Adding a Second Time Capsule to a Network

I have made several multi-base station networks in the past, from graphite, through snow, express, extreme and now have a Time Capsule 1TB and an Express. The Express is there simply to provide a second networked USB printer. My current issue is with NAS; I have two Buffalo LinkStations and their attached USB drives, and I tried out adding a LaCie Wireless Space (being cheaper than another LinkStation), which has been something of a disaster. It works by itself but doesn't play well with others. So I'm going to add a 2TB Time Capsule to 'join an existing network' as the setup assistant likes to put it. Two questions:
1. I assume I may use the USB port on the second Time Capsule to reconnect the printer that currently sits on the Express? This gets me one step closer to a network running on 802.11n, as the Express is an older b/g model. Only my wife's Chumby will be holding us back at that point.
2. The ethernet ports on Time Capsule #1 are full: one Brother laser MFC, and the two LinkStation NAS drives. May I expect the ethernet ports on Time Capsule #2 to function, um, transparently? If I plug in another ethernet printer or NAS will it be visible to Bonjour and the Finder respectively? I ask as I have tried using an ethernet hub plugged into a port on Time Capsule #1 and no printer plugged into the hub is seen by Bonjour.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Chris

1. I assume I may use the USB port on the second Time Capsule to reconnect the printer that currently sits on the Express?
Yes, you will be able connect a compatible printer to the USB port on the Time Capsule in either the "join" or "extend" configuration.
May I expect the ethernet ports on Time Capsule #2 to function, um, transparently?
No, if the Time Capsule is configured to "join" a wireless network because it performs no routing functions in this type of configuration. The Ethernet ports are not enabled.
Yes, if you configure the Time Capsule to "extend a wireless network". The Ethernet ports are enabled in this type of setup.
I think you will have an easier time of it if you use Manual Setup in AirPort Utility rather than the guided setup.
Everything above assumes that TC #2 is picking up the wireless signal from TC#1 and TC#1 has been configured to "Allow this network to be extended".

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Adding a second time capsule?

I've reviewed some of he discussion on adding a second Time Machine but two issues arise. The information relates to older Time Machine software and leads to confusion.
I have an Airport Extreme with S/W version 7.6.4 and would like to add a newer Airport Extreme to back up the older one. Reading the suggestions on adding a new TC didn't cover the newer Time Machines and I could find Apple's instructions for doing it.
Somewhere I read that the new TC could be connected to the old TC but forgot the port setup. Also, newer instructions for adding a second TC so both the old and the new acquire the same data could not be found.
Hope This question is clear. Is there help on this?

The network setup is fairly trivial.
Plug TC2 into TC1. (the hardware is Time Capsule.. TC as per your title.. or is it Airport Extreme as per your question..?? Time Machine is software on your computer.. and totally unrelated to the hardware.)
Makes no difference which way around you do it. Plug WAN of the 2nd device into LAN of the 1st device. And setup the 2nd device in bridge.. wireless is up to you.. off or on?? Roaming or not??
As far as backup is concerned.. you need to be clear in the question. And sorry it is a bit mixed up now.
But I can tell you what you cannot do.
You cannot backup to both units at once. You can however setup Time Machine in the computer to backup sequentially to both.
See Q34 http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
The TC itself cannot backup to another TC.
(extreme with hard disk amounts to the same thing.. with caveats)
You can backup one TC to another manually via a computer.. it is slow and I do not recommend it.. if a fault creeps into backup1, you are simply copying said fault to backup2.. AND it is poor for another reason.. Time Machine cannot do it.. you will need another utility eg Carbon Copy Cloner.. and even then you will probably end up backing up a huge amount of data every time.. since TM works so strangely you cannot just backup differences.

Time capsule as a network client

I previously had my time capsule (A1409) hard wired to an ethernet cable on my second floor with a printer attached to it.
I now have a new Bell Fibe wireless modem suppling my TVs with a wireless signal from the main floor.
Can I set up my time capsule as a network client and leave it up on the second floor with the printer? Does does the T.C. need to be hard wired with an ethernet cable to work? I would like to avoid moving the printer and capsule down to the main floor.

It can be done but is highly not recommended.. The reason is you will actually cause the TC to become not just a network client.. but a totally dumb one.. No WAP function, no ethernet function. So backups to the hard disk will be slow as molasses in winter.
You may as buy a cheap as chips wireless print share device.. or cheap old extreme or express.. why waste a TC to do the work of a $10 device.
Setup TC to join wireless network.
How do I setup my time capsule with wireless internet?
The operation of the airport utility for this setup is highly unreliable.. it works once out of 5 goes.

How do i use my time capsule as a network to store files, etc.?

How do i use my time capsule as a network to store files, etc.?

There is no difference in setup..
Only trouble.. be warned this is quite problematic. With Mavericks even more so.
See Q3 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Take particular note. The TC is not a NAS or file server.. it can be pressed into use as one.. but will suffer..
1. Slow spin up of the disk and fast spin down. Causing streaming and library issues with itunes.
2. iphoto is easily corrupted.. don't move it to a network drive at all.
3. no backup.. the TC cannot back itself up.. it is designed as a backup target for Time Machine. but Time Machine cannot backup network drives.. and nor did apple build in a backup.. it was never needed. After all it is a backup.. not a file store.
4. you cannot partition it. You will have issues with TM if you do store both data and TM backups on it.
5. You can use USB drive plugged into the TC, and experience a new definition of pain and suffering.. well slow file transfer anyway.
Good luck.

I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

Most users should use the Time Capsule for backups. This assumes that "original" copies of your data are on the computer and backups of this data are stored on the Time Capsule.
If either the Time Capsule or the hard drive on your computer fails, there are at least copies of your important data on the other drive.
If you are asking if you can place "original" files on the Time Capsule, do you have a plan to backup those files?
If the Time Capsule drive has a problem....and your only copy of your important data is on the Time Capsule....you will lose everything.
If you are asking if this is OK, the answer for most folks would be "no".
Can you clarify if this is what you are asking?

I want to use my airport time capsule as a network attached storage solution, is this possible or do I need to connect a separate hard drive?

I want to use my airport time capsule as a network attached storage solution, is this possible or do I need to connect it to a separate hard drive?

The Time Capsule is by default a network hard drive, but it has no "brains" of it's own. So, it cannot function as a stand alone media server if that is what you are asking.
If you are also using the Time Capsule hard drive for Time Machine backups of your Mac(s), then there may be struggle for available space on the drive since it is not possible to partition the Time Capsule drive in a traditional manner.
If space is getting tight on the Time Capsule, it might be a good idea to connect a drive to the USB port on the Time Capsule and use that drive for your network storage needs.

Using external hard drive on a Time Capsule as a network drive for PCs.

I own a Macbook Air and am using a 2TB Time Capsule router. I am currently using for automatic backups for my Macbook Air.
I also own 2 PC laptops for the rest of the family. Would it be possible to use an external hard drive connected to the USB port of the Time Capsule as a network drive for the PCs? I want to share files between the two PCs.
Thanks

Yes, you can do that.. although it is not necessarily as straight forward as you might think it should be.
1. The TC has to be running SMB compatible names. short, no spaces, pure alphanumeric.
2. The disk must be formatted to file system the TC can read. HFS+ or Fat32.. but the HFS+ is vastly superior.. the actual format is irrelevant from sharing point of view as it is still shared via SMB to the network.
3. It is slow.. half the speed of the same drive plugged into your computer.. although if the connection is over wireless that is probably irrelevant.
4. You might need a powered hub to get the drive to work.. Apple underpower the USB.. and even a powered disk still won't work.
5. There are some issues with the TC getting the USB drive to work.. too many factors to say you will have issues or not.. but be aware this is not as straight forward as it could be. or should be.
6. If you want to share files.. you can always share them directly.. pc to pc or pc to mac.. there is no necessity to do it via a network store.. You can also use the 2TB internal drive.. create a disk image and you can then store you data in that. Internal drive is much more reliable and faster.
See http://pondini.org/TM/TCQ3.html

Time Machine backup to Time Capsule clobbers wireless network

Dear All,
When TimeMachine starts a backup to my new Time Capsule, the wireless network gets clobbered. Other computers on the network's throughput to external sites goes to basically zero (slow ping times, dropped packets- basically unusable.) Is this the expected behavior?
The configuration I have for my home network is
cable modem -> time capsule serving wireless network -> "g" network with 2-3 laptops (macbook pro and dell windows laptops.) The dells can't do anything when Time Machine runs, and since it runs hourly it is a bit irritating. I'm considering getting another Mac and then the downtime of my network would increase even more....
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Peter

My old G5 has 802.11b, and back ups to TC are SLOW. But then the "wire speed" of g is 11M bits/s or ~1 MB/s, but in the real world if you got 100KB/s that's probably good. 100KB/s is only 6 MB/min or .36 GB/hr.
So 2GB/.36GB which is 5.6 hrs.
Or to put it another way that's about 3 GB/hr at very best.
And that's ignoring stuff like compression!
in short: not usable with 802.11g
===
On my Mac Pro with 802.11n (54 Mbs) I get about 8x that because "n" is about 5x faster wire speed and seems to have better "software".
e.g. I get about about 25 GB/hr on my ".11n" system
Still way slow but at least useable.
===
Moral of the story don't bother which TC if you don't have "n"

My Mac Mini (Mid 2011) doesn't connect to Time Capsule in 5GHz Network. This WiFi Network don't appear in the WiFi list. What's Wrong?

My Mac Mini (Mid 2011) doesn't connect to Time Capsule in 5GHz Network. This WiFi Network don't appear in the WiFi list. What's Wrong?

Oh yes, & 5 GHz doesn't do walls very well at all.
GHz and Network Range
The higher the frequency of a wireless signal, the shorter its range. Thus, 2.4 GHz networks cover a substantially larger range than 5 GHz wireless networks. In particular, the higher frequency wireless signals of 5 GHz networks do not penetrate solid objects nearly as well as do 2.4 GHz signals, limiting their reach inside homes.
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/wirelessfaqs/f/5ghz-gear.htm

I installed a new router from my ISP provider and now I can't find my Time Capsule or "Guest" network. What do I need to do to correct this problem?

I installed a new (and supposedly better & stronger) router from my ISP provider (Verizon) and now I can't find my Time Capsule or "Guest" network.
My Mac is not backing up because it can't find my Time Capsule network & my "Guest" network has also disappeared.
What do I need to do to correct this problem?

You must reset the TC to factory and start over. The TC simply remembers too much from the previous setup to work in the new one.
If your new router is going to take the router role, then the TC will have to be bridged and you will lose your Guest wireless.. the way around this is to use the Verizon router as your guest wireless and the TC as your main wireless.
The Factory Reset Gen1-4.
Unplug your TC. Hold in reset. and power the TC back on.. without releasing reset for about 10sec. When the status light flashes rapidly; release it.
Be Gentle! Feel the switch click on. It has a positive feel.. add no more pressure after that.
TC will reboot after a couple of minutes with default factory settings and will wipe out previous configurations.
No files are deleted on the hard disk.. No reset of the TC deletes files.. to do that you use erase from the airport utility.
Factory reset Gen 5
Hold in reset for about 5sec until the status light flashes quickly.
If your AirPort Time Capsule still doesn’t respond, do a similar reset to the Gen1-4.
Unplug your AirPort Time Capsule .. hold in reset and power the TC back on.. without releasing the reset.. wait until status led flashes rapidly.

Can I use time capsule as a network drive?

I want to use the HD in my time capsule as a network drive in addition to backing up my macbook pro and imac desktop. I also have a couple of PCs anda yamaha tuner/amp on the network. Can this be done?

Click here and follow the instructions.
(66659)

I can't find my time capsule or primary network. How can I recover it and connect to it again?

I can't find my time capsule or primary network (only have access to my guest network)..it's simply not showing in Airport Extreme... I don't want to reset time capsule because I already have important data there.

You must reset the TC to factory and start over. The TC simply remembers too much from the previous setup to work in the new one.
If your new router is going to take the router role, then the TC will have to be bridged and you will lose your Guest wireless.. the way around this is to use the Verizon router as your guest wireless and the TC as your main wireless.
The Factory Reset Gen1-4.
Unplug your TC. Hold in reset. and power the TC back on.. without releasing reset for about 10sec. When the status light flashes rapidly; release it.
Be Gentle! Feel the switch click on. It has a positive feel.. add no more pressure after that.
TC will reboot after a couple of minutes with default factory settings and will wipe out previous configurations.
No files are deleted on the hard disk.. No reset of the TC deletes files.. to do that you use erase from the airport utility.
Factory reset Gen 5
Hold in reset for about 5sec until the status light flashes quickly.
If your AirPort Time Capsule still doesn’t respond, do a similar reset to the Gen1-4.
Unplug your AirPort Time Capsule .. hold in reset and power the TC back on.. without releasing the reset.. wait until status led flashes rapidly.

Does an Airport Express require a wired connection to boost a Wi-Fi signal if I already have a wired Airport Time Capsule on the Network?

I want to boost the Wi-Fi signal around my house. I have a 3TB Airport Time Capsule connected to my Virgin Media modem via a WLAN connection but wonder if an Airport Express device can be used at a remote location purely wirelessly - apart from a power connection obviously?

Does AirPort Express require a wired connection.......if I already have a wired AirPort Time Capsule on the Network?
No, but you will have much better network performance if you do wire the AirPort Express.
The reason for this is that when you try to extend a network using wireless, you will typically lose about a half of the potential speed capability on the network.
There is no network speed loss when you wire the Express.
Here is what Apple's support document says about this:
In the case of a wirelessly extended network, throughput may be reduced to less than 60 percent of that of a single device. The general rule is to keep the Wi-Fi network as simple as possible. You can accomplish this by using the minimum number of Wi-Fi base stations required to service the physical network area and by using Ethernet wherever possible.
Extending the range of your Wi-Fi network by connecting Wi-Fi base stations together using Ethernet is always the best option, and will provide the best throughput

Time Capsule & Airport Express Network Security

I am using my Time Capsule to set up my home wireless network and have extended the network using an Airport Express. Does WPA have to be set on both units (as I have done) or just the Time Capsule for the network to be secure? Since setting up WPA my iPod Touch has had more difficulty connecting and network range seems to have shrunk!

Yes since the AirPort Express (AX) is extending the network it must have the same wireless encryption enabled as the Time Capsule.

Add a 4th génération time capsule to existing network

I have a regular router at home (in the basement) i would like to add a time capsule to my network at the 1st floor of my house to have more wifi power at the 2nd floor or outside an be able to configure time machine for my macbook air... Can I have both router on my network?

The Time Capsule can be installed virtually anywhere you want at your house if you connect an Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on your basement router to the WAN "O" port of the Time Capsule.
Then configure the Time Capsule to create a wireless network using the same wireless network name, same security settings and same password as the basement router.
Finally, as the last step, make sure that the Time Capsule has been configured to operate in Bridge Mode to allow it to function correctly on the network.

Adding a Second Time Capsule to a Network

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