Can I use Time Capsule as a Home Media Hard Drive?

I have been trying to export my itunes library to time capsule without sucess...

You can use your Time Capsule ... either its internal or an attached USB HDD as the iTunes Media folder host. You can also place the iTunes Library on the Time Capsule as well.
Please check out the following TUAW article on "How To: Use your iTunes Library over AirPort Disk." Althought it is not exactly the same, it is similar and should get you started.

Similar Messages

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can I use time capsule as a home server?

Running out of hard drive space on my Mac Book. Wondered if I could dump all my movies and pictures onto the time capsule and still access them when I wanted at home.
Thanks
Eric

I happen to have an old Macbook and was contemplating hooking it via ethernet cable to the time capsule, hooking an ext HD via Firewire to the old Macbook and then using home sharing to stream to Apple TV and my current Macbook.
Is there any advantage to this? Honestly I feel like I am just trying to find a use for a still usable old Macbook when what you have described seems easy enough.
I would plug the old Macbook straight into the TV with a suitable video adapter cable.. the Macbook will have better video than the ATV, and better sound.. you can use it as a Media computer and use it as store for all you media and as a media centre..
Unless you want to sell it off, that seems as good a use as any.. and it should be plenty powerful enough for that job.

How can I use my time capsule with Ethernet cable? How is it also possible to use time capsule as a normal external hard drive?

My problem is that I don't know how to use my Time Capsule with Ethernet Cable, as when I use wireless it is really slow.

Make sure that there is an Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on your modem/wireless router to the WAN port on the Time Capsule
Click on the Wireless tab at the top of the page
Change the setting for Wireless Mode to Off (I assume that you do not want the Time Capsule to provide a wireless network since you already have a wireless network)
Next, click the Internet icon at the top of the screen, then click the Internet Connection tab
Connect Using = Ethernet
Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode)
Click the Update button at the bottom and wait 30 seconds for the Time Capsule to restart and display a green light
Then, you must power off your entire network...all devices....in any order that you want
Wait a minute
Start your modem/router first and let it run a minute
Start the Time Capsule and let it run a minute
Keep starting devices one at a time until everything is powered up
If you are using Time Machine for backups, you will need to reset the connection because you have changed the way in which the Time Capsule connects to your network
Open System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Open Time Machine
Click Select Disk
Click the Time Capsule to highlight it
Click Use for Backup or, it might be Use Disk
Now you can connect your Mac using an Ethernet cable to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule to back up using Ethernet. Be sure to turn off the wireless on your Mac before you start the backup.
If you want to backup using wireless, disconnect the Ethernet cable from the Mac to the Time Capsule and turn on the wireless and connect to your wireless network. Your computer will now backup using wireless.

Can I use Time Capsule as just a regular had drive?

I have an older tme capsule and I'd like to use it as just a 1-tb extenal hard drive with my Mac Pro. I messed around with the Time Capsule configuration and finally have a green light, yay! BUT, I was hoping it would show up on my desktop like the other drives.
The Time Capsule:
Is connected directly to my Mac Pro via a cat 5 cable.
It is showing a solid green light.
I have wifi turned off.
I have a time machine set up with a western digital 2TB external drive.
I see it show up in my finder side bar as a shared device.
When I right click it the TC icon in the side menu and select open, the window shpw "not connected" at the top. (Even thought the light is green)
Thank you for any thoughts on this.
Will

You can use it as a regular drive but it will always be a shared network volume.
To access it in finder when you select the drive for the first time you will need to attach to it. Click on the connect as button in the upper right hand corner of the finder window and enter the password you set for the drive.
If you don;t remember the password or never set one open Airport Utility and connect to the Time Capsule. Select the Disks tab and select the way you want to attach to the drive. Then go back to the Finder and connect to the drive.
regards

Can I use Time Machine wirelessly to an external hard drive other than Time Capsule?

Since I already have a wireless router, I don't want to get Time Capsule. And since this is a laptop, I would prefer the external device *not* being physically connected to my MacBook Pro. Any suggestions on external hard drives and methods to accomplish this would be appreciated.
Chris

You can, in some cases.
If you have a desktop Mac, you can back up to a shared drive connected to it, over your network. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #22 for setup instructions.
Some NAS drives work with Time Machine, to one degree or another, but I don't recommend that -- there are too many possible downsides. See the pink box in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #2.

Using Time Capsule to back up external hard drive

I just purchased a Time Capsule with hopes to backup an external hard drive. I thought I could have it plugged into the Time Capsule USB port and run TIme Machine from my computer. Then, I was told that I couldn't do that but would have to plug Hard drive to my laptop and backup to Time Capsule that way. Now I was told that backing up should work (but not supported) but if I ever have to restore, could be problematic.
What is the scoop on this? Can I back up this way successfully? I am looking for recommendations for backing up this external hard drive which we use a shared drive.

busybees2 wrote:
What is the scoop on this?
you cannot use time machine to back up an airdisk (a drive connected to a times capsule or airport extreme. what will work is to back up to a drive connected to a TC
I am looking for recommendations for backing up this external hard drive which we use a shared drive.
have a look @ ChronoSync.

Can i browse time capsule like a normal external hard drive

im lookign to buy a time caplulse... is it act like a shared network drive? like can i store stuff on there and get on a different computer and access them??? or would i be better with an airport extreme and pluging a extrenal hard drive into that??
Thanks

Quiksilver5451 wrote:
im lookign to buy a time caplulse... is it act like a shared network drive? like can i store stuff on there and get on a different computer and access them??? or would i be better with an airport extreme and pluging a extrenal hard drive into that??
You can do either one, but if you want to use Time Machine only a Time Capsule will suffice for a remote (i.e. not locally attached) backup drive.

Using Time Capsule as a dedicated external hard drive + back up device

I am running very low on storage space on my current Macbook so I was wondering if I could permanently transfer data to Time Capsule and use it as an external hard drive. If so, can I still also use it to back up the rest of the data on my Macbook? Just trying to figure out my best alternative to clear space on my Macbook. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hello flyeaglesfly. Wecome to the Apple Discussions!
If you are intending on using Time Machine (TM) for your MacBook's backups you will run into the dilemma of it trying to use all of the available hard disk space on your Time Capsule (TC).
You have several options:
o Remove/repartition/replace the TC's internal hard drive. Use one of the partitions for TM backups and the other for NAS. Note: This will must likely void your warranty since you will need to open the TC to do this.
o Create a disk image of the desired size for NAS on the TC's internal hard drive. The drawback of this approach is that Windows clients will not be able to access this disk image.
o Attach an external USB hard drive to the TC. Use the internal drive for TM and the external drive for NAS ... or vice versa.

How to use time capsule as an external wireless hard drive?

I have the latest version of time capsule and would like to use it not only for backups but also to save some files that I don't want to keep in my Macbook Air, which is very limited in terms of storage. Is it possible?

Here is my general list.
Store files on the TC.
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.
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. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
3. The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no control. In fact the TC is so lacking in controls for even the router side.. that you cannot do more than the most basic of setups.
The following are controls on the hard disk side.
Reformat it. You can name the share. You can do a full archive of the whole disk. This will go at a speed of aprox. 30-50GB/Hr so calculate how long an archive of a full 2TB will take.
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!!
Even apple btw say don’t do it.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168 Although mostly about FAT32 it adds network drives.
5. iTunes can constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is 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

HT201250 Can I use Time Machine to backup a LaCie Hard Drive connected to an Airport Extreme onto a My Book that is connected directly to a Mac Mini?

I have a LaCie 2TB hard drive connected to a Airport Extreme Base Station. I also have a 1TB MyBook connected to a Mac Mini. My question is can you backup selected files (photos) from the LaCie drive to the MyBook drive using Time Machine, or any other software? If it will cost a fortune, I guess I can always just copy the newer files over.

Thank you for such a lightning-fast response Niel :-) Can I just double check with you the following ...?
The external drive where my iPhoto library is located has three partitions - Time Machine Backup, Pictures (where the iPhoto library is located) and SuperDuper Bootable Clone.
When you say 'Remove the external drive from the list of items set to be excluded from the backup, and then add everything else on it' - am I correct in thinking that I should remove Pictures partition from the items to be excluded but leave the Time Machine Backup and SuperDuper Bootable Clone as excluded items?
On my 2TB external drive (the one I'm backing up to) there are 5 partitions - Time Machine Backup, SuperDuper Clone, Pictures, Photo Archive and Document Archive. The Time Machine Backup is 700GB of which I still have 473GB available - when I include the Pictures folder that contains the iPhoto library that will use up another 148GB but I think there's still plenty of room to use it.
When you say if the partition contain the iPhoto library isn't dedicated to it it may be easier to create one which is, the only item I have on the Pictures volume is the iPhoto library so I think that it's dedicated to it. I was going to add images from the Pictures folder on my MacBook Pro but haven't done so at this stage so I won't do so. It wouldn't matter though, would it, if I copied the images from the Pictures folder on my MBP to the 'Photo Archive' partition of the EHD?
Thank you once more for your reply.
Tricia

Can I use time machine to back up computer hard drive AND contents of an external HD (contains only photos) onto another external hard drive (standalone HD for backups only)? PLEASE HELP!!

I keep my photo files on a separate external hard drive, separate from my laptop hard drive. And I want to be able to use time machine as the back-up system to back up BOTH the computer's hard drive AND the external hard drive.... and i want all of the "back-up" information contained on a separate standalone external HD. So in the end, I have a 250GB computer hardrive, a 1TB external hardrive, and I want to have a 2nd external hard drive that will be the location to store the "back-ups" (using time machine) which will be either a 2TB or 3TB harddrive.
I am in dire need of help....

Yes, just make sure that they are not excluded in Time Machine.

Use Time Capsule as a external wireless hard drive

i want to use TC as external hard drive but wireless and without extra router or internet i mean just plug it to the power and setup it on ios 5 wifi and thenuse it just like hot spot, i connect to the TC and use it as a external wireless hard drive, is it possible ?
1. i dont have router
2. i dont have internet
3. i dont want to have router and internet

I too purchased TC today and it came out to be very easy to setup.
I am using windows pc so just downloaded Airport utility from following link:
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1391
Once the installation is complete, it automatically detects TC and ask for password. That's it.
Good luck!!

Can I use Time Capsule as a Hard Drive too?

My 500gb computer hard drive is full. However my Time Capsule has a 2 TB hard drive. Is their a way I can delete files off my hard drive and store them on the Time Capsule in a location other than the Backup folder? I need help because if I delete files from my hard drive, when my computer backs it up they will be gone. I guess what I need to know is if I can create a folder on Time Capsule to manually store files. Thanks. Jim

jsmnkcmo wrote:
LaPastenague (and AIO)
I am running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (because last time I checked -- and it has been a while -- a software application I am using does not support Lion) and the TC is 4th generation, 2TB, Firmware Version 7.6.1.
Change the TC back to 7.5.2 it has far less issues than later firmware.
My original thought was to eliminate some clutter on my physical desktop and my home office by reducing the amount of media I have lying around and number of attachments to my iMac (without having to install a new HDD --internal or external-- on the iMac). Your post and the one below it concerns me about the reliability of the TC. Are TC’s really that unreliable? If the HDD in the TC fails, can the HDD be replaced? Do I need to ghost the HDD on the TC incase it crashes?
TC is designed as a wireless network backup for laptops.. more than anything that was the principle concern as people do not connect hard disk to a laptop and back them up.. so including it in the router was to help wireless users.. more than anyone or anything else. All devices die at some point.. if that is the only place your data is stored one day you will lose it.. bank on it.. now it is not likely to be tomorrow.. and it might not fail for 3years.. but you can easily corrupt it.. itunes and iphoto libraries should not be on network disks.. they can be on a media centre as a shared disk but really the TC is a device that is without backup.. if you corrupted it today .. when was the last time you backed it up.
The TC is a sealed unit.. You can open it and replace the disk.. Apple will deny warranty. If it breaks and you lose all your data in warranty.. apple will say or data or the TC .. take your pick. They will not help recover data.. they will offer a replacement at the cost of your original one. Thus ending its usefulness as a backup.. but you note if it was a backup then all the data is on disks elsewhere.
That is what Apple intends.. it is a backup not a file store.
Which would you recommend: upgrading the HDD on the iMac or just get an external HDD and hide it the best I can?
Whatever works for you. I think you can replace the DVD with a drive holder.. ?? I am not sure.. disk are hard to replace and expensive in iMac.. so hanging an external makes better sense. It can be a few feet/meters away.. Neatness.. is overrated.
I cannot see your screenshot and I don't know why it is greyed out.. Reset the TC and please don't use names with spaces or apostrophe in them..

Can I use Time Capsule as a Home Media Hard Drive?

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