Connecting and backing up external HDD to a Time Capsule

Hi All,
Running a Macbook pro Retina. I would like to do the following things with a Time Capsule:
Physically connect an external HDD to the time capsule, put media on this external HDD and access it wirelessly on my macbook
Use the time capsule to back up (via Time Machine) the data on both my macbook's HDD and the external HDD
I would be grateful for help with the following queries:
Will Time Machine allow me to back up both the internal HDD and external HDD that is connected to the time capsule?
Does the external HDD I attach to the time capsule need its own power source, or will it take its power from the time capsule via USB?
Does the time capsule need to be turned on 24/7? Or can it just be turned on when I need to perform a back up / access the information on the external HDD?
Thanks for your help in advance. I know some of these questions may seem obvious, but having seen contradictory information online I'd like to make sure of my ground.

Physically connect an external HDD to the time capsule, put media on this external HDD and access it wirelessly on my macbook
Technically, you could do this. The question is whether you should do this. The USB 2.0 port on the Time Capsule brings new meaning to word s-l-o-w, so copies and access are going to sluggish at best. The port operates at about half the speed of a USB port on a computer.
As far as locating media on the USB drive, you would not want to locate a "working" library there, as the experts in the iPhoto and Aperture forums strongly recommend against this, as well as Apple in their support documents. An iTunes Library is going to be really slow as well if you are thinking of that, and the library will tend to get lost, so you will wind up pointing iTunes to the library on a regular basis.
I've learned the hard way that it is much better to locate media on a drive that is directly attached to the Mac. Access is much faster and more reliable, and Time Machine can back up both the Mac and the attached hard drive.
Use the time capsule to back up (via Time Machine) the data on both my macbook's HDD and the external HDD
That is not possible, since Time Machine can only back up data on a Mac, or a drive that is connected directly to a Mac.
Will Time Machine allow me to back up both the internal HDD and external HDD that is connected to the time capsule?
No, see answer above.
Does the external HDD I attach to the time capsule need its own power source, or will it take its power from the time capsule via USB?
Use a powered USB hub with the hard drive unless the drive has its own power supply. Sometimes though, you still have to use a powered USB hub with a drive, even when the drive has its own power supply. You won't know if he drive will work until you try it out.
Does the time capsule need to be turned on 24/7? Or can it just be turned on when I need to perform a back up / access the information on the external HDD?
Apple designed the Time Capsule to be "always on" since there is not even an "Off" switch on the device. Network connections will remain a lot more stable if you leave the TC on. With Yosemite, the TC has a hard enough time not losing network connections. Forcing the TC to establish new connections every time that you power it off and back on is bound to create issues.

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I have question about hooking up an external hdd to a time capsule and still have my printer hooked up as well. Anyone got any tips for me, how to do it and what brand of harddrive that will work best for me 1 or 2 TB

i have question about hooking up an external hdd to a time capsule and still have my printer hooked up as well. Anyone got any tips for me, how to do it and what brand of harddrive that will work best for me 1 or 2 TB

You just need a powered hub.. if you already use one then fine.
Plug in just about any external hard disk will work fine. Format has to be readable by the TC.. ie fat32.. or much better HFS+.. plug it into a Mac to prepare the drive.
Pick whatever size suits.. nowadays 2TB are most economical.
WD, Seagate have goobled up all the minor players.. so pick one.
Whatever suits your budget and asthetics.
NOTE.. The USB on the TC is fine for printers.. IMHO it is the wrong way to go with USB disks.. use the internal disk of the TC.. USB is less than half the native speed plugged into a Mac.. TC to USB is slow.. far slower than internal drive.. or using external drive as external.

I transferred data from my external hard drive to my restored Mac Book Pro via migration assistant and now my external hard drive in time capsule has red minus signs. How do I get rid of that without getting rid of any of my data?

I used Migration Assistant to transfer my data from my external hard drive via Time Capsule to my restored Mac Book Pro. When I now go into Time Capsule I there are red minus signs in the corner of all the folders that are contained in my back up. How do I get rid of this and access my previous back-ups?

Select the drive and Finder > Get info and at the bottom "ignore permissions on this volume"
You can copy the files, but the ownership on the files still belongs to the other user account, once your done copying, then perform a #6 Reset Users Permissions and that will set all the ownership to that account.
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Photo and Music storage on External HDD attached to Time Capsule

My MacBook is out of space, and like most people, it is full of music and photos. I have a Time Capsule for backups but I also have a 1TB HDD attached to the USB of the Time Capsule. I would love to make that HDD the source for all photos and music so any of my macs can use this source location.
In essence, I want to use the HDD attached to the Time Capsule to serve as the lone storage source for all my photos and music, and have any of my macs seek these files when iTunes or iPhoto is opened on any machine.
Can I do this? If not, any ideas? I am trying to avoid requiring a HDD plugged into my laptop all the time. It kind of defeats the purpose of "laptop" in my mind. I also switch computers frequently and want to use all the same source files.
Thanks!!

In essence, I want to use the HDD attached to the Time Capsule to serve as the lone storage source for all my photos and music, and have any of my macs seek these files when iTunes or iPhoto is opened on any machine.
Can I do this
Yes, but I guess I'm wondering how you will backup the important data on that drive attached to the Time Capsule. Time Machine cannot do this, so you would have to add yet another drive and manually backup the files or use another commercial application that can backup from a network drive to another network drive.
The better plan might be to add an external USB or FireWire drive attached to a Mac and move all the media there. Then, Time Machine will backup both the Mac and the attached hard drive.
The experts in the iPhoto forum strongly advise against moving your iPhoto library to the Time Capsule or another network drive attached to the USB port on the TIme Capsule.....especially if you are using wireless. Any disruption when iPhoto is writing to the library can create corruption issues that will likely damage the entire library.
Suggest that you post over in the iPhoto support area to ask the same question. But, be prepared for a lecture if iPhoto guru Terence Devlin answers your post.
iPhoto
Instructions for moving the iTunes library are available in the link below. I've tried this and found that access to the files on the network drive is s-l-o-w. Not the ideal solution by any means, unless you like waiting. And, you'll still have to figure out how to backup these files.
iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder

Backing up external hard drive to time capsule?

Hello,
I have a 13-inch MacBook Pro and am quickly running out of space on my internal HD. I currently back up my computer regularly to a simple usb-connected external hard drive (MyPassport; 500 gb). I would love suggestions for externally expanding my memory and for backing up both what is on my internal and external hard drive. I was thinking I could use my 500 gb external hard drive currently working with Time Machine as my place to store more things (thus I would erase all the backups on that disk and use it for more storage of new things) and get a new hard drive to back up my computer and external hard drive. I was thinking of getting a Time Capsule for this (to backup both my computer and an external hard drive). Can this be done? Can I back up both an external hard drive and my computer to a Time Capsule, and if so would I have to plug the external hard drive directly into the capsule, or how would I back up the external hard drive to the Time Capsule? Because I can not use a Time Capsule as a place to store new material and a place to backup that new material and my computer, I would appreciate any suggestions for expanding my storage and backing up that expansion and my internal hard drive.
Thanks in advance!

TM is no problem working with external drive and backing up both to the TC.. the external drive simply has to be available when TM is doing the backup.. and ensure it is not excluded in the TM preferences.

How to back up external drive attached to time capsule

How can I backup an external 1 TB drive containing my itunes library that I have attached to my time capsule usb port to my time capsule?
Over the weekend I purchased a timecapsule and I love it! I thought the idea of not having to mount and unmount my usb external drive from my laptop would help with my itunes library intergrity (keep loosing large chunks of music). I have now plugged the drive into the timecapsule usb port but the only configuration time machine allows that I can find is to tell it what not to back up on my laptop and now that the external drive is not attached to my mac it doesn't even appear. what now? I want to get this completed prior to upgrading to snow leopard.

go system preferences > time machine > options and make sure the external is not excluded from backups.
that's it. time machine should automatically backup any drive connected directly to your computer (unless it is told not to and given there's sufficient space on the TC).
JGG

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If you were using Time Machine to back up to that HDD when it was mounted locally, the problem is that Time Machine organizes local backups differently from network backups. See item 18 in this post for more information. About 2/3rds down that page is a procedure number 3, which described a related process. You won't follow the exact same procedure, as those backups already exist on that disk.

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-knarfy

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The Time Capsule work with most disks that are not software RAID volumes (no more than one volume per physical disk).
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Back up external hard drive to time capsule

Argh! I'm trying to backup my LaCie hard drive (where I store my music) to the Time Capsule. The LaCie has been deleted from the "do not backup list" in TC prefs, and in the "do not backup list" it states that the "full backup" size matches the amount of data included in my SSHD and the LaCie, but TC is only backing up the amount of data on my SSHD, indicating that the LaCie isn't getting backed up even though it's being recognized. How can I fix this problem? Thanks guys!

A whole lot about Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.

I just got my first MacBook pro and dedicated an external hard drive for time capsule. I also have a WD 3TB hard drive with all my old files, photos and movies (mostly from a pc). My Mac book pro would not allow me to add or delete any files from this har

This hard drive so I copies all the files (400gb worth) to my time capsule hard drive (WD 3 TB but set up by the Mac book pro). Now I am not sure what I need to do. I wiped the other WD hard drive cleAn on my pc and want to set it up in a way that I can access the files on both a pc and a Mac. If I partition it on my MacBook pro will this work? If I do it do I need to save the file twice on both the pc and Mac partitions or simply by partitioning it the hard drive will ave files in both formats regardless of if it's from a pc or a Mac. X
Thanks

Mac 101: File Sharing
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Transfer files between two Mac computers
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Set up a Windows computer to share files with Mac users
Mac OS X 10.7 Help: Use iDisk to share files
Mac OS X: Sharing your files with non-Apple computers
How to share a Mac's files with a PC and vice versa.

HT5219 I have a macbook air and I connect it to an external HDD via thunderbolt and nothing happens....

I have a macbook air and I connect it to an external HDD via thunderbolt and nothing happens....

If a PRAM reset fails to help, an appointment at the Apple store genius bar would be the next option.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Ciao.

Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?

Unable to back up external hard drive via Time Machine. Says no room but has back ups from two previous Mac notebooks on it. Tried deleting them and now can't do anything. Any ideas?

As john noted, eventually that external is probably not going to be big enough, but it certainly is for now. The HD just needs enough capacity to cover the amount of data on your internal HD, not the internal HD's total capacity.
Format/partition the external as follows and you should be set to go:
1. Connect the external HD to the MBP.
2. Open Disk Utility on the MBP.
3. Select the external HD in the left pane.
4. Click on the Erase tab.
5. Choose the Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
NOTE: if you want to zero the HD (which I always think is a good idea, but does take time), click on Security Options, click the button for Zero Out Data, click OK. The larger the HD, the longer this will take, in some cases several hours.
6. Click on Erase and wait for the entire process to finish.
7. Click the Partition tab.
8. Click on Volume Scheme: and choose the number of partitions (just one in this situation).
9. Click on the Options button (located underneath the Volume Scheme pane) and select GUID.
10. Click Apply.
11. Quit Disk Utility.
Backup your internal to the external. What application are you using to backup with? I highly recommend both SuperDuper! and CarbonCopyCloner.

Connecting and backing up external HDD to a Time Capsule

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