Backup Time Capsule to External Drive

I have AirPort utility 6.1, and am not able to backup the contents of my Time Capsule to an external HD plugged into the USB port on the Time Capsule. The airport utility recognizes the external drive but I cannot back up the Time Capsule to the drive. Is this feature no longer available? If the feature is available, how do I access it?

Why would Apple remove that feature?
As you know, we are all users here, just like you....and cannot answer for decisions made by Apple.
If you want the feature back in AirPort Utility 6.x, you might want to let Apple know.
Apple - Time Capsule - Feedback

Similar Messages

Time Capsule and external drive

Quick question: can I use Time Capsule to backup data automatically on an external hard drive?
I've got a Mac Mini set up as a media server in the living room. The 200 or 300 gigs of media files (music, movies, etc.) are on an external hard drive already, but aren't backed up to anything. I was considering using Time Capsule as that would solve two problems (backing up my primary "work" computer and the Mini). But what I'm wondering is, would Time Capsule only back up the Mini's internal hard drive, or would it grab the external hard drive hooked up to the Mini, too? Or would I have to back up it manually to TC?
Thanks!

Interesting. Reading that thread, though, I'm not sure he's actually using Time Machine on Time Capsule to backup his music-dedicated external drive automatically. Maybe I'm just reading him wrong, but it looks like he's trying to do exactly what I want to do but can't. Maybe I'm wrong. But it seems like what he's saying is that Tim Capsule/TM is backing up his Mac Pro's internal drive, but not the external one.

Back up from Time capsule to External Drive

I want to move all of my media from my hard drive on one macbook to my time capsule. i currently use the time capsule with time machine to back up my hard drive. but, i have multiple computers. at home, i have a macbook and a macbook air. at work, i have an imac. i'd like to keep my photos, videos and music on the time capsule's hard drive, so i can access it from each computer. i have the time capsule registered with mobileme, so i can see the contents of it from each computer. presumably, then, if i put the media on that disk, i can access it from each location.
but, now i want to have a back up of all of that media. i have an external hard drive i can plug into the time capsule. my question is this: is there a way to use the time capsule as i have described and then have the time capsule's contents backed up to the external hard drive? if not, is there a way to put everything on the external hard drive, connected to the time capsule, access the content from all three computers, and then have the external harddrive back up to the time capsule?
any help would be really appreciated!

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
No, Time Machine cannot back-up any network drive.
Your options are limited. See #Q6 in the Using TIME MACHINE with a TIME CAPSULE *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Time Capsule and External Drive Options

I wanted to inquire if I can use my Time Capsule as an external drive. Reading some of the questions submitted I am still a little unclear. Here is my issue, I have a macbook pro and I am reaching my maximum capacity on my hard drive space. Most of the data is iMovie, Photos, and iTunes. Now I do not need all this data all the time, it just sits on my macbook pro as if it is being stored. I would like to move this to a external drive and I assumed the Time Capsule functions as a external drive. But reading all the posts in the communities it seems like that the Time Capsule can hold some space as an external drive but then if the TC starts to reach its maximum capacity it would delete the stored data. I am interested in doing the following, please guide me if this is possible:
1) The videos/music/pictures that I do not need anymore but would like to archive it, can I store it on the Time Capsule and treat it like an external drive?
2) I got a 2TB TC which I know only 250GB space would be utilized maximum by my MacBook Pro and the remaining space would be utilized for nothing. Unless for instance my Macbook backs up everyday to the TC and it stores 250GB each day then it would reach its maximum capacity on the TC really quickly and will delete the latest version of back up automatically. Is that true? Or does the TC only creates another back up of the changes found. I am just trying to figure out if I can somehow utilize the space on the TC for storage especially if I know that I probably wont have enough data for 2TB.
3) What are my options if I want to store the data and want to retrieve it at my disposal. I just want to make more space on my MacBook Pro.
4) What is the return policy on the TC if opened?
Thank you

But reading all the posts in the communities it seems like that the Time Capsule can hold some space as an external drive but then if the TC starts to reach its maximum capacity it would delete the stored data.
When space is tight on the drive, Time Machine will automatically start to delete the oldest Time Machine backups to make room for newer backups.
But, Time Machine will leave any regular files or folders that you might have stored on the drive untouched. Those files will never be deleted unless you delete them yourself.
1) The videos/music/pictures that I do not need anymore but would like to archive it, can I store it on the Time Capsule and treat it like an external drive?
If you move any files from your Mac, then the only copy of those files that you will have will be on the Time Capsule drive. You have no backups for these files, so you might want to think about this a bit. If your attitude is such that if the files are lost due to a Time Capsule drive problem, and it is of no great concern, that's one thing.
If losing thes files would cause you grief, you would want to think about having a backup plan in place for the "original" files that you move to the Time Capsule drive. For some reason, users seem to forget that if they move a file from their Mac to another drive, they only have one copy of that file....unless they create backups manually.
Unless for instance my Macbook backs up everyday to the TC and it stores 250GB each day then it would reach its maximum capacity on the TC really quickly and will delete the latest version of back up automatically. Is that true?
Sounds like you are confused about how Time Machine works. The Time Machine application will back up everything on your Mac on the first backup. After that, it only backups up any changes that you make to the Mac.
If you do not anticipate making a a lot of changes or adding a lot of new data, your backups will remain very small. If on the other hand you regularly add a number of new large images from your camera, or new movies, Time Machine will be backing up each new set of images or movies that you add.
3) What are my options if I want to store the data and want to retrieve it at my disposal. I just want to make more space on my MacBook Pro.
You can move files from your Mac to the Time Capsule if you want to, as long as you remember that when you do this, you are moving the "original" files to the Time Capsule disk. You will have no backups in the evernt of a problem with the Time Capsule.
It sounds a bit harsh....but the truth remains that all drives will fail. If your Time Capsule fails , you lose the Time Machine backups, but you still have the "original" files on your Mac.
If you move an "original" file off of your Mac to the Time Capsule and the Time Capsule fails....you have no backups of these files.
The whole idea about a good backup plan is that you have "originals" on one drive and "backups" on another.....in case one drive fails, you still have a copy of everything. Make sense?
4) What is the return policy on the TC if opened?
Best to ask the store that you buy from about their return policies in advance. We can't speak for any stores, or for Apple here.

Time Capsule and External Drives

I just converted from Dell to Mac with purchase of a MacBook Pro. At the advice of two salespeople in my local Apple Store, I bought a Time Capsule 1TB for use as a wireless base station for my apartment and to back up my laptop and my two external hard drives, which have 400 GB and 250 GB of video files.
I just bought and hooked up the computer last night and this am. I am using the TC as my wireless base station without problem. I have attached the two drives to the TC with a USB hub, and I can access files on those external drives wirelessly throughout my apartment.
I now want to back up my files onto the TC. Since the MacBook Pro is new, I have almost nothing to back up from the laptop. But I want t do be able to backup the stuff on the external drives to the TC.
How do I do that? I cannot seem to find the answer anywhere. For that matter, I cannot even seem to move a file from one of the external drives to the TC. I can only move them to the Documents folder.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Of course you can back up your external drives, providing that they are formatted in HFS+ (it is also known as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Just connect the external drives to your Mac, go to System Preferences -> Time Machine -> Options, and remove them from the excluded items list. You may have to press the padlock at the bottom left part of the Time Machine window in order to do that.

HT201250 How can i use Time Capsule as External Drive

Hey Guys,
I just have query about time capsual , How can i use time capsule as my external drive as i have 2TB with me i can take the Backup as well i can put all my pic and music in time Machine if i can use as External HD ! Can some one Please help me in this will be highly appreceate.
Thanks
Monal Thakkar
Amrapali Group

You need to get an external HD for the "overflow" of stuff that won't fit on your Mac.
Format it for a Mac (see #1 in Using Disk Utility), even if it says it's compatible.
Then copy what you want to the external HD. Most things you can just drag and drop; but for iTunes and iPhotos see: Moving your iTunes Music folder and Moving your iPhoto '11 Library.
Then let your Time Capsule back up both your Mac and the external HD. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for info and details.

Can I use Time Capsule as external drive with a Time Capsule?

I have a Time Capsule set up with AirPort and it works well for backups. Can I buy a second Time Capsule and plug it into this TC with ethernet and use it as an external drive?

jshafer wrote:
So, you are recommending using a USB drive into the TC or using an NAS plugged into the ethernet port...is that correct?
Yes, correct. USB drive is not fast but it is still mostly going to be faster than wireless.. it is of course slower than ethernet.. so what you are using on your clients dictates what is the rate determining step of the network.
Am I correct in thinking that an NAS using ethernet connection would be faster than USB?
Does a true NAS have its own internal backup system?
Yes, to both.. but remembering the client has to be able to make use of it. ie is also ethernet.
True NAS is faster than TC as they use RAID systems.. more reliable.. you can replace disks in the raid.. TC is sealed.. and all decent NAS will be able to back themselves up to a USB drive.. on incremental basis.. which is major shortcoming when people try and use the TC in this role.

Time Capsule with External Drive

I really want to buy a Time Capsule since we have a few Macs in our house now. However, we already use a Hitachi external drive as our Time Machine back up. Can I connect it to Time Capsule so...
1. I can access the back up files wirelessly just like it is a part of Time Capsule.
2. Add more space to Time Capsule.
One more question. What is the make of the hard disc drive inside Time Capsule? Is it Seagate? Hitachi? Or else?
Thank you!!

If you plug the existing external drive into the TC, you may not be able to access the existing backups.. they could be copied to the internal TC drive, and then copied back.. so all kinds of things are possible but just a warning .. the remote network backup is dealt with differently to local hdd backup.
It will be accessible via wireless plugged into the TC.. it will exist as separate space.. not more space on the internal disk.. ie not JBOD.. it will be two separate drives.
The Disk in the TC is generally WD but at the moment supply is so short I am not sure.. Apple have used samsung, seagate and hitachi drives.. so it depends on flavour of the month I suspect. Price and availability.
You might find the review interesting.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4
Note his internal drive speeds seem high.. and the USB drive speed attached to the TC is really low.. ie speed over wireless will be fine.. because wireless is limiting factor.. over gigabit the internal drive is much much faster than the USB.. and even copying to the USB locally is about twice the speed as over network using gigabit.

Using Time Capsule as External Drive for iTunes Music Folder in iTunes 9

First, prior to upgrading to Snow Leopard and iTunes 9, I had my 210 GB of music on a 1TB Time Capsule which I accessed wirelessly through my Macbook Black and I set my path to the "iTunes Music (External) Folder" I created on the Time Capsule as the default path for iTunes to access the iTunes Music (External) Folder. My iTunes Library and Album Art reside on the Macbook hard drive. Unless I opened iTunes when the Macbook was disconnected from the Time Capsule (e.g., not at home), it always remembered the drive path the next time it was opened and would play music fine. If I had to reset the drive path, iTunes would remember it (again, unless I was disconnected from my Time Capsule). Now, under iTunes 9.0.1 and Snow Leopard, iTunes always defaults back to the iTunes Media Folder on the Macbook each time I open iTunes even if I set the path to the Time Capsule. The TC is also used as my airport connection to the cable modem and Home Sharing is enabled. Oddly, iTunes seems to play music just fine even though the drive path to the iTunes Music (External) Folder is not being utilized, which it would not do under the old version of iTunes. A screenshot is below. Anyone know what is going on here?
/Users/seanrichardson/Desktop/Screenshot_1.png

Make sure the Time Capsule is ready and mounted before launching iTunes.
You can add it (the Time Capsule) to your Login items in System prefs -> Accounts.

Migrating to a new iMac, Time Capsule and external drive involved.

The family has gotten a lot of use out of the good old 2.16 iMac Core 2 Duo but it was time to upgrade. So now we have a 27” 3.2 iMac, 2x 4Gb, 1Tb of storage to migrate to.
The mess is this...
There are 4 users on the old iMac.
The old iMac is full to the brim, no room left on the HDD.
Some time ago I hooked it up to a WD 500GB external drive and moved each users music to the WD. In addition I moved the iPhoto libraries to the WD too.
Now it’s time to migrate and I’m not sure where to start. I do know where I want to end up though.
I want to move all the information that is spread across the old iMac HDD and the WD external drive to the new iMac...consolidate it back. To back things up I have a new 3Tb Time Capsule which will also wirelessly back up a Macbook Pro and a Macbook Air. For additional back up I also have a 2Tb G Tech external drive.
My thoughts are these.
Use the G Tech as a temporary bridge. Partition the drive, and back up the iMac to one side and the WD external to the other.
Then migrate the old iMac to the new iMac.
Then from the G Tech move the iPhoto libraries and the iTunes to the new iMac.
Questions I have:
There is a back up of the old iMac on the WD external that may have important information not stored on the old iMac internal drive. Is there a way to merge the files and keep the newest information and dump the redundant?
How do I ensure that my iPhoto libraries don’t get messed up? It seems that when even installing updates that now and then some thumbnails disappear.
How do I partition the Time Capsule for multiple machines?
What is the best use for the G Tech? Storage of photos and music or redundant back up of the Time Capsule?
I’m sure my post will generate as many questions as answers so I’ll stop here and see what shakes out. Thanks in advance for the input and responses.
Stuart

I'm ready to use Setup Assistant now but connectivity may be an issue. Pondini's recommends Firewire. The issue is I don't have a FW400-FW800 cable. USB is all I have that is common to all my devices. Is that even a consideration? Ethernet is an option between the two iMacs but Pondini seems to elude to Migration Assitant over Setup Assistant when using that connection. Am I confused on that issue?
Sources options
2006 iMac                         G-Tech
USB 2.0                            eSATA
Firewire 400                       Firewire 800
Ethernet                            USB 2.0
Destination
2013 iMac
USB 3.0 (2.0 compatible)
Thunderbolt
Ethernet

Time Capsule as external drive

I bought the 3TB Time Capsule and it is setuwith file saring enabled but when I drag the files I want to add over in finder it say they cannot be added because the Time Capsule cannot be modified? Any help?

So you mounted the disk in finder??
You created a new directory for the files? How did that go?
Do not add files the root directory of the TC.. make sure you create a new directory. When you make the directory you should have permissions to add files to it.
If not turn on guest account to read and write in the airport utility.
You do know, there is no backup on the TC.. and no way TM can back up files you copy over there.
See http://pondini.org/TM/TCQ3.html
Using TC for data.. if you intend to mix in TM.
Go back to the home page and look at FAQ and Troubleshooting for lots of info about how to use TM and TC correctly.

While trying to setup a time capsule backup to my MyBookLive external drive, I got the following error message: The network backup disk does not support the required AFP features. What's up with this?

While trying to setup a time capsule backup to my MyBookLive external drive, I got the following error message: The network backup disk does not support the required AFP features. What's up with this?

This means that your NAS does not support the required encryption. Update your NAS to the latest firmware or ditch it and buy a Time Capsule (they are the most reliable when using TM).

How to backup MacBook Pro without AirPort Time Capsule or External hard drive

How to backup MacBook Pro without AirPort Time Capsule or External hard drive

This is crude but if you need a work around, just plug the USB drive directly into the iMac.. copy the files to it.. then plug it into the TC.
You also do not need to use the TC as an intermediary between your iMac and MBP.. just turn on sharing in the computer.. so you can directly copy files from one to the other.. Macs have public access directory preconfigured for each user account.
As far as mounting the TC..
In finder use Go, Connect to server.. and type.
AFP://TCname or TCipaddress
Where TCname is the actual name of the TC.. I strongly recommend you follow SMB network rules.. ie if your TC has a name like
Fred Blog's Time Capsule 2445566.
It is too long.. it has spaces and it has non-alphanumeric characters.
Shorten it to FredTC
No spaces no characters that are NOT alphanumeric.
TCIPaddress is simply the standard IP.
You can also use CIFS://TCname which according to the article forces the connection back to SMB1 rather than SMB2 which as usual is broken.
But I would definitely use AFP if possible. I cannot understand the decision to move to SMB as standard.

Is there way to store my movies on my Time Capsule instead of laptop drive? I will then run an external drive to backup Time Capsule.

Is there way to store and run my iMovies on my Time Capsule instead of laptop drive? I will then run an external drive to backup Time Capsule as my backup. I want to dothis because my hard drive is full and I still have many movies to import form camcorder.

I do not know about iMovie, but the experts in the iPhoto and Aperture support areas strongly advise against trying to install your "working" image library on the Time Capsule.
You might want to ask about this in the iMovie support area.
iMovie for Mac
It would be much easier and much better if you use the external drive to connect to your Mac via USB or FireWire and then store the movies there.
Then, Time Machine will back up both your Mac and the external hard drive automatically once you tell it to do so.

How do I move time machine backup on filled time capsule to external disk

TIme machine backups from imac and mbp are currently on 1TB time capsule running out of space.
I want to split the time capsule and move just the imac backups to a new external drive which I want to share with a new macbook air.
The new external drive has been set up with mac OS extended with a GUID partition.
THe instructions on MAC 101: time machine Mac OS X v10.6: How to transfer your backups from your current hard drive to a new hard drive tell me to drag "backups.backupdb" to a new drive but I can't find it. I have just upgraded to Lion thinking I would find it now but it is still not there. Is this becaue I have both imac and mbp backups on the TIme capsule? Here is a screen image of my DATA folder. Desktop seems to be empty. A search for "backups" finds nothing.
EVen if I found backups.backupdb I am not sure whether I should have the external drive connected to the time capsule or the imac to move this file. It will be kept as an external drive connected to the time capsule so I can use it for both the imac and the macbook air.
And I am not sure whether I first need to set up the new drive as the time machine backup drive on the new macbook air or do it after I move the file.
Thanks for any help you can give me.

oops, I just found how to find backups.backupdb by myself, or at least with help from:
Pondini's excellent resource.....Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions
http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html
See #18.
I will come back to this forum and update after I try what I have learned from the fantastic Pondini.

Backup Time Capsule to External Drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for