Connecting a external hard drive to a time capsule

I have a 2T Time Capsule and I have two computers that are backing up to it so its about full, my question is if I hook up an usb 2T external drive will it just become part of my Time capsule and look like there is a 4T time capsule and continue to back up the same?

Boyse wrote:
I have a 2T Time Capsule and I have two computers that are backing up to it so its about full, my question is if I hook up an usb 2T external drive will it just become part of my Time capsule and look like there is a 4T time capsule and continue to back up the same?
As Tesserax says, no, Time Machine backups can't "span" two volumes.
But . . . if 2 TB isn't large enough to keep a reasonable "depth" of old backups, you can connect the USB drive and back one of the Macs up to it, instead of the TC's internal HD.
Your best bet is probably to leave the old backups for that Mac on the TC's internal disk, until you're sure you don't need them anymore, since you can view and restore from them via the +*Browse ...+* option (per #17 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions).
It's a hassle, and will take a looooong time, but you could copy the sparse bundle for one of the Macs to the USB drive and continue backing-up to it. See #18 in the FAQ.

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  • If I connect an external hard drive to the Time Capsule, all it automatically back it up?

    If I connect an external hard drive to the Time Capsule, will it automatically back it up? Or do I need to somehow configure it in TIme Machine?

    A HDD attached to the Time Capsule (TC) will not automatically back it up, nor can you configure Time Machine to do so. However, you can use the AirPort Utility to archive the contents of your TC's internal HDD to this attached drive.

  • I connected a external hard drive to the Time capsule but I can't get it to connect, I connected a external hard drive to the Time capsule but I can't get it to connect

    I connected an external hard drive to the Time Capsule but can't get it to work.

    And are you using a powered USB hub? The USB port on the Time Capsule is under powered, so you almost always need to use a powered USB hub, even if the hard drive has its own power supply.

  • If i connect an external hard drive to a time capsule, can i access this drive via internet?

    If i connect an external hard drive to a time capsule, can i access this drive via internet?

    If the drive can be accessed in local lan, then it can be accessed from internet assuming you have setup using one of the remote access methods.
    See remote access here.
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/wireless/airport?view=documents

  • If i connect an external hard drive to my time capsule will it be backed up on time capsule?

    I recently connected an external hard drive to my time capsule using the usb port on the time capsule.  Will that external hard drive be included in the time machine back up?  If not, how do I include it?

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    If you want to backup the hard drive, it must be connected to your Mac to be included in Time Machine backups. Additional settings will need to be made if you do this, so post back for details if you need them.
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  • Can I connect an external hard drive to my time capsule to add virtual hard drive space?

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    See if Pondini can help http://pondini.org/TM/Home.html

  • I just connected an external hard drive to my Time Capsule.

    I have Mountain Lion installed on my 2010 MacBook Pro.  The external HD is not showing up. Is there something else I need to do or is it supposed to show up in the sidebar of Finder?

    Click the Time Capsule icon in the Finder sidebar on the left.
    If the drive is formatted correctly in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), you will see two folders representing the drives.
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  • How can i connect an external hard drive to my time capsule?

    I can see it though my airport utility but not my network.

    goldenmaestro wrote:
    I have the same problem, it is NTFS formatted, is that a problem?
    Sure is.. The TC cannot use it.. cannot see it or read it.
    You need to connect the disk to the Mac, format it HFS+ and make sure it is GUID type disk not MBR windows type. Although you can also use fat32 IMHO that is really backward step.
    Windows can still write to it, as the TC or airport can offer SMB to the network.. it is irrelevant the format of a drive plugged in.
    The USB port is underpowered in the TC.. even though the hard disk is powered you sometimes need a powered hub.. and not all powered hubs work.
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  • I want to take files from my PC (using a Seagate external hard drive) then plug this Seagate External hard drive into my Mac Book Pro and move the files from the Seagate External Hard drive onto my Time Capsule. I do not want to put these files on my Mac

    I want to take files from my PC (using a Seagate external hard drive) then plug this Seagate External hard drive into my Mac Book Pro and move the files from the Seagate External Hard drive onto my Time Capsule. I do not want to put these files on my Mac. How do I do this? Where do I put these files on my Time Capsule? Will it affect the functioning of my Time Capsule?

    Mixing files with data is not always great idea.
    See info here.
    Q3 http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
    Why not just connect the PC directly to the TC by ethernet and copy the files over?
    It is hugely faster and much less mucking around.
    In windows load the airport utility for windows.. if you have not already as this will help you access the drive.
    There is more info here.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1331

  • I have an external hard drive from my time capsule that stopped working on me. I am attempting to access the data with a hard drive reader on my MAC. I am able to see the drive in disk utility and under system info USB. But I am unable to access the data.

    I have an external hard drive from my time capsule that stopped working on me. I am attempting to access the data with a hard drive reader on my MAC. I am able to see the drive in disk utility and under system info USB. But I am unable to access the data and it does not show on the desktop when connected.

    Ok if disk utility was able to verify the drive I doubt there is any problem.. are you trying to open a TM backup??
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    http://pondini.org/TM/17.html
    But if you have copied info to the TC that is now gone.. and the disk is ok.. I am not sure.. the TC will not have deleted the files itself.

  • Searching external hard drive attached to Time Capsule

    I have a 1 TB Time Capsule which I use for backing up my 2011 MacBook Pro and for providing my WiFi. I also have a 1 TB external hard drive plugged into my Time Capsule which I can access via WiFi. I can go to Finder on my laptop and browse the folders/files on my external hard drive. It appears under Shared in the sidebar of the Finder window. I can open files from it and I can save files to the drive, so it appears to be working fine. I have hundreds of gigs of files on the drive. But when I was recently hunting for a specific file, I noticed that my Spotlight wasn't doing a very good job at finding files on my external hard drive. I tried many different searches - by name, by type, by date - and had no luck. But as I was searching, I realized that I had more files of certain file types than Spotlight was showing me. So I tried searching for files I first confirmed were actually on the external drive. And again Spotlight failed to find them. If I used a partial filename search, it would find some files that matched but not the ones I was looking for.
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  • How to proceed on transferring the content of an external hard drive into the time capsule.

    I just bought a new MBP and a 2T time capsule but i don’t know how to proceed on transferring the content of an old external hard drive into the brand new time capsule.
    The old external hard drive is a carbon copy of another external HD which was my time machine backup but unfortunately someone stole it from me…  so I was thinking about transferring the content from the old external hard drive to the time capsule and then set time capsule as the new time machine backup.
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    sb

    Configure Time Machine preferences. Be sure to remove the external drive from the Exclude list.
    Mac Apps - Apple Support
    Mac Basics
    Welcome to Mac Support

  • Adding an External Hard Drive to a Time Capsule

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    As long as you keep the drive at the network location at the Time Capsule, both Macs and PCs will be able to read and write to a drive formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), also known as HFS+.
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  • I would like to connect an external hard drive to my time machine and use it as a network drive to store itunes and iPhoto  how do i do this

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  • External hard drives compatible with time capsule generation 3

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    yep am using a  usb hub,time cap. has only the one usb port- yes two usb outs on the hard drive , sorry, which merge into one into the hd, is bus powered...

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