Could time capsule work as a hard disk

I would like to know if it is possible to use time capsule not only as a back up drive but as a external hard disk to save songs and movies that are not im my computer.

You don't need to partition at all or create a disk image. Just be aware of how much space you are using for TM.. as that is far more important for most people and it needs a lot of free space to work properly.
If you store itunes on the TC.. you do realise there is no backups.. so it is a bad idea. That is why you store it on the computer and TM backs it up to the TC.

Similar Messages

  • Can I use the time capsule as backup and hard disk at the same time?

    Hi.
    I want to buy a time capsule.
    I wondered, if I can use the time capsule as backup (over time machine) and as a hard disk at the same time?
    If I buy the 2TB time capsule, I wanted to use 1TB for the backup and 1TB for hard disk.
    Is this possible?
    Best wishes
    Sophie

    It is not recommended.. the problem being anything stored on the TC only is not backed up and cannot be backed up by the TC itself or Time Machine. So what are you going to do about back.. the TC can and do die suddenly.. and the cost of recovery can be huge.
    See Q3 here for the semi-right way to do it if you must.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
    You can plug a USB drive into the TC and use that for files.. but note, its speed is poor.. fine for wireless as wireless is even slower but you will really notice it if you expect the drive to be as fast as the internal.. it will be a fraction of the internal drive speed. 1/2 write and 1/3 read aprox.
    See http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/7

  • Will Time Capsule work as External Hard-Drive?

    I'm looking for a device to move all my pics and video to as my MacBook Air is running out of storage. I was told by a sales guy at a Mac Store (not apple store) that the Airport Time Capsule would not work because it only does a mirror back-up and any files that I delete off my MacBook would also get deleted off the Time Capsule. First, is this true? Second if so what device will work as a wireless external hard drive for my MacBook?

    I was told by a sales guy at a Mac Store (not apple store) that the Airport Time Capsule would not work because it only does a mirror back-up and any files that I delete off my MacBook would also get deleted off the Time Capsule.
    There is some confusion here between Time Machine and Time Capsule.
    The software that backs up your Mac is Time Machine.. it is not going to provide an alternative to storage locally.. so if you delete items from the Mac hard disk .. TM will delete the file from the backup.
    What the Time Capsule basically is.. a wireless router with a dumb hard disk inside.. that has nothing to do with backups... but neither is it a fully fledged NAS.. it is kind of like any low level router to which you plug in a hard disk.. the fact that TC has it internal helps its speed but adds nothing to its functionality.
    You can indeed store your files on a TC..
    With the following provisions..
    1. Time Machine will no longer work. TM is limited to local disks..
    2. iphoto in particular is specifically stated by apple to be an application that needs a local disk.. using network disk.. ie TC will result in corruption.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168
    Although mostly about FAT32   it adds network drives.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198
    Note this applies to all network drives.. not just TC .. everything.
    3. No backup.. your files are now sitting on a Time Capsule.. TM cannot back them.. and here TC fails to be a NAS.. all NAS can back themselves up to a backup USB disk.. TC cannot do this.. there is no incremental backup available.. and so if you want to backup your files you must do it manually ie copy and paste .. or use a decent backup software like Carbon Copy Cloner.. since it is beyond TM. And then the question arises . .where are you going to target the backups.. the very worst location is over wireless to a USB on the TC.. since that will make for extraordinarily slow backups.
    I'm looking for a device to move all my pics and video to as my MacBook Air is running out of storage.
    The correct place to do this is an external drive plugged into the MBA. So TM can continue to backup the files to the TC.
    if so what device will work as a wireless external hard drive for my MacBook?
    There is no such thing as a wireless external hard drive.. you must plug an external drive into the MBA by USB or FW or Thunderbolt depending on the age of the unit.. All wireless drives are network.. very few exist.. Most NAS are devices you plug into a wireless router.. and I would recommend against wireless built into a NAS.. it will not be as good or fast as a wireless router.
    TC can be pressed into service.. as long as you are prepared to deal with backups.. and the fact that you will eventually corrupt your iphoto library and should really use TC only for storage not live files.

  • Time Capsule - Sharing a USB hard disk over network

    Hello,
    I've been trying to get a definite answer to this issue on this forum and others, but couldn't. Sorry if it was already answered and if my thorough search wasn't enough.
    I have a Time Capsule and I wish to add an external hard drive to my setup. Since I want the HD to be shared on the network and be accessible through my wifi setup at home, I want to add it on the USB port on the Time Capsule and then make it a shared HD over the network.
    Seems that if this is a stroll in the park with the Airport Extreme base, it's not that straightforward with Time Capsule.
    All the articles I could find were about adding a HD backup to the TC, but it's not what I'm looking for. I really wish to simply add a HD through the USB port and allow the network users to access it (don't need it to be backed up on the TC !).
    My network has an Airport Express as an extender and I have to point out that the TC is not really acting as a router as the place I live in has direct connection to a central router through a RJ45 wall plug.
    Any ideas, walkthroughs ? (or any good ideas for a not expensive WLAN RAID solution ?)
    Thank you so much for any help you could provide me.
    Cheers

    To expand on "Glasses" comments:
    *Attached Another Hard Disk to the TC But How Do I Access It?*
    Open a Finder window
    Select the Time Capsule in the Sidebar on the left.
    Click "Connect As..." in the upper right of the window.
    Enter the Name of your Time Capsule & its' password (Note: NOT your own Username & password).
    Check "Remember password in my Keychain."
    You should now see a blue share folder with the name of your Time Capsule.
    Other hard disk attached to the Time Capsule’s USB port will also appear here as blue share folders as well. To mount them on your desktop double-clicking their blue folders. If you had a separate password setup for those disks in Airport Utility then enter that password if asked. Otherwise, it should now mount on your desktop.
    Let us know if this solves your issue.
    Cheers!

  • Can the Time Capsule work if the hard drive is dead?

    My Apple Time Capsule stop working yesterday.  I've tried resetting it using the various tips and I even called Apple support.  The light stays in the solid amber mode regardless of what I do.  When I try resetting it by holding in the reset button then powering on the capsule the light will blink (not quickly though) and when I release at after any amount of seconds it returns to amber.  I do hear a clicking sound (so the HD might be bad).  My question is should I be able to reset it and it show up in my Airport Utility even with a bad HD?

    My question is should I be able to reset it and it show up in my Airport Utility even with a bad HD?
    The device needs repairs. If the hard drive is defective it can be replaced. If you don't want to replace the hard drive, it is possible to wire the Time Capsule up as a wireless router only....but a repair shop will have to do this for you.
    If you have tried the Factory Default Reset a few times, unfortunately that's really all you can do at this time.

  • Accessing Time Capsule files for new hard disk

    under AppleCare i have just had replaced a New Fusion drive and i want to access my Time Capsule in order to retrieve my files etc. However i cannot access it. i can see the 'sparse bundle' but Time Machine won't open/recognize it.
    how do i access these files?
    BTW the material on the TC was from the last system, Mavericks, and now Yosemite 10.01 is on the new FD>
    thanx
    safed

    There is no way to get earlier files if none are available..
    I am not sure how you are opening this but if you are not seeing the most recent backup.. please open the sparsebundle via finder and open the most recent available backup.
    I gave the instructions here to do it.
    Can't access old files on time capsule
    The other alternative is to buy a USB drive.. and plug that into the computer.. recover the whole sparsebundle to the USB drive.. and pick the files from there. TM cannot be relied upon.. especially if it is now more than 2 years since you backed up.

  • How can I use my time capsule as an external hard disk?

    Hi ,
    I hav en Airport Extreme 3 TB. I have done the setup. And it seems to working well. But I also want to use it as an external hard drive. When I go finder Shared folder I could not see Data folder in it. I have this screen. How can I see that folder.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks.

    I count 36 characters in your TC name.. This is not good.
    Please reduce the name to somewhere less than 10 characters if possible.. 20 at most.
    No spaces, pure alphanumeric.
    See C9 here for why the present name is bad.
    http://pondini.org/TM/C9.html
    Also if your wireless name is the same.. change it to short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric as well.
    Then manually mount your TC disk.
    In finder use top menu, Go/Connect to server.
    Type in AFP://TCname.local (TCname is your new short name. Local is the default domain).
    Or it can be even better to use IP if that doesn't change.. ie TC is in router mode.. and by default is 10.0.1.1 then
    AFP://10.0.1.1
    Then apply and you will be asked for the TC disk password.. default is public but whatever it is you set. Make sure you save it in your keychain.
    The TC data share should then mount.
    And small comment about using the TC for files..
    TC is designed for Time Machine. It is not a NAS.. it has no backup.. it is slow to spin up and fast to spin down. Using live libraries will result in corruption and loss of your entire library in the case of iphoto.
    Please be very careful. Do not jump in and think very carefully. Time Machine cannot backup any network drives including the TC. You are going to have issues with backup if the TC is only location for your files.. it is unsuitable for this. CCC can backup to another drive.. but where will that be.. USB plugged into TC you will experience new visions of pain and suffering as the backup takes almost as long as digestion by a Sarlacc. 
    Pondini has some pointers here.
    Q3
    http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

  • TS1550 What about when using the "Time Capsule" HD as the external disk, especially when it is connected by ethernet cable? I'm having trouble getting it to work at all. Don't need it to work as anything else, other than a ethernet connected Time Machine

    What about when using the "Time Capsule" HD as the external disk, especially when it is connected by ethernet cable? I'm having trouble getting it to work at all. Don't need it to work as anything else, other than a ethernet connected Time Machine backup. Already have a wireless network that works fine so no need to mess with it. We get the internet via cable company and their modem is upstairs and the Time Capsule is downstairs in the basement. The latest error message was about it could not backup as it was already in use (should have written it down before clicking OK and moving on.

    See if this helps...
    http://pondini.org/TM/C12.html

  • Does Time Capsule works as a External Hard Drive?

    Does Time Capsule works as a External Hard Drive?

    The Time Capsule works as a network drive.
    An external drive connects to your Mac using either the USB or FireWire ports.
    If your real question is to ask whether you can store other data on the Time Capsule drive....you can.

  • My time capsule worked for several weeks and is now telling me backup disk not available? What to do?

    My time capsule worked for several weeks and now is not backing up. Tells me backup disk not available? Any suggestions?

    This is a lion bug..
    Generally just rebooting the TC will get it back. Otherwise you need to reset the TC and redo its setup.
    Tell us a bit more.. but there is as yet no work around or fix for lion.
    Certain things help.. but wireless is also a weak link. It will generally work better by ethernet.
    Try and get back if it is still bugging you.. I can suggest some other things.. but I do not know of or read a bullet yet.
    (Snow and TC firmware 7.5.2 which I run do not have this issue.. so the bug was introduced with Lion and 7.6 firmware)

  • Time Machine could not complete the backup "Time Capsule". Unable to access disk image backup "/ Volumes / Time Capsule / iMac.sparsebundle" (error 112). How can I repair it?

    Time Machine could not complete the backup "Time Capsule". Unable to access disk image backup "/ Volumes / Time Capsule / iMac.sparsebundle" (error 112).
    How can I fix it?

    You might want to take a look at Pondini's excellent support document......Time Machine Troubleshooting
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
    See # C17

  • Can I use my time capsule as a external hard drive as well

    I want to use my time capsule as a external hard drive as well as a back up disk. Is that possible?

    You Can!! But Should you??
    Can and Should are different.
    Here are the issues.
    Store files on the TC.
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/24380694#24380694
    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.
    It cannot be partitioned. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
    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.
    3. The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no controls.
    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!!
    5. iTunes will constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is too 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

  • Time capsule vs. External hard drive for periodic back-ups

    Hope this is the right forum. At home I have the old "Back-Up" program that I use for quarterly back ups of certain files as scheduled. Love it. Was gonna set that up on our new(er) Macs here at work only to discover that program was replaced by Time Machine. Time Machine won't let me even in to see how it works without a Time Capsule or other External Hard Drive to connect to...
    What I'm trying to do: Schedule monthly (or quarterly) back-ups for settings, certain important files and possibly certain programs from 4 office computers (3 iMacs and 1 Powerbook). Would love to back up to Mobile Me but can't seem to figure out how (Time Machine certainly won't let me). But then want to store the backups either online (like Mobile Me) or in a fire safe...
    What I'm looking at: Possible options I've thought of include DVDs (which is really impractical), a 32 GB flash drive (but only would know how to get certain files on there), an external hard drive or a time capsule. But if I get either of those we'd only want to use it once a month and then keep it in the fire safe. Now I know Time Capsule is designed to do regular (daily, weekly, etc) backups... but can I use it to select what is backed up only at certain times and how hard/easy is it to plug in and out if I'm doing it that way. Or would it simply be better for what I'm looking for to get some other external hard drive?
    I'm not very good at backing up info - but have to be responsible to at work (plus my brother just had a fire and he lost all his computers and info)... so simply not sure what is best suited for my needs?

    Mongul Sec wrote:
    At home I have the old "Back-Up" program that I use for quarterly back ups of certain files as scheduled.
    Where has your "Back-Up" program been writing those backups?
    What I'm trying to do: Schedule monthly (or quarterly) back-ups for settings, certain important files and possibly certain programs from 4 office computers (3 iMacs and 1 Powerbook).
    Can you really afford to lose a month's worth of work on those computers?
    What I'm looking at: Possible options I've thought of include DVDs (which is really impractical), a 32 GB flash drive (but only would know how to get certain files on there), an external hard drive or a time capsule. But if I get either of those we'd only want to use it once a month and then keep it in the fire safe.
    In that case I'd use an external disk drive. Time Machine isn't really intended for what you want to do.

  • Time Machine stalls when trying to back up to Time Capsule or an external hard drive.

    TIme Machine stalls when trying to back up to Time Capsule or an external hard drive.  Time Machine shows a message such as "Backing up 4MB of 9.00GB" but nothing happens for hours.

    Are you really running 10.6.4 OS?
    What model TC and what firmware?
    Wireless or wired?
    How is the TC setup?
    If TM can work to neither a TC or external hard disk it is more likely the computer is faulty hard disk..
    Do a verify of the disk.
    See A5 here.
    http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

  • How does the time capsule work?

    I am unfamiliar with this device. Can anyone explain how this works? I have a Gateway NV79, an IPad 2 and an IPhone. Will the time capsule work with these devices and a printer(Officejet Pro 8600)? If so, how does it do this? I am also wondering how it works as a router? Does it provide the internet access itself or do you have to have a separate source of internet to link to the device?

    A Time Capsule is a wireless router and a hard drive in one package. It does not have a modem built in, so a modem and broadband service is required if you want to be able to connect to the Internet.
    As a wireless router, the Time Capsule can provide connections for up to 50 users and 3 wired Ethernet devices. If you need more Ethernet connections, a switch can be easily added to the Time Capsule for that purpose.
    Your printer could connect to the Time Capsule using either a wired Ethernet connection or wireless connection
    Apple's literature does a good job of describing the product. Be sure to click the links in the upper right hand corner of the main page to learn more about the Backup capabilities, Wireless performance, and detailed Specifications.
    Time Capsule

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