX, but without the protections of OSX.
    In Terminal, the prompt looks like this:  <Computer Name>:~ <your name>$
    (where <your name> is your short user name).  It's followed by a non-blinking block cursor.
    Copy, do not type, the following after the prompt:
    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1
    and press Return.
    You should just see the prompt again.
    Then see Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #12 to delete all the backups of it.
    and from the live system filestore so they don't get copied out to a backup again.
    Yes. You will, of course, lose all previous versions, but since the file is corrupted, you may have lost some, most, or all of them already.
    When done, run the same command to hide the invisible items, but replace the "1" with a zero.

  • Time Capsule as external HDD and backup drive

    I'm looking to buy a Time Capsule; can I use it as an external hard drive for my movies, and as a backup drive to work with Time Machine? I want to have my whole iTunes library on the Time Capsule so I can store everthing there to free up space for my Mac, and still be able to use Apple TV with those movies. In addition I want to use the rest of the space to back up the rest of my Macs files with Time Machine. Is that possible?

    @Joop
    TC can handle TM and other backups at the same time.
    The TC is much slower (and more expensive) than a "normal" external drive, because everything has to go via WiFi. Especially when you are going to place Libraries on it.
    So I suggest that you acquire an exeternal backup disk.
    Second:
    if you want to place Libraries on the same disk as your backups/TM: when that disk goes down you do not have any backup for your Libraries (even when you partition the disk to separate between backup and libraries). Think about that. Imagine how you feel when you loose your photo library....
    Third:
    So all in all, I suggest to have two SEPARATE external disks.

  • New TC but now Time Machine can't find network backup drives

    I had a 2 GB TC replaced under warranty (many thanks to LaPastenague who suggested I may be able to get a replacement under warranty).  Configured the TC using Airport Utility, and after a bit of messing around (had to delete and re-find the USB printer) everything seemed to be working fine.  However ....
    I have a MyBookWorld network drive as an alternate Time Machine backup disk, and my MacBook found both the TC and MBW and backed up to them alternately just fine.
    However on another MacBook I removed the MBW drive as a backup disk in TM preferences, and now I can't add it back to that Macbook's list of backup drives.  I get the "can't find that server" error dialogue.  Which is crazy because the other shares on the MBW drive are visible - it's just the backup partition (WD_Backup) that isn't found.  I figure it's trying to connect to the IP address of the previous TC, which probably changed when I replaced the TC, or something.
    Help please !
    TIA ... John.

    Manually mount the directory in finder.
    This is so much more important on Mavericks than it used to be due to its default to SMB networking.
    I guess I also do not know if you should mount this via AFP or SMB but try both.
    So in Finder.. Go.. connect to server.
    Type in the actual name or IP of the device.
    AFP://MBW.local/WD_Backup (where MBW is the network name of the device. local is the domain (assuming it is connected to the TC))
    No luck try AFP://MBWIPaddress where you simply type in the IP.
    You might find it is easier to pick up the directory from the other Mac where it is working.
    Click on Get Info and look at the directory URL info.
    If no luck use SMB://MBW.local etc.
    Come back to us if it still does not show up.

  • Can I use Time Capsule to serve as an external drive with two different iMacs?

    I want to be able to set up Time Capsule to serve as a backup drive for my iMac, as well as my wife's iMac.
    So that we don't have to use two seperate back-up drives on each computer.
    Is this possible?

    The following quote is from: https://www.apple.com/airport-time-capsule/
    Have multiple Mac computers in your home or office? AirPort Time Capsule can back up and store files for each Mac on your wireless network. No longer do you have to attach an external drive to each Mac every time you want to back up. AirPort Time Capsule spares you the work. Your computers are always backed up — automatically and wirelessly.

  • Can i use the time capsule as just an external hard drive for music or does it have to be used soley as a backe up?? im thinking for music and photos

    Can I use the time capsule as just an external hard drive for music or does it have to be used soley as a back up?  I'm thinking for music and photos

    Nickles96 wrote:
    Hello friends.. I have a similar question, in that I would like to purchase the 2TB TC for use as a NAS device, in addition to taking advantage of the Air Port extreme.. Then I could dump my Linksys router.
    I was originally looking at a Synology NAS solution, but the TC seems like it can meet my needs.
    I have a Synology NAS as well as the Time Capsule.  If you look at the 3.2 beta program, the Synology actually attempts to replicate TC functionality in that you can use it with Time Machine on your Mac.
    I must say, Airport on the TC is definitely a nice feature!
    Nickles96 wrote:
    In addition to the obvious feature of the backup, can I indeed also use the TC as a NAS drive to access from remote locations (example from the office)?
    I'm surprised more people aren't using the TC as a dedicated NAS deviced.. I've searched high and low on forums around the web, and don't seem to see many people trying to use it as I've outlined.
    I can't see why this wouldn't fufill my needs, and take the place of a separate NAS solution (like the Synology, or iOmega, Seagate, etc....)
    Has anyone used this TC as such?
    Yes, you can do this and it's something I've been trying to do, but I'm currently having issues.  I have another thread stating I consistently get "connection failed" messages.  I'm basically storing my music/photo/video files on the TC and keeping my Mac hard drive fairly lean.  In terms of NAS functionality, the TC is very basic.  Synology/QNAP and others have a lot more features so don't rule them out.

  • How do i set my time capsule up to function as an external hard drive

    How do i set my time capsule up to function as an external hard drive? Is this even possible? I had a friend tell me it woudl be a good set up to get a time capsule with my Macbook Air to use as a gigantic external hard drive but then was unbale to wlak me through the setup after I bought the equipment. Any suggestions?

    It depends on what you already have equipment wise..
    Just bridge the TC..
    I cannot walk you through it either if you use v6 airport utility.. due to my refusing to run Lion until it gets network issues sorted.
    Download and run the real utility http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
    Go to manual setup..
    Internet tab
    Connection sharing.. select off bridge mode in the drop down box.
    You can then if you like turn off wireless under airport wireless.. The TC is now a plain network client with hard disk.
    Personally I would keep the wireless on but sort the channels manually if you already have a wireless AP or router.

  • I can't connect to the drive on my airport time machine and am receiving the message: "AirPort Time Capsule" can't be opened because the original item can't be found.

    Time capsule has been working perfectly for months.
    Suddenly I can't connect to the drive on my airport time capsule and am receiving the message: “AirPort Time Capsule” can’t be opened because the original item can’t be found.
    Time machine appears to be still backing up (last backup within the last hour), but drive is not visible and I have files stored on it.
    I have tried rebooting everything in order as suggested for other issues, anyone got any ideas how to see the drive again??

    What OS are you running??
    It is very typical Yosemite issue.
    1. In airport utility does the TC show up.. if so click it.. and see the summary page which will include its IP address. That is what you are after.
    From my screenshot you can see the TC address is 192.168.2.57
    It might well show up briefly after a reboot or in ipad / iphone version utility. Yosemite is hopeless. The airport utility hardly works.
    2. In Finder use Go, Connect to server.
    Type in SMB://192.168.2.57 (replace with IP you discover).
    If it is possible it will request a password.. type that in and DO NOT FORGET.. to store it in your keychain.
    This will work until the TC changes IP which won't happen if it is main router.. but will happen if it is bridged.. so you need to tell me the whole network setup.
    Mavericks is nearly as bad and the above instructions should be universal except I would use AFP instead of SMB. Apparently Yosemite is now totally Windows oriented.

  • Using an external drive with shared files (iPhoto, iTunes), attached to a Time Capsule, can the contents of the external drive be backed-up to the internal Time Capsule drive? Perhaps a RAID1 mirror to a partition?

    Using an external drive with shared files (iPhoto, iTunes), attached to a Time Capsule, can the contents of the external drive be backed-up to the internal Time Capsule drive? Perhaps a RAID1 mirror to a partitioned Time Capsule? I understand that the Time Machine (software) cannot backup a networked drive (the external) and that Time Capsule (the router/wireless hard drive) does not have its own backup software... so it won't backup the connected drive. What I would like is an alternate solution for having an automated backup of a networked drive. A 2TB Time Capsule has more than enough space for Time Machine backups of my family of Macbooks, so I had hoped to mirror a 500GB external drive (with shared media files) to a portion of the Time Capsule internal hard drive. I assume this would require a partition of the Time Capsule drive. If not, would the sparse file from the various computers being backed up need to be copied to the external drive as part of the RAID1 setup? This seems like overkill for the Time Machine backup, but it would cover the media files.  

    The complexity with this idea is the software has to run from a Mac computer on your network.. so you need a Mac turned on, probably most of the day.
    It isn't possible to partition the TC although you can create a image area.
    The software would have to copy the material, that means all files to be copied, go from USB drive, back to the Mac, then back to the TC, and written to the drive. In other words you have just added Network congestion, although a proper incremental backup type software will not actually use a lot of capacity.
    Finally it will be slow.. network drives are slower than internal drives. Well USB connected drive is much slower than the same drive connected directly to the computer.. and if the drive is connected directly to a computer it can be shared with the network.
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4
    Read carefully the speed of the USB drive plugged into the TC.

  • Can I use Time Capsule 1TB as an external hard drive tos tore my music library(but with cable connection,not WI-FI)

    Can I use my Time Capsule 1TB as an external hard drive to store my music library but with a cable connection(Ethernet or USB) and not Wi-Fi.

    Yes, with the following warnings.
    1. A 1TB TC is a Gen3 or earlier and can die at a moments notice.. So backup is essential.
    2. A Gen1 or 2 is slow.. even over ethernet they were processor bound and so transfer speeds are not great.. a USB2 plugged into the computer will be faster. Gen3 is about 50% better as the processor was upgraded by 50% speed.
    3. TC has no built in backup.. TM cannot backup network drives.
    4. TC is designed to spin up slowly and spin down quickly.. you will have issues with itunes constantly losing the library.
    5. You cannot use USB to the TC.. it is a network drive. If you want to use USB directly on the computer buy a USB drive.. but buy as fast a drive as your Mac supports.. Thunderbolt>USB3>FW800>USB2
    USB3 is cheap and very good.. but the port is only from 2012 so check your Mac specs.
    Thunderbolt whilst being super fantastic and around since 2011, has a bank account clearing price although there are Thunderbolt to esata converters.. for around $160. esata falls between usb3 and fw800.
    FW800 from WD is no better than USB2 but other brands it can be twice the speed of usb2.
    USB2 is the worst. But still faster than a TC.

  • TS1253 Once I save my photos to the airport time capsule; can I delete them from the computer drive?

    Once my photos have been saved by the airport time  capsule can I delete them from my computer hard drive.

    Please think about this for a moment.
    If you move your images to the Time Capsule...and delete them from your computer's hard drive......then, the only copy of the images that you will have will be on the Time Capsule.
    So, now your "originals" are on the Time Capsule....since you deleted them from the computer's hard drive to create more space.
    When...not if....the Time Capsule has a problem and you cannot access your images.......where will your backups of your images be?

  • Can you use the apple time capsule as just a wireless hard drive without using it as a router

    Can i use the apple time capsule as just a wireless hard drive without using  a router

    You can, but this type of configuration is not recommended or supported by Apple.
    Two cautions if you want to try this:
    1)  The Time Capsule has to be configured to "Join" your existing wireless network in this type of setup...and to do that, you must know the exact type of wireless security that your network is using.
    2)  Backups are going to take twice as long. The wireless signal must travel from your computer to the wireless router and then from the wireless router back to the Time Capsule.  Two "hops"......even if the computer is located close to the Time Capsule.
    If you want to try this, we can tell you how....but with no guarantees on your results....since this is not officially supported.

  • Can apple time capsule act as a wireless hard drive storage by Samsung smart tv?

    Can apple time capsule act as a wireless hard drive storage by Samsung smart tv? Samsung smart tv is connected to apple time capsule through wireless  as a modem at the moment

    If you look on the right side there pops up similar questions.. which works better than search btw..
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16432256#16432256
    The Samsung.. may not be able to see the Time Capsule hard disk..
    because it does not contain any files it can read.
    because it is not conformed to standard SMB file system.. the TC name is often illegal.. remove all spaces and special characters and keep it short.
    Same for wireless name and all passwords.
    There is no media player in the TC so it is useless for your TV even if it can see the hard drive .. the TC is a dumb backup device.

  • Can I use Time Capsule only as a WiFi backup disk w/out having to configure it as my main router?

    I already have an Airport Extreme that works great. Can I use Time Capsule ONLY as a WiFi backup disk w/out having to configure it as my main router with my Internet modem?

    Can I use Time Capsule ONLY as a WiFi backup disk w/out having to configure it as my main router with my Internet modem?
    Yes, you have two options here, each with advantages and disadvantages.
    Option 1...connect the Time Capsule to your AirPort Extreme using an Ethernet cable connection. Turn off the wireless on the Time Capsule since your AirPort Extreme is already providing wireless.
    Advantages...easy to configure, you can backup either over wireless or plug directly into one of the Ethernet ports to backup large files 3-5 times faster than wireless.
    Disadvantages...none, except it requires a wired Ethernet connection to the AirPort Extreme.
    Option 2....configure the Time Capsule as a wireless only hard drive.
    Advantage.....you can locate the Time Capsule anywhere you want as long as it can receive a good wireless signal from the AirPort Extreme.
    Disadvantages....harder to configure, backups will occur only over wireless.

  • HT1178 i am setting u a new time capsule. i already have a wifi setup in my office. now i want to use this time capsule just as a wireless backup machine. do i still need to attached a DSL cable, or it can connect to my existing wifi and start working ?

    i am setting u a new time capsule. i already have a wifi setup in my office. now i want to use this time capsule just as a wireless backup machine. do i still need to attached a DSL cable, or it can connect to my existing wifi and start working ?

    You probably can, but this type of configuration is not recommended or supported by Apple.
    Two cautions if you want to try this:
    1)  The Time Capsule has to be configured to "Join" your existing wireless network in this type of setup...and to do that, you must know the exact type of wireless security that your network is using.
    2)  Backups are likely going to take twice as long. The wireless signal must travel from your computer to the wireless router and then from the wireless router back to the Time Capsule.  Two "hops"......even if the computer is located close to the Time Capsule.
    If you want to try this, we can tell you how....but with no guarantees on your results....since this is not officially supported.

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