Time capsule disk slow

Hi all. First post and relatively new Apple user. I have a question.
I bought a time capsule and found it incredibly slow at disk writes. Setup is as follows.
Lyksys router with time capsule connected via ethernet. Time capsule has created new wireless network and has one wireless client, my macbook pro. I also have a mac mini plugged in the back of the time capsule with it´s wireless turned off. The mac mini has a usb disk attached.
I´ll spare the details but planned to use time capsule as a central location for movies, iTunes and photos (I planned to rsync this data to a usb disk attached to the time capsule from time to time). I am not using time machine.
After much upgrading, downgrading and mucking about, the time capsule got to useable speeds. However, my test is "time cp rugby.avi /Volumes/Data" where rugby.avi is 700MB in size run from my macbook pro.
Best speed I have achieved is 1m 40s. This morning I ran the test before going to work and got 1m 50s. Came home, did nothing except run the test and get 2m 45s. Run it again 3m 25s. Run the test to the mac mini and get 1m 22s. Then to the usb dsk attached to the mac mini 1m 40s. Then du time capsule again and get 3m 50s.
To copy the data to the macmini, the data must go through the time capsule wirelessly so we can rule that out as a source of the peculiar speed difference.
My real point is that time capsule seems to have a problem actually writing to the disk. I have no idea what this is and so have decided to return it.
However, if I buy an airport extreme and plug a usb disk in it, does anybody think I might get speeds close to what I get transferring now to the mac mini or should I just get myself another mac mini, after all, it seems a lot faster than using time capsule.
Hope you can help.
Regards

Thanks for the reply. I´m not too concerned with real numbers as such though they are obviously interesting. All I know is that copying that fine in under 2 minutes is good enough for my purposes. Copying remotely to the mac mini internal disk and also remotely to a usb disk attached to the mac mini gives me a speed I am happy with. Time Capsule can also occasionally compete too but mostly gets nowhere near it.
I´ll check out your links but I guess would like to hear if anybody has been complaining about the airport extreme with attached usb disk being slower than they expect.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply though.

Similar Messages

Time Capsule disk access SLOW! 2TB - Dual band

I have a Time Capsule (2TB, Dual Band, Firmare at 7.4.2)
Its been working like a dream, backing up 3 Macs for the last 8 months.
I also use it for connecting two or three other disks via USB and then making those accessible over the LAN, and there is also about 100GB of data on the Time capsule disk itself that i use as a dump for files so i can get to them from anywhere on my LAN.
Lately I started to notice EXTREMELY slow disk access, even when i am connected via ethernet (1000 base) - and equally when I am connected via wifi (n)
for example, copying over a 2Mb photo can take minutes when it should take seconds.
i've been trying to figure out whats going on here for a while and so i checked out the sizes of the backup files.. the sparseimages that time machine creates.
one of them was nearly 1TB, while another was around 500GB and the other was around 120GB
that plus my data meant there was only about 300GB free on the 2TB disk.
I have a feeling the slowness could be down to extreme fragmentation of the drive... ??
so i decided to dump the backup files and copy off my other data and do a erase of the disk and start again.. but get this.. i can't even delete the 1TB file ! I have been trying for about 3 days now and it just will not delete.. i get the Deleting msg box and it just sits there, literally ALL night...
i know it isn't just hanging on the Mac (10.6.4) because deleting the other two images also took a long time (but not this long!)
i can't just wipe the disk now because i can't get my other data off either.. I have tried copying it over the network and onto a USB disk connected directly to the Time Capsule, but 3 days later and i'm still copying files..
to put some context into this, I copied over 1.8Gb today and it took about 4 hours...
has anyone had this problem before?? what on earth is going on?? is it down to fragmentation, or something else?? the TC has been working fine up until a few weeks ago when i started to notice slow speed.
any ideas ?
thanks
Adam

if anyone ever has this issue ....
it must have been EXTREME fragmentation. I bought another 2TB external disk, connected it to the TC, did a complete archive, which took around 24 hours... then i wiped the TC and put stuff back... it now works fine again...

Time Capsule Disk is very slow

Hello,
I'm using 10.8.2 and I just bought a Time Capsule 2TB for my backups.
I have tried to use Time Machine to backup my data (about 200GB) via our wifi network. My MBP (Retina mid 2012) stands at a distance of 2 meters from the Time Capsule.
It took about 16 hours and at 90% it crashed.
After that I used Carbon Copy Cloner to backup my data manually. I think I will go on with this methode, because I will have instant access to my data.
CCC did the backup a bit faster (about 12-13 hours). Copying other files to the Time Capsule Disk is also slow (about 7-8 GB per hour). Navigating is also slow.
I turned off Spotlight completely without a difference in copying speed.
I think (and I hope) this Time Capsule disk could be faster. Is this a bug? Are there workarounds?
Thanks a lot!

-To sum up things: The setting "DHCP + NAT" delivers fast copying speeds
Yes. You will eliminate the backroute to the fiber modem or maybe even back to your ISP - depending on their setup.
The standard setting of the router is "DHCP + NAT" right?
Normally the standard setting is good enough to obtain an internet connection instantly (without filling in IP, DNS etc. manually).
Yes, you shoudl not have to fill in those details. Should work straight away as your MBP gets thos edetails automatically (yes?)
best to reset the Airport Extreme to defaults and connect it again using DHCP / NAT

Time Capsule (A1409): slow file access problem and how do we create a back up of the files on timecapsule?

Time Capsule: We have a model no A1049 our network (installed by someone no longer working with us, so I don't know how it was set up or how to access any settings other than via Airport Utility)
We use it for our central file storage, and as a disk for timemachine backups from the several macs we use here.
The time capsule is running but we have slow access to files, it takes ages to bring up the list of files available, can I fix this?
I have just updated the firmware.
I would also like to know how I can back up these files to another disk.
I have searched the manuals and also the support community but I can't find the answers or any instructions other than the manuals and would appreciate help.
Thank you

The Time Capsule was designed to handle Time Machine backups from one or more Mac computers, and it will work reasonably well for that purpose.
But.....and this is a big BUT......it will not work very well at all if you try to make it act as a file server, since the disk spin up time is quite slow among other things like slow read times from the disk.
Suggest that you get with an IT specialist who can recommend the right file server solution for your network based on your needs.
As far as backing up the data on the Time Capsule, the simplest way to do this is connect a USB drive to the USB port on the Time Capsule and use the built in Archive function in AirPort Utility to make a complete copy of all of the data on the Time Capsule.
Unfortunately, the simplest way is also the slowest and the Time Capsule will not be available for Time Machine backups or file serving during the Archive procedure, which will likely take 4-6 hours or so depending on how much data might be on the Time Capsule. A good time to do this might be late at night, so the Archive copying will run overnight.
Another better option would be to use a commercially available application, like Carbon Copy Cloner to automatically back up the Time Capsule disk each day at a time that you choose. The advantage to doing it this way is that CCC will only back up the changes that have occurred since the last back up, so once the first "master" backup is done, the subsequent "incremental" backups will only take a few minutes each day.
Your IT specialist / consultant will likely have other suggestions for you as well. The advice that we have offered here is meant to be general in nature and not specific to your particular needs.

How to health check time capsule disk

how to health check time capsule disk?
when doing time machine backuping and copying files into time capsule, it would take ages and very long time.. is the disk going to die soon?
is there anyway i can check the disk?
my time capsule is 2TB current model.
please help.
thank you.

Time Machine automatically checks the backups on the disk. It does a quick check (a few seconds) before every backup, and periodically (every month, I think) does a much more thorough check.
You can do that yourself, by holding the Alt/Option key while selecting the TM icon in your menubar, and selecting Verify Backups. That may take quite a while, if you have a lot of data. I'd recommend connecting via Ethernet, as it will still be slow, but 2-3 times faster than WIFI.

Using AirPort Utility 5.3.1 or later to make a copy of the Time Capsule disk

Can I use AirPort Utility 5.3.1 or later to make a copies of specific folders within the Time Capsule disk?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1281
I see this link that explains how you can make an archive of TC files directly to an external USB (greatly increasing the speed), but I would like to:
1) Chose only specific folders and
2) If possible, have it do this daily.
I am trying to avoid dragging files directly through my Mac. I want specific files (instead of entire drive) to go from the TC > External USB

The archive ability which is available in all versions of the airport utility except the early v6, where it was dropped for a time, is designed to do a full backup of the TC. It cannot do what you want.
It cannot incrementally backup. Each time you press archive it will do the whole disk.
you cannot select folders to be included or excluded. The airport utility is an extremely limited functionality tool.
I am trying to avoid dragging files directly through my Mac. I want specific files (instead of entire drive) to go from the TC > External USB
A TC is a dumb as a board hard disk in a router. It has no controls like a real NAS would have, like backup with a auto controls and ability to deselect items or do incrementals.
So you have no choice whatsoever on a TC except for the files to be processed via the Mac.
Carbon Copy Cloner is one backup utility that can do the job. But it will be extremely slow if the material it is backing up has to be copied to the USB on the TC. Still if your changes are not great, it can be set to automatically do incremental backups on a daily basis.
It is much faster btw to have the USB plugged into the computer, so files do not have to be transferred back to the USB.. and this is x10 if you are using wireless.

Referenced images on time capsule disk

hi,
because i'm running out of space on my mbp's hard disk, I'm thinking of putting referenced images on a time capsule disk, keeping the library on the mbp, wil this disk be fast enough. The network will be "n" and i'll connect anonther disk to it for back up?
wil this setup be possible?

The setup is possible but it will be slow, especially if you are using raw or tiff files. Most jpegs are probably workable.
Just get an external drive for your MBP and connect using hardwire of some type.
I have my library on my 15" MBP (and yes, I have previews turned to match 1440x1440) so that I can view the overall content of my library - and also share with iWork/iLife suite. My referenced masters are all on external dirve (2x, one being a backup).
Cheers

Time Capsule disk cannot be mounted nor found by Time Machine

Suddenly Time Machine can't find my Time Capsule disk to back up to.
I've tried setting up my Time Capsule in various ways, even resetting to default factory settings.
My network seems to work fine and Time Capsule is shining brightly green, but clicking on Time Machine Preferences, it asks me to Choose Backup Disk. Clicking on that I just get an empty list. No disks. My only choice is to Set Up Time Capsule, which I've now done a couple of times without change. The Apple Support suggest a change to a shorter name... Needless to say, this is not the problem. Tried that too.
When I click on Manual Setup and check the Disks tab, there are no disks available there either.
Patience running on empty... Anyone found a solution to this or is my only option to shut off this expensive machine forever (seeing as it doesn't back up and that it's started to hum annoyingly loudly)?
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

My last resort was to connect my laptop and the time capsule with an usb cable.
The bad thing is that nothing happened. So for me this means heading back again to apple care so they tell me whats wrong with it (i just received it today from apple care because it stopped turning on 2 weeks ago and they didn't knew what was wrong with it).

Unable to delete files from Time Capsule disk

A while back I copied my user folder from my iMac on to my Time Capsule disk, which is mounted as a drive on my iMac's desktop. I now want to delete that copy. After some struggling with locked files I have managed to get it so that all I have left is a small hierarchy of folders containing no files. When I try to delete any of these folders, though, I get the error message: "The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items." Info says that I have read & write privileges to every folder in the hierachy.
Can anyone suggest a way that I can get rid of these few remaining folders? They are really bugging me!

Some of you are going to love this!!
Ok, after talking with someone at Apple, I was reminded of a simple Unix Command to do the job, even on Time Capsule. Here's what worked for me:
Time Capsule is connected to my Mac, via an Ethernet cable-- I don't know if this matters or not, maybe it will work over the wireless connection too, let me know!
You'll need to pull up Terminal in Applications > Utilities. It's a dangerous tool that Unix and Linux people use with skill all the time, but you have to be careful, cause it will cause permanent changes-- that is what I want here, of course. Just be extremely careful, ok? You have been warned.
type "cd /Volumes"
press Return
Now you're in the "Volumes" folder
type "ls" (as in the letter L)
press Return
You should see your Time Capsule folder (whatever you named it)-- type "cd " and that particular name
Navigate till you can type "ls" and you can see the folder you are trying to delete.
Then, the command that worked for me is this:
(Please double check that "myFolderToDelete" is indeed the one that you want to delete!)
sudo rm -rfd myFolderIWantToDelete
After a few seconds for the hard drive in the time capsule to spin up, it worked! Yea!
In fact, to be safe, if I were you, I would even go into Finder first and try to rename that folder, call it "myFolderToDelete" !!!
Why didn't I try this before? I've used Terminal, I should have thought of it before! bad nerd!
But the important thing is, problem solved .
A few things to note is that I was trying to delete a folder full of "Locked" files. If I wanted to delete several locked files that are not currently in a folder, I could make a new folder, and drag those files into it... now you have a folder you can delete. Just rename it "toBeDeleted" or something like that.
Finally, note that I am not currently using Time Machine (the automated backup program) with this Time Capsule, so I don't know if it will delete the Time Machine backup -- haven't tried that yet.
Good Luck!

Time capsule painfully slow wifi

New time capsule , painfully slow wifi , cisco works lightning fast so the issue is with the TC. Looked at forums and I see it's a common isssue. Any ideas that actually work?

Download the free iStumbler app to examine the strength of your connection.
If it's not good, look for interference with another wireless device, cordless phone, microwave oven, etc. Turn them off temporarily; if you find an offender, move it farther away. See AirPort and Bluetooth: Potential sources of wireless interference for more.
Try different WIFI channels.

Time Capsule Disk Doesn't Appear in Finder or Disk Utility

I have a 500G Time Capsule (single band, I think) that I want to partition (just into disk images, not volumes) so that I can maintain separate-sized locations for my family's music library, photos, and Time Machine backups for the non-media files on each of a Mac Mini and 4 laptops. But I will ask more about that later.
My more immediate problem is that the Time Capsule Disk Volume generally just doesn't appear in my Finder or in Disk Utility at all. A couple weeks ago, for some reason, it did appear once and I took the opportunity to create a 215G Disk Image--leaving 250G for the rest of the Disk Volume which was indicated as having 465G rather than 500G actually available. But since then (as before) the Time Capsule volume hasn't appeared in Disk Utility at all, and only rarely in the Finder.
In the Finder the Time Capsule appears under the Shared heading in the left panel, with the Time Capsule disk volume appearing as a folder in the right panel (if it connects, which it usually requires a password for, but sometimes it doesn't...). If I open the folder then the right panel goes blank (indicating, I think, that I have opened the volume but there is nothing inside) and the volume (usually) eventually shows up under my own Mac in the Devices heading. (That is, the Time Capsule disk volume shows up along with Network, Macintosh HD, and Remote Disk in the right Finder panel when I select my Mac under Devices in the left Finder panel.) At that point the TC volume shows up in the Finder as a 220G Volume and the disk image shows up indented under it as a 215G Disk Image; indented under the Disk Volume there is also a 5G Sparsebundle file from a Time Machine backup. If I open the 220G Disk Volume in the right Finder panel then it shows only the 215G Disk Image and the 5G Sparsebundles in the right Finder panel. This seems to suggest that the 215G Disk Image and the 5G Sparsebundles are both treated as 'used' and the 220G size given for the Disk Volume represents what is left (although 215+5+220=440, so where the extra 25G went I don't know).
If I open the 215G Disk Image in the right Finder panel then, after a while, it shows up as a Disk Image in the right Finder panel when my Mac is selected under Devices in the left panel. I can create folders in the Disk Image and copy documents to those folders, at least.
But in any case, regardless of whether I open the 220G Disk Volume or the 215 Disk Image in the Finder, the Disk Volume never appears in Disk Utility so there is no possibility of reformatting it. The 215 Disk Image has sometimes shown up in Disk Utility (and once it apparently allowed me the option of partitioning the Disk Image into further Disk Images), but sometimes it doesn't show up and I haven't been able to figure out why it does or doesn't.
I find this all very confusing and the Finder and Disk Utility behavior seems downright erratic. I'm not sure whether something is broken or if I just don't understand how it works (starting with the difference between the Devices and Shared headings in the left Finder Pane). I would appreciate any advice on how I can reliably access the Time Capsule disk volume in the Finder and Disk Utility. Thanks.

Same problem after 10.8.2 update yesterday,
Time Machine functions but disk does not mount in finder.
The disk also shows up in disk utility when TM is running
as mounted (beneath a sparse image file) but not visible.
Is this a bug, or a feature?
LW
MBPro. OSX Mountain Lion, backing up to Time Capsule

Since I upgraded to Mavericks, Time Machine no longer finds the Time Capsule Disk on my network

Hi,
Since I upgraded to Mavericks, Time Machine no longer finds the Time Capsule Disk on my network.
Five minutes before upgrading it however performed successfully a last backup.
I found several posts on this forum and proposed solutions:
- restarted both the mac and capsule
- deleted the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.TimeMachine.plist (twice rebooting in between)
Still have the issue.

What brand of drive is it?
Disks You Can Use
Troubleshooting backup issues
Time Machine Can’t Find Backup Disk

Time Capsule Disk & VPN

I just purchased a Time Capsule for a home network and backing up using Time Machine. I have a MacBook Pro, a MacBook, and a Windows XP Professional PC that I use for work. All is working beautifully; however, I cannot connect to the Time Capsule's disk from the Windows PC while connected through my corporate VPN. I am using Cisco VPN Client V 4.6.03.0021 and connecting via TCP. When I DISCONNECT from the VPN on the Windows PC I am able to browse the Time Capsule disk just fine. Is this a known issue? Same thing happens with a Bonjour printer connected to a 802.11g Airport Expess. The printer is not visible until I disconnect from the VPN. All software and firmware are up to date as of 3/20/07.
Message was edited by: watkinsmd

I'm having the exact same problem and now I'm much less excited about TC now because I have to be behind VPN a lot. Though, I was thinking about a far-less-than-perfect workaround which is to connect to TC directly from my PC using a USB-to-USB cable (while connected to the VPN network), just for occasional file transfer needs. Do you all think it would work? I'll give it a try sometime next week when I return home from my trip. (If you've ever tried before, I'd really appreciate your sharing.)
Thanks,
ekko

Time Capsule disk disconnect and reconnect every 5 minutes

This problem began with Airport Firmware 7.6, and has continued to perist with every subsequent firmware version. Reverting to firmware version 7.5.2 eliminates the problem. Running with the latest firmware version 7.6.3, on OS X 10.8.2, the Time Capsule disk is disconnected and reconnected every 5 minutes, and this is seen in the console log:
15/02/2013 16:10:22.344 KernelEventAgent[43]: tid 00000000 received event(s) VQ_NOTRESP (1)
15/02/2013 16:10:22.344 KernelEventAgent[43]: tid 00000000 type 'afpfs', mounted on '/Volumes/Vilya', from '//Mike%20Connally@TimeCapsule._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Vilya', not responding
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: ASP_TCP Disconnect: triggering reconnect by bumping reconnTrigger from curr value 190 on so 0xffffff804456ede0
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: ASP_TCP asp_tcp_usr_control: invalid kernelUseCount 0
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect started /Volumes/Vilya prevTrigger 190 currTrigger 191
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect: doing reconnect on /Volumes/Vilya
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect: posting to KEA EINPROGRESS for /Volumes/Vilya
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect: Max reconnect time: 30 secs, Connect timeout: 15 secs for /Volumes/Vilya
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect: connect to the server /Volumes/Vilya
15/02/2013 16:10:22.345 KernelEventAgent[43]: tid 00000000 found 1 filesystem(s) with problem(s)
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect: Logging in with uam 13 /Volumes/Vilya
15/02/2013 16:10:22.651 KernelEventAgent[43]: tid 00000000 received event(s) VQ_NOTRESP (1)
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect: Restoring session /Volumes/Vilya
15/02/2013 16:10:22.000 kernel[0]: AFP_VFS afpfs_DoReconnect: get the reconnect token
Has anyone found a solution to this, other than reverting to Airport Firmware 7.5.2?

Welcome to the club.. there is a very long thread.. here.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3526741?tstart=0
There seems to be any number of factors.. where the solutions are little silly things..
Start from the end of the thread and work backwards as this has been ongoing for a long time.. and experience has improved.
What you are seeing btw is the change apple made in Lion and 7.6 to higher security version of AFP.. but it is a mess IMHO.. and has not worked at all well.

Cannot Access Time Capsule Disk from Boot Camp

Hi,
I've set up a Time Capsule and I've been able to read and write from:
1) My MacBook Pro and another MacBook
2) A Windows XP (SP3) PC connected by Ethernet
3 )A Dell Laptop running Windows XP (wirelessly)
I can copy files to and from the disk and perform Time Machine Backups (on the Macs).
However, I have not been able to even connect to the disk (but I can use the internet normally) on the Time Capsule on my MacBook Pro Boot Camp Windows XP SP3. I can connect wirelessly and surf the net on the 5 Ghz (and 2.4 Ghz) (non-public/Guest Shared) network. (The password I entered to access the disk are the same on all machines listed, which was not confused with the Network Password) Does anyone face such a problem or know the cause/fix?
Thank You in advance.

I use FileBrowser app. It works. Their latest version is much easier to configure than earlier versions. You need to turn file sharing on and SMB on your time capsule disk.
I use the time capsule disk to store a few files which I never want to be on my iPhone or iPad, but do want access to them. They are not backed up on the time capsule but since they also exist on my Mac, they are backed up from there.

Time capsule disk slow

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