Erasing a dead Time Capsule

My Time Capsule died last week due to a power outage or surge at my home. Fortunately I was covered under warranty, and got a replacement sent very quickly. I now need to return the old one.
Does anyone know how to erase any contents of the old one for security/identity/privacy's sake before I send it back? It is totally dead, no lights, nada.
Thanks!

Your only option would be to physically remove the drive, place it in an enclosure, and erase it that way (assuming the drive works well enough). Removing the drive voids the warranty; whether Apple will accept it as a returned item in that condition, you'd have to ask them.
I don't think I'd be particularly worried, though, about just returning it "as is". Apple certainly has a reputation to maintain, and allowing their techs to copy sensitive data off returned TC's is something they're surely pretty careful to avoid.
Give them a call, express your concerns, and see what they have to say.

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How can I erase (or remove) the hard drive from a dead Time Capsule?

How can I erase (or remove) the hard drive from a dead Time Capsule?

I found this having had the same problem...
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=553818
Having removed the hard drive I'm finding I can't reformat it. I manage to mount the HD but Disk Utility crashes when trying to format (HD attached to Mac via Newer Tech. SATA cables to USB) and causes what I think is a kernal panic on my Mac which hard crashes. I see 3 partitions when attempting to mount one of which is AFP. Anyone got any ideas about how to do this? I've dug around but the only progress I've made is to note others have had to work around ACL's when replacing the logic board of the TC. Not sure if this even relates to the problem. However the tool for doing this seems to have been removed from SL. (Forum references to this procedure all relate to 10.5).

Data recovery on dead Time Capsule

My Time Capsule died and I have files on it that I don't have else where. The Time Capsule is still under waranty, but if I have someone recover the disk for me the waranty will be broken and then I won't get a new one from Apple. Does anyone know if Apple can perform data recovery on a dead Time Capsule AND give me a new one or repair the broken one?

How old is the TC?
What model, A1xxx from the bottom if it?
Apple are telling people to store files on the TC so ring them up and say you were using it as you were told and now it is broken, what are they going to do?
They generally refuse to do more than swap to a new one.. the whole point of the TC is backup.. not file store.. so it has no way to backup and is considered a sealed unit.
What is dead btw? On a recent one, a dead hard disk is going to require some work to get files out of, if at all.
My advice would be to very carefully open the TC yourself and see if the TC works without the hard disk in it.. and plug the disk into a computer with usb to sata box.. you can get some recovery software if the disk does work.. otherwise it needs to go to a data centre. Then put it all back into the TC.. seal it up again.. and present it for replacement.. !!
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Time_Capsule

Dead Time Capsule: Power Off...No Response

One more dead time capsule.
18 months old.
Power off... no response.
Will never buy one again.

Another One!!
I purchased a time capsule in April 2008
This time capsule stopped working about 2 weeks ago and I took it to the Apple Service Centre
As the product is out of warranty I was told I need pay rmb200 to have it looked at. This was not a problem but 4 days later I was called and told they cannot do anything with the product as they are unable to open the unit and my only option was to buy a new one. After getting less than 2 years use out of the unit I was not going to purchase a new one.....
It amazes me that after 2 years I cannot get the unit repaired when it obviously only a problem with the power source as the drive is working OK (I ripped it out!) and why I get charged 200rmb by the service provider when they know they cannot do anything...
This is simply a bad product and trying to get any contact in Apple to complain impossible!

Stopping a 7 pass erase of a Time Capsule

I'm in the middle of the 4th pass of a 7 pass erase of my Time Capsule. To save time I'd like to stop erasing now and start using my Time Capsule. I'm comfortable with only 3-1/2 passes. Can I do that, or will it cause problems with my Time Capsule?

You can do it..
I am just not sure how..
Is there a cancel button ??
In the end if you kill airport utility.. force quit and it won't stop.. simply unplug the TC.. it is a poor way but you should never have done 7 passes.
When you plug it back in again.. do a quick erase to fix up anything that goes wrong.. it will be fine.

Is there a refund policy for dead time capsule?

I have seen that at one time apple was replacing dead time capsules. Is apple giving any incentive to those that die to purchase future products? Would I be wasting my time taking it in to the Genius Bar?
I know it's dead. No light, no fan, nothing.

There was extended warranty for the first 6months worth of production.. and that is now closed as all products from 2008 have now passed 3years.. there is no discussion beyond 3years.. it is not designed to last longer.. that is for sure.
If you have applecare on a computer it covers the TC that is less than 3years.. if so Apple will exchange it.. no file recovery.. too bad for anything lost!!
Sometimes if you sweet talk and buy loads of Apple products.. and the genius is in a good mood and the wind is in the west with waxing moon, they will replace it. Purely out of random pity perhaps. Even a genius must have occasional pangs of conscience.
Overall they will offer you a new one, at somewhat above retail, and take your old one.. to be safely disposed of.. most people do not fall for this. You can tear it open and pull out the hard disk yourself for nothing.. and not give Apple money.. to take your dead TC which they can then refubish and sell or use for people who are still under warranty.
You can also repair it.. or have it repaired. Repairs can be very cheap if you have some mechanical basic soldering skills.

How to erase a dead Time Machine: Necessary? If so, how?

Are Time Capsule Time Machine backups encrypted by default, and if not, how can I erase the Time Capsule if the power supply is dead?
Details:
I bought one of the early Time Capsules (1 GB) two years ago, and it finally died. It just wouldn't light up or start. Presumably, this is due to the well-known early power supply issues, and presumably the hard disk is still in good shape.
I brought it to my local Apple store, and they were great. Although I do not have Apple Care, due to the design flaw with these very early units, they said they will replace it with a refurbished unit for free. (Nice!) It will take a few days. Meanwhile, I have the old dead drive. It occurs to me that I have my whole life on that hard drive, and if someone were to be able to resurrect it and restore the backup to an empty Mac, they would have much information that they shouldn't have.
Yes, I could drill through the case and into the drive, but I don't think Apple would then accept it as a swap. Yes, I could take a big magnet to it, but how do I know it's big enough? (I've been to some sites that claim hard drives are very hard to erase because they case protects them magnetically.)
Someone I spoke with today reminded me that you need an overall disk password to be able to get to the data, and that is true when the HD is working right and you are logging on to the Time Capsule. But does that mean the data is (even lightly) encrypted, or is that just time Time Capsule firmware arbitrating access such that any barrier would go away if you could mount the disk physically?
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks.

Thanks. That's what I'm in the process of doing. I already opened the case, and I'm going to take the drive to work tomorrow where my IT department has an eSATA cable that I can use.
I hesitated in doing this because I felt Apple would consider the case breached and say they couldn't take the unit in swap. However, I spoke with the Genius Administrator at my local Apple store today, and she told me that it is OK if I do that. She was very understanding that I would want to erase the drive before returning it. She just told me to make sure I return the unit as close to original as possible. I used a hair dryer to warm the bottom before peeling it off, and everything will go back together pretty perfectly.
So, this is fully acceptable to me.
Thanks.

HT4522 what is the preferred disk erase mode for Time Capsule

I've been wanting to re-format my Time capsule as I've bought a new Mac Book and currently have 2 backups loaded. Since I've merged data, I wanted to erase and re-use the TC.
Can someone tell me what the preferred disk erase mode is for TC.

Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click on the Time Capsule icon, then click Edit
Click the Disks tab at the top of the next window
Click Erase Disk
You will be presented with several Erase options.....Quick Erase, Zero Out, 7 Pass, etc.
Quick Erase will only take a minute or two and be fine for your purpose since you are keeping the Time Capsule.
If you were moving the Time Capsule to another user, the Zero Out option will replace everything on the drive with zeroes. This will take 3-5 hours depending on the size of drive that you have in the Time Capsule.
7 Pass zeros the drive 7 times, etc.
BTW, the Time Capsule drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). This cannot be changed unless you pull the drive from the Time Capsule (voids the warranty), place it in a separate enclosure and use Disk Utility to make the changes that you want.
Then, you have to reinstall the disk back in the Time Capsule.

Can't backup after erasing Data on Time Capsule

Good Day!
Just recently purchased and installed my Time Capsule.
I then took some time to figure out how to configure everything and had to change some password settings.
I decided to erase Data from the Disk to see how it functionned. I imagined that having just a few weeks of backups, it would not be a long process.
I selected the 35 passes and stopped it after a few days as it seemed to go on for ever.
I selected the first quick erase option. Once completed, I also chose the second option of erasing the free spaces.
It should have then cleaned the hard drive of the Time Capsule to my understanding.
Today I tried using TimeMachine to restart the backup process.
An error message popped up stating that it could not create a sparsebundle on the Time Capsule.
What should I do to repair this?
Should I use Disk Utilities?
Regards,
Jean-Paul

I found my answer. I selected the wrong disk from the selection.
It is saving at this precise moment.
Je suis bon! I'm good!

Ripped HD out of dead Time Capsule... will it work?

Hi, like many other users here my Time Capsule power supply failed and now it's dead as disco. The repair quote seemed to be almost the price of the new one, and presumably the same design flaw will kill it again. So I took an executive decision to rip its hard drive out, Aztec style, and have now got it housed in a USB drive caddy. It mounts OK, and I've defined it as the TC disk.
But I can't see my old backups in Time Machine. Is that because it's local rather than NAS? Do I have to put it in an NAS caddy to see the old files, or is there a way to access them?

Is that because it's local rather than NAS?
Probably.

Dead time capsule, partial fix but no thanks to Apple.

I posted 3 weeks ago after finding time cap dead, no power etc. Calls to Apple did nothing as machine, 1TB at over £300 quid and 18 months old, was not covered by warranty and if I bought a new one I could not take out extended warranty unless I bought a computer to go with it!!!! Local Apple support couldnt fix and said Apple didnt allow them to open the box!!
Anyway perusing shelves at PC world I found a CnM Docking station which is what it says and takes hard drives a bit like IPod dock. So opened up Time capsule and extracted HD, plugged in dock and connected USB. It works, well to a fashion, I can see and read and extract backed up files and it backs up normally. No wifi and the time machine display does not happen, but for £29! yes only £29 I have recovered my back ups and can carry on.
RESULT!!!!!

DaddyPaycheck wrote:
Have you tried making a new network location?
That's seems to have fixed it. I thought that I did create a new network setting for Airport, I guess that is why I didn't attempt to try it again. Thanks.
Message was edited by: sculley

Dead Time Capsule

My Time Capsule (1TB) lasted a few more months than expected. Bought it in 3/2008. Got a message that it was overheating and 20 minutes later it died. I called Apple support. They were willing to replace it with another 1TB drive, but would not let me open it to remove the hard drive. I talked to some supervisor and explained the fact that I needed to get my data off the TC before turning it in, but was told that if it was opened I would be charged for new TC. They wanted to get my credit card info before proceding. As I had already read about the failured of early TCs, I had already taken out the hard drive and put it in an Acomdata encolsure to get my data off of it... The supervisor I spoke to acknowleged that there was an issue with my batch of TCs and was willing to replace it even though it was out of warrantee (bought it in 3/2008), but would not let me take it apart to retrieve my information. Even after a long discussion my choice was to send back an intact TC with my data, or be screwed out of the $500 I originally paid if I removed the hard drive. Since I already removed the HD, I'm screwed. Was hoping for some better resolution from Apple since this is a known problem, but couldn't convince him. Will try with again with another rep later...

Same problem here...I guess we're joining the club!
I was using the Time Capsule as an external HD, so there's data on it that exists nowhere else. Apple already sent me a replacement, but won't let me get the data off of the original myself as it will void the warranty. They said I can use a company called "Drivesavers" who will rescue it and not void the warranty, but I need to see the cost of it first.
It's hard to decided what your data is worth, and it's frustrating that Apple is forcing us to decide! Especially when I'm capable of removing the drive and recasing it myself.

Does this sound like a dead Time Capsule?

Came home this aft to no WIFI. Checked and the light was off on my Time Capsule (first generation) but otherwise intenret connectios seemed OK.
Powered the TC off/on; green light came on momentarily, changed to orange for about 30 seconds, then went off again. Repeated the cycle several times with no difference.
I have noticed recently that the hard-drive in my TC was getting noisy but everything appeared to be working until a few hours ago.
I recall there were issues with the early Time Capsules and sudden death. Does this sound like that situation?
Welcome advice on whether current generation Time Capsules are more reliable or would a better course be to replace it with a generic router and seprate backup disk?
Thanks ..donald

Apple treated me well on this. My TC was 15 months out of warranty when I took it to the Genius Bar. About the only question asked was "do you have Apple Care on another product?", following which a replacement TC was produced, some paperwork signed and I was on my way.
Only a couple of reservations:
The replacement TC, according to the Genius, is new "service stock" (not a refurnished unit) but the same model as my original TC; i.e. First Generation. This leaves me guessing it will have about a 2-yaer lifespan as well, so I I should plan on upgrading well in advance. I'll be listening carefully for strange noises and watching how hot it gets.
The second reservation is about security of the information on the TC; al the Time Machine backups plus a little bot of other stuff. The old TC was boxed for return to Apple and I have to trust Apple that it will be securly destroyed. Trust is a big thing.

Dead Time Capsule replaced by a refurb but now drops connection...

Hi Guys,
I took delivery of Apple's replacement for my dead TC with the fried PSU. Sadly it's only a refurb and I'm having problems maintaining a connection to it via my iMac. It's connected via Gbit ethernet and I can mount the TC and the USB back-up drive I have attached to it onto my desktop.
All I'm doing is trying to copy back all the files from the back-up to get the TC back to where it was before it died. So far I've been doing this for 24 hours as the two drives both keep disappearing from the desktop.
Is there something I can tweak to make these connect more reliably? If not Apple can have this back too. I just don't have time to continually troubleshoot Apple stuff right now.
Cheers
rich

If it's not working, just send it back to Apple. It should work out of the box.

How do I selectively erase old data from old computers on my Time Capsule to make room for my new computer data?

My new computer did one complete backup on the Time Capsule now I get the message that there is insufficient room to complete further backups.
(128 GB available, my backup size is 170GB but the time capsule is 998GB)
I suspect that information from old computers is there. How do I selectively remove that information or do I have to erase the whole Time Capsule and start over with my new computer and backup again?

Check the info here.. but big warning .. it often fails.. if you want to keep your old backups archive them off the TC to USB drive.. then erase and start fresh clean backup.
http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

Erasing a dead Time Capsule

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