Time capsule vs network accessible storage drive

I currently have a network storage drive but doesn't support time machine. However, I store my iTunes library and photos there so they don't hog space on my hard drive. Can I use the time capsule as a backup drive AND a network accessible storage?

Yes, you can do that. The TC just plugs into the network.

Similar Messages

Using time capsule as a wireless storage drive on MacBook Pro with Tiger

I'm getting a time capsule 1Tb for xmas, do I just plug it into one of the ethernet ports on my wireless router/modem? What I plan to do is take all my data (itunes files, invoices, pictures etc) off my MacBook Pro (which only has a 150 Gb hard drive) and use the time capsule as wireless data storage. I will obviously need to back up the original data on the TC to another storage drive. Can I use the usb port on the TC to connect another external hard drive to back up to, or do I need a external hard drive with an ethernet port? And do some hard drive manufacturers ship their drives with software which automatically backs up data from other external drives even when the computer isn't turned on? Thanks for any answers.

No idea on TC at all.
And do some hard drive manufacturers ship their drives with software which automatically backs up data from other external drives even when the computer isn't turned on?
Yes & no, the Computer has to be on, but these drives come with several Backup tools...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
Like on the bottom of this page...
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATAFW800_FW400USB

Time Capsule as Network Attached Storage Hub

Is it possible to connect an external drive directly to the time capsule so that I can share pretty much any file I would want to on my network? Of course then I would like the time capsule to also back that drive up via time machine.

The Time Capsule can share that drive if it's formatted correctly, but won't back it up.
(69197)

I want a new and more powerful (non-Apple) wireless router but I still want to use my existing Time Capsule to continue with my Time Machine backups and I still need the Time Capsule's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features and capabilities

THE SHORTER STORY
My goal is to successfully use my existing Time Capsule (TC) with a new and more powerful wireless router. I need a new and more powerful wireless router in order to reach a distant Denon a/v receiver that is physically located in a master bedroom some 50 feet away from my modem. I need to provide this Denon a/v receiver with an Internet connection so that it can obtain its firmware updates and I need to connect this Denon a/v receiver to my network in order to use its AirPlay feature. I believe l still need the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features because I am not sure if the new wireless router will provide me with the NAS like features / capabilities I need to share files between my two Apple laptops with OS X 10.8.2. And I know that I absolutely need my TC's seamless integration with Apple's Time Machine (TM) application in order to continue to make effortless backups of my two Apple laptops. To my knowledge nothing works with TM like Apple's TC. I also need the hard disk storage space built into the TC.
I cannot use a long wired Ethernet cable connection in this apartment and I cannot use power-line adapters. I have read that wireless range extenders and repeaters are difficult to successfully set-up and that they will reduce data speeds, especially so when incorrectly set-up. I cannot relocate my modem and/or primary base station wireless router.
In short, I want to use my TC with my new and more powerful wireless router. I need to stop using the TC to connect to the modem. However, I still need the TC for seamless TM backups. I also need to use the TC's built in hard drive for storage. And I may still need the TC's NAS capabilities to share files wirelessly between laptops because I am assuming the new wireless router will not provide NAS capabilities for OS X 10.8.2 (products like this/non-Apple products rarely seem to work with OS X 10.8.2/Macs to provide NAS features and capabilities). Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone please advise on how to set-up my new Asus wireless router with my existing TC in such a way to accomplish all of this?
What is the best configuration or set-up to accomplish my above goals?
Thank you in advance for your assistance!!!
THE FULL STORY
I live in an apartment building where my existing Time Capsule (TC) is located in my living room and serves many purposes. Specially, my TC is at least all of the following:
(1) Wi-Fi router connected to Comcast Internet service via Motorola SB6121 cable modem - currently the TC is the Wi-Fi base station that connects to the modem and has the gateway address to the Internet. The TC now provides the DHCP service for the Wi-Fi network.
(2) Wireless router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to several Wi-Fi clients - two Apple laptop computers, an iPod touch, an iPad and an iPhone all connect wirelessly to the Internet via the TC.
(3) Wired Ethernet router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to three different devices - a Panasonic TV, LG Blu-Ray player and an Apple TV each use one of the three LAN ports on the back of the TC to gain access to the Internet.
(4) Primary base station in my attempt to extend my wireless network to a distant (located far away) Denon a/v receiver requiring a wired Ethernet connection - In addition to the TC, which is my primary base station, I am also using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. I cannot use a wired Ethernet connection to continuously travel from the living room to the master bedroom. The distance is too great as I cannot effectively hide the Ethernet cable in this apartment.
(5) Time Machine (TM) backup facilitator - I use my TC to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops using Apple's Time Machine (TM) application. However, I ran out of storage space on my TC and therefore added external storage to it. Specifically, I added an external hard drive to my TC via the USB port on the back of the TC. I now use this added external hard drive connected to the TC via USB as the destination storage drive for my TM back-ups. I have partitioned the added external hard drive, and each of the several partitions all have enough storage space (e.g., each of the two partitions used by TM are sized at three times the hard drive space of each laptop, etc.). Everything works flawlessly.
(6) Network Attached Storage (NAS) - In addition to using the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) capabilities to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops via TM, I also store other additional files on both (A) the hard drive built into the TC and (B) the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB (there are additional separate partitions on this drive for these other additional and non-TM backup files).
I use the TC's NAS feature with my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Again, everything works wirelessly and flawlessly. (Note: the Apple TV is connected to the network via Ethernet and a LAN port on the back of the TC).
The issue I am having is when I try to listen to music via Apple's AirPlay in the master bedroom. This master bedroom is located at a distance of two rooms away from the TC's current location in the living room, which is a distance of about 50 feet. This apartment has a long rectangular floor plan where each room is connected to the next in a straight line. In order to use AirPlay in the master bedroom I am using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. This additional base station connects wirelessly to the WiFi network provided by my TC and then gives my Denon receiver the wired Ethernet connection it needs to use AirPlay. I have tried moving my iTunes music directly onto my laptop's hard drive, and then I used AirPlay on this same laptop to connect to the Denon receiver. I always get a successful connection and the song plays, but the problem is that the connection inevitably drops.
I live in an apartment building and all of the many wireless routers in this building create a great deal of WiFi interference on both the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands. I have tried connecting the Netgear product to each the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, but neither band can successfully maintain a wireless connection between the TC and the Netgear product. I also attempted to maintain a wireless connection to an iPod touch using the 2.4 GHz band and AirPlay on this iPod touch to play music on the Denon receiver. Again, I was able to establish a connection and successfully play music, but after a few minutes the connection dropped and the music stopped playing. I therefore have concluded that I have a poor wireless connection in the master bedroom. I can establish a connection, but it is intermittent with frequent drops. I have verified this with both laptops by working in the master bedroom for an entire day on both laptops. The Internet connection in this master bedroom proved to drop out frequently - about once an hour with the laptops. The wireless connection and the frequency of its dropout are far worse with the iPod touch and an iPhone.
I cannot relocate the TC. Also, this is an apartment and I therefore cannot extend the range of my network with Ethernet cable (I cannot drill through walls/ceilings, etc.). It is an old building with antiquated wiring and power-line adapters are not likely to function properly, nor can I spare the direct power outlet required with a power-line adapter. I simply need every outlet I can get and cannot afford to block any direct outlet.
My solution is to use a more powerful wireless router. I found the ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router which will likely provide a better connection to my wireless Internet in the master bedroom than the TC. The 802.11ac band of this Asus wireless router is totally useless to me, but based on what I have read I believe this router will provide a stronger connection at greater distances then my TC. And I will be ready for 802.11ac when it becomes more widely available.
However, I still need to maintain the TC's ability to work seamlessly with TM to backup my two laptops. Also, I doubt the new Asus router will provide OS X 10.8.2 with NAS like features and capabilities. Therefore, I still would like to use the TC's NAS capabilities to share files on my network wirelessly assuming the Asus wireless router fails to provide this feature. I need a new and more powerful wireless router, but I need to maintain the TC's NAS features and seamless integration with TM. Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone advise on how to set-up my existing TC with this new Asus wireless router in such a way to accomplish all of this?
Modem
Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem
Existing Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Apple Time Capsule
Apple Time Capsule MC343LL/A 1TB Sim DualBand (purchased June 2010, likely the Winter 2009 Model)
Desired New Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Non-Apple Asus
ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router
Extended Wi-Fi Base Station - Provides an Ethernet Connection to a Denon A/V Receiver Two Rooms Away from the Modem
Netgear Universal Dual Band Wireless Internet Adapter for TV & Blu-Ray (WNCE3001)
Addition External Hard Drive Attached to the Existing Apple Time Capsule via USB
WD My Book Studio 4TB Mac External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0
Existing Laptops on the Wireless Network Requiring Time Machine Backups
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012) OS X 10.8.2
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010) OS X 10.8.2
Other Existing Apple Products (Clients) on the Wireless Network
iPod Touch (second generation) is model A1288.
iPad (1st generation)
Apple TV (3rd generation) - Quantity two (2)

Thanks Bob Timmons.
In regards to a Plan B, I hear ya brother. I am already on what feels like Plan Z. Getting WiFi to a far off room in an apartment building crowded with WiFi routers is a major pain.
I am basing my thoughts on the potential of a new and more powerful router reaching the far off master bedroom based on positive reviews on cnet.com, pcmag.com and pcworld.com. All 3 of these web sites have reviewed the Asus RT-AC66U 802.11AC wireless router as well as its virtual twin cousin 802.11n router. What impressed me is that all 3 sites rated this router #1 overall in terms of both range and speed (in both the 802.11n and 802.11AC flavors). They tested the router in real world scenarios where the router needed to compete with a lot of other wireless routers. One of the sites even buried this Asus router in a media room with thick walls and inside a media cabinet. This Asus router should be able to serve my 2.4 GHz band wireless clients (iPod Touch and iPhone 4) with a 2.4GHz Wireless-N band offering some 50 feet of dependable range and a 60 Mbps throughput at that range. I am hoping that works, but it's borderline for my master bedroom. My 5 GHz wireless clients (laptops) will enjoy a 5GHz Wireless-N band offering 150 feet of range and a 200 Mbps throughput at that range. I have no idea what most of that stuff means, but I did also read that Asus could reach 300 feet and I got really excited. My mileage may vary of course and I'm sure I'm making some mistakes in my interpretation of their data. However, my Winter 2009 Time Capsule was rated by cnet.com to deliver real world performance of less than that, and 802.11AC may or may not be useful to me someday. But when this Asus arrives and provides anything other than an excellent and consistent wireless signal without drops in the master bedroom it's going right back!
Your solution sounds great, but I have some questions. I'm using OS X 10.8.2 and Airport Utility (version 6.1 610.31) and on its third tab labeled "Wireless" the top option enables you to set "Network Mode" to either:
Create a wireless network
Extend a wireless network
Off
Given your advice to "Turn off the wireless on the TC," should I set Network Mode to Off? Sorry, I'm clueless in regards to how to turn off the wireless on the TC any other way. Can you provide specific steps on how to turn off the wireless on the TC? If what I wrote is correct then what should the rest of this Wireless tab look like, or perhaps it is irrelevant when wireless is off?
Next, what do you mean by "Configure the TC in Bridge Mode?" Under Airports Utility's fourth tab labeled "Network" the top option "Router Mode" allows for either:
DHCP and Nat
DHCP Only
Off (Bridge Mode)
Is your advice to Configure the TC in Bridge Mode as simple as setting Router Mode to Off (Bridge Mode)? If yes, then what should the rest of this "Network" tab look like? Anything else involved in configuring the TC in Bridge Mode or is it really as simple as setting the Router Mode to "Off (Bridge Mode)"?
How about the other tabs in Airport Utility, can they all stay as is assuming I use the same network name and password for the new Asus wireless router? Or do I need to make any other changes to the TC via Airport Utility?
Finally, in regards to your Plan B suggestion. I agree. But do you have a Plan B for me? I would greatly appreciate any alternative you could provide. Specifically, if you needed a TC's Internet connection to reach a far off corner of your home how would you do it? In the master bedroom I need both a wired Ethernet connection for the Denon a/v receiver and wireless Internet connection for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Power-Line Adapters - High Cost, Blocks at Least One Wall Outlet and Does Not Solve the Wireless Need
I actually like exactly one power-line adapter, which is the D-Link DHP-540 PowerLine AV 500 4-Port Gigabit Switch. This D-Link power-line adapter plugs into your wall outlet with a normal sized plug (regular standard power cord much like any other electronic device) instead of all of the other recommended power-line adapters that not only use at least one wall outlet but also often block the second outlet. You cannot use a power strip with a power-line adapter which is very impractical for me. And everything about my home is strange and upside down. The wiring here is a disaster and I don't have faith in its ability to carry Internet access from the living room to the master bedroom. And this D-Link power-line adapter costs $90 each and I need at least two to make the connection to the Denon A/V receiver. So, $180 on this solution and I still don't have a dependable drop free wireless connection in the master bedroom. The Denon might get its Ethernet Internet connection from the power-line adapter, but if I want to use an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch to stream AirPlay music to the Denon wirelessly (Pandora/iTunes, etc.) from the master bedroom the wireless connection will not be stable in there and I've already spent $190 on just the two power-line adapters needed.
Extenders / Repeaters / Wirelessly Extending the Wireless Network
I have also read great things about the Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Range Extender (Repeater) SR20000G and the My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender. The former is very powerful and the latter is easier to install. Both cost about $150 ish so similar to a new Asus router. However, everything I read about Range Extenders points to them not being very effective for a far off corner of your house wherein it's apparently hard to place the range extender in the sweet spot where it both gets a strong enough signal to actually effectively extend the wireless signal and otherwise does not reduce network throughput speeds to unacceptable speeds.
Creating a Roaming Network By Hard Wiring with Ethernet Cable - Wife Would Say, "**** No!"
Even Apple seems to warn against wirelessly extending your network (see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145#) and otherwise strongly recommends a roaming network where Ethernet cable is used to connect two wireless base stations. However, I am in an apartment where stringing together two wireless base stations with Ethernet cable would have an extremely low wife acceptance factor (WAF). I cannot (both contractually and from a skill prospective) hide Ethernet wire in the walls or ceiling. And having visible Ethernet cable running from room-to-room would be unacceptable, especially to the wife.
So what is left? Do you have a Plan B for me? Thanks in advance for your help!

Time capsule as an external storage drive

I have the 2 TB time machine / time capsule router running my network. I use an external hard drive to store all of my photos from my IMac 24 as the storage space was filling up. The time capsule, from my understanding will not back up my external storage drive. Am I able to designate the time capsule as the external drive to store my Iphoto library on and be done with my other external storage drive? Essentially making the Time Capsule my external drive as well as my back up drive? I hope that made sense.

That shouldn't be done, but Time Machine will back that drive up as long as it's not set to be excluded in the Time Machine pane of System Preferences. As an iPhoto library can only be stored on a volume formatted as Mac OS Extended, you'll be able to remove it from the exclusion list and use Time Machine to back it up unless you're using an unusual configuration.
(70387)

I have a Time Capsule with 2tb of storage, and an I-Mac with 500Gb. (which is at capacity) Can I use the Time Capsule to store data in addition to backing up the hard drive?

I have a Time Capsule with 2tb of storage, and an I-Mac with 500Gb. (which is at capacity) Can I use the Time Capsule to store data from my hard drive that I want to access later in addition to backing up the hard drive?

Can I use the Time Capsule to store data from my hard drive that I want to access later in addition to backing up the hard drive?
Yes, but if you move the "original" data on your iMac to the Time Capsule....then the "original" data is now on the Time Capsule disk.
When...not if...the Time Capsule disk has a problem, you have no backups for this data.
Perhaps a much safer plan might be to add an external hard drive attached directly to your iMac. Then, move the data to that drive from the iMac.
Now, Time Machine will back up both your iMac and the external hard drive so you have "originals" on one drive and backups on another. Would that plan work for you?

Can I use Time Capsule as a secure Shared drive on my wireless network?

Can I configure Time Capsule as a secure Shared drive on my wireless network for the other 3 Macs in my family?
Thanks
Keith

You can require users to enter a password to access the Time Capsule disk, if that is what you mean by "secure".

Just want to use Time Capsule as a wireless hard drive?

I thought I was computer savvy until now.
I just want to use Time Capsule as a wireless hard drive. I do not want to connect my Internet to it whatsoever. I realize this would involve disconnecting from Time Capsule and reconnecting to my Internet every time.
The settings for Time Capsule are just mind-boggling.
Is there any easy way to set it up as a password-protected wireless hard drive?
I am so lost with all the settings.
Please help! I will provide points!

First, you don't need to use Time Capsule with Time Machine. It can be used as a manual file storage or file exchange drive.
Where do you have the Ethernet cable placed on the Time Capsule. Is it the WAN port or one of the network ports?
If you are attempting to set-up the Time Capsule as your wireless router, it will need to be connected to the wired modem from your service provider through the WAN port for configuration. The Time capsule should then appear as a configurable Airport device.
To start, turn off your cable or DSL modem and the Time Capsule. Turn them both back on with the Time capsule connected to the wired modem via of the WAN port so the modem can grab the TC's MAC address.

How do I use time capsule as a direct backup drive only connect to my macbook pro via ethernet cable

I have recently abandoned my cable internet service provider and am using my iPad as a hotspot via verizon wireless service. I am trying to reconfigure my time capsule as a back up drive only connected by an ethernet cable.
I was able to set it up on my new hotspot wireless net, but do not want to use it that way because of the data usage impact on my verizon wireless account.
Hopefully there is an easy answer, but it is not intuitively obvious to me.

Well I have to say you can do it.. but if you are plugging and unplugging ethernet, you could just as easily plug and unplug an external USB drive.. and it will be faster and more reliable than the TC.
I explained how to do the TC as a secondary network in the posts here. Look down the bottom of the discussion.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4817218?tstart=30
If any of that doesn't make sense just post again here..
You can also do it with wireless if you accept using a USB wireless stick plugged into the Mac.. then you have two wireless clients and can connect simultaneously to two different networks.. using the same principles as above that you remove the gateway and dns problems that arise by manual settings.

Can I use my time capsule as a external hard drive as well

I want to use my time capsule as a external hard drive as well as a back up disk. Is that possible?

You Can!! But Should you??
Can and Should are different.
Here are the issues.
Store files on the TC.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/24380694#24380694
This is asked several times a day.. obviously people are struggling with their latest SSD being too small.
The TC is not suitable for network file server.. but many people having no choice press it into service as such.
It cannot be partitioned. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
Major issues.
1. No backup.. no way Time Machine can backup a network drive. No place to backup to.. So all your files will be at risk. And you will need to buy a third party like CCC to do backup.
2. The TC cannot be partitioned and mixing TM backups and data is not great.
3. The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no controls.
4. iPhoto in particular can easily corrupt its entire library with wireless networking causing a disconnection to one photo. Even if you do this;;; do not move your photo library... you have been warned!!
5. iTunes will constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is too slow to respond.. itunes on the computer will constantly spit out errors. Even in the midst of streaming the TC can spin down the disk due to caching.
6. Do not use any live files on the TC no matter what else you do.. if you edit files in whatever program the file must be on the local hard disk.
7. The only suitable location for most libraries is a computer. You can plug in an external hard disk.
Read pondini for some work arounds.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

Windows not recognizing my time capsle - I just purchased a new computer that runs windows 8 and it doesn't want to recognize the time capsule as an external hard drive (ie doesn't show up under my compter). I've downloaded airport utility...

I just purchased a new computer that runs windows 8 and it doesn't want to recognize the time capsule as an external hard drive (ie doesn't show up under my compter). I've downloaded and run airport utility, but it seems to have a hard time finding the time capsule...maybe one out of 10 times it will find it.
What's more, when I look under network infrastructure under the control panel, it shows my Broadcom ADSL centurylink Router...so I'm wondering if my modem/router combo is overriding the router function on my timecapsule and the time capsule is not being used as a router...
Any help much appreciated!

In this case the TC should be in bridge mode.
Win8 is still problematic. Try using ethernet instead of wireless. I think the drivers are poor still and it is well worth having a try via ethernet if you haven't already.
Otherwise you will need to wait for apple to release bonjour for windows 8 and airport utility.. which is not out yet.
Also make sure the windows is set to home, not work or public.. even turn off the firewall.
Open windows explorer and type the TC ip address into the address bar.. (none of which is perhaps the same.. I gave away windows at vista.. shudder)
\\TCIPadderss.

How do I use Time Capsule as an external hard drive?

How do I use Time Capsule as an external hard drive? I want to remove photos & music from my laptop and store them in Time Capsule only.

lyperez wrote:
How do I use Time Capsule as an external hard drive? I want to remove photos & music from my laptop and store them in Time Capsule only.
Apple has specific instructions on moving libraries.
eg itunes.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
You simply follow those instructions..
TC is a network drive.. nothing more.
To move individual files, just copy and paste to a new directory.. not inside a TM sparsebundle please.
BUT.. TC only worries me.. deeply.
It is relatively easy to corrupt a library when you copy to it.. library as a whole is then corrupted and will need to be restored from backup.. wops.. no backup. You are putting at risk all your files.. don't do it.. make sure you backup..
And here is the rub.. TC cannot back itself up.. TM cannot backup network drives.
And where are you going to backup.. to... an external drive on the computer.. in that case, that is where the library should be and the TC used as normal.. ie backup target for TM.
Please read Pondini on how to do it properly though.
Q3 http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

Will the USB port from the Time Capsule power an external hard drive?

I am interested in purchasing an external hard drive (Iomega 1TB Helium Portable or G-Technology 750GB G-DRIVE mobile)
to connect to my time capsule, expanding my wireless storage, but I want to know if the Time Capsule has a powered USB port or does the drive I purchase need to have its own power source? Also, Is there any compromise to using a drive that is USB powered, vs one that requires a power source?
Thanks!

Even if the hard drive that you choose has its own power supply, you usually need to use a powered USB hub with the Time Capsule.
Reason....the USB port on the Time Capsule is under powered. You should not really rely on this port to power anything except a single printer.

Hello, how would I go about using my time capsule as an external hard drive for my Mac book pro?

Anybody know if I can use my time capsule as an external hard drive for Mac book pro?

Just recognise the following.
Store files on the TC.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/24380694#24380694
This is asked several times a day.. obviously people are struggling with their latest SSD being too small.
The TC is not suitable for network file server.. but many people having no choice press it into service as such.
It cannot be partitioned. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
Major issues.
1. No backup.. no way Time Machine can backup a network drive. No place to backup to.. So all your files will be at risk. And you will need to buy a third party like CCC to do backup.
2. The TC cannot be partitioned and mixing TM backups and data is not great.
3. The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no controls.
4. iPhoto in particular can easily corrupt its entire library with wireless networking causing a disconnection to one photo. Even if you do this;;; do not move your photo library... you have been warned!!
5. iTunes will constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is too slow to respond.. itunes on the computer will constantly spit out errors. Even in the midst of streaming the TC can spin down the disk due to caching.
6. Do not use any live files on the TC no matter what else you do.. if you edit files in whatever program the file must be on the local hard disk.
7. The only suitable location for most libraries is a computer. You can plug in an external hard disk.
Read pondini for some work arounds.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

Accessing Time Capsule and linked external hard drive from other devices and copying to these drives

Hi
Please be gentle. I am not that technically able :-)
I have managed to set up my time capsule. Router working, external hard drive linked, time machine back ups working...
The last thing I am looking to do is to access files on my time capsule and also external hard drive (linked to it), from Mac, Iphones, Ipads, Apple TV, Windows laptops X2. Am I able to do that? Have read so many discussions but dont get the answer. Please be gentle :-)
Regards
Tommy

The last thing I am looking to do is to access files on my time capsule and also external hard drive (linked to it), from Mac
This should be automatic.. find the TC disk under shared in finder.. double click it and see under the data folder.. you can create new folders in there.
Note using the TC for data and TM backups is not the greatest of ideas.. please read pondini.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
The external drive is fine though..
Now it can have loads of issues if you run Mavericks.. so if you have trouble.. do not be surprised.. if you run Mavericks.. be surprised if it works without trouble.
Iphones, Ipads
iOS devices are not file based.. they are not intended to be used with a file device like TC and will neither backup to it nor open files from it.. of course what apple wants and what users want are different things so there are plenty of file apps to help you read and write files.
Filebrowser is the major one.
http://www.stratospherix.com/products/filebrowser/
You still cannot backup though.. iOS uses itunes to backup or icloud.
Apple TV
There is nothing you can do with AppleTV.. it is not a file device at all.. it is not even a media player.. it is a streamer. (Early model Gen1 and Gen2 can be jailbreak.. so they do actually have media player ability) Gen3 is tied to its mother's (iTunes) skirts with steel cables.. no JB.. no use really. If you want to play movies from a TC buy a WD Live TV.. it is a player.. !!
Windows laptops X2
You can access the TC from windows..
1. Make sure the TC naming complies with windows networking.. to put that simply.. all names should be short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. Apple wizard will recommend a name for the TC, like
Fred Blog's Airport Time Capsule.. this is wrong on so many levels.
It will be a total pain on windows.. use FBATC or TC or anything you like.. as long as it follows the rules..
Short 2-20 characters.. less than 10 is better.
No spaces.
Pure alphanumeric.
All names must comply.. TC name and wireless name/s
2. Load the airport utility for windows into the computer.. you can download for up to win7.. apple haven't bothered with windows since then and are pretty out of date. The win7 utility will load on win8 with the usual voodoo and astrological help.
3. Windows must be set to home for location.. if you cannot open a command window and ping the TC by ip and name, then pull down the firewalls.
4. In windows explorer type into the address bar directly.
\\TCname or \\TCIPaddress (using, of course, the real name or real IP).

Time capsule vs network accessible storage drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for