Time Capsule and External HD as Network Attached Storage

I was wondering if I can
a. Attached and external hard drive to my Time Capsule and access is wirelessly?
b. Back up to that external hard drive using Time Machine?
c. Access that external hard drive and Time Capsule from a remote place off site?
Thanks

a. Yes
b. I think so. But why not just use the TCs hard disk for TM backups?
c. Apparently so based on these instructions I have found: (Haven't tried it myself)
In the Finder preferences check the box "show server" to mount to desktop.
Under Airport Utility:
Disks - check over wan and check file sharing and write down the ip address
Under the Finder, use the GO function to find your server ie the hard drive on the TC. In the window provided type afp://ip address then password if applicable. The hard drive should mount and be shown on the desktop.

Similar Messages

Time Capsule as a server grade network attached storage?

Can anyone comment on the performance of the TC as a network attached storage? Like Read/write speeds? Exactly how server-grade is a hard drive in the TC? They say it's SATA but that's about it.
I am in need of a high speed storage solution for my home network and was considering the Time Machine.

Here's a CNET review of the 500 GB Time Capsule. I think you'll find all the information you're looking for:
http://reviews.cnet.com/network-storage/apple-time-capsule-500gb/4505-3382_7-328 18588.html
As for the server grade issue, I know that the 500 GB uses a server grade hard drive, but the 1 TB version uses one that's not classified as server grade. Although Apple has clarified that their classification of server grade refers to mean time between failures.
<Edited by Moderator>

Please Help - Time Capsule and External hard drive Issues

Recently, I switched from Comcast to AT&T uverse as my internet provider and I started experiencing problems.
(1) I have a 4th generation Apple Time Capsule which I am using as my router.
(2) Connected to the Apple Time Capsule - USB - is an external hard drive (not for backup with Time Machine.)
(3) I have a 2011 Macbook pro which I use to access my file on my time capsule and external hard drive.
(4) I had been using my AT&T portable Hotspot from my cell phone to get internet access on my MacBook pro from remote locations to gain access to my external hard drive which is attached to the time capsule.
(5) On August 2, 2014, I switched from Comcast to AT&T and had the AT&T turn off the router function. (I have been using the router from my apple time capsule)
(6) Under Network I switched to bridge mode.
(7) And since August 2, 2014 my time capsule has not been backup.
THE PROBLEM - I need to be able to use the hotspot function from my cell phone to gain access on the external hard drive using my MacBook Pro which I was able to do before. Now it is showing time capsule under finder but unable to connect.
Do I need to reset my Time Capsule since I have a new service provider. Everything else works fine - meaning able to get internet signal but unable to access my external hard drive and backup my time capsule. Please HELP.

(5) On August 2, 2014, I switched from Comcast to AT&T and had the AT&T turn off the router function. (I have been using the router from my apple time capsule)
(6) Under Network I switched to bridge mode.
(7) And since August 2, 2014 my time capsule has not been backup.
If you got ATT to turn off router function in their modem..
Then 6. is wrong.. You cannot have the Network switched to bridge mode..
You must have it set to dhcp and nat.
That is also why you cannot backup.. the TC is off the network.
Please change back to router mode in the TC.
Ensure the internet tab shows dhcp and you create a wireless network.
Then power down the TC... power down the ATT modem.. wait about 20min (you can try 5min.. but it might not be long enough).
Power up the ATT modem.. wait 2min for things to flash lights in de right blinkin order.. then start the TC.
Open the airport utility and make sure your TC captured the public IP and is now working as the router.
That should fix that end of it.. the hotspot end??
Tell us what happens.

Time Capsule and external 2 tb drive

I am trying to connect a 2 tb seagate free agent desk external drive for mac to my time capsule through the USB port. I would like to have additional memory available for the three macs on the home network. Everything works fine for 15 mins or so and then the drive and the time capsule seem to hang. I can no longer see the external dive or connect to the time capsule. I have to restart the time capsule and the drive. (the network stays connected however).
I talked to apple support they tell me that they only support the time capsule not what is connected to it. Seagate says that they only support direct connection to the Mac pc not a network device......any help would be greatly apreciated.

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
Be sure the drive is formatted right (it sounds like it probably is, but double-check it). It's usually best to completely erase and reformat an external, to get rid of the often-problematic software that comes with them.
That drive has it's own power supply, doesn't it? It should work without a powered USB hub, but that's a possibility.
WD's don't have the best reputation here; among other things, some of them have a built-in sleep or "spin down" mode that doesn't always wake or spin back up properly. We see this mostly when they're attached directly, but it's quite possible you're having the same problem.
You might want to try using the drive temporarily while connected directly to your Mac; if the problem persists, then it's something to do with the drive's hardware or firmware.
Also check WD's site for any driver or firmware updates for it.

About time capsule and external hard disk

I have got rMBP. I also have got time capsule. External WD hard disk is connected to time capsule.
I have got 3 users in my rMBP:
(1) Admin : Administrator
(2) User A : I normally do all my work from this user.
(3) User B: I recently added this new user.
Here, using Finder tabs, User A can see time capsule and External WD hard disk. But, Admin and User B cannot. I also want User B to have the ability to see WD hard disk (and time capsule). For User B and Admin, time capsule does show up, but it shows as not connected. How can I provide User B the ability to see External WD hard disk (since User B needs to store large different files there)? Any permission issue on hard disk?
(Amazingly backup does take place automatically even if I am connected as User B or Admin).
I will appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

Emma1609 wrote:
Hi,
hi emma, and welcome to discussions
Once the external HD is turned on my Time Capsule is not longer recognized. I can't connect to Time Capsule and make any backups. It is also no longer appearing in the Airport settings.
you could try a power cycle on your devices. turn off modem, TC, and HD for, say, 10 minutes. turn the modem back on for 2 minutes, followed by the HD, followed by the TC.
then go airport utility > manual setup > disks. see if your HD is showing beneath the TC

1st Gen Time Capsule and External Hard Drive Issues

I have a 1st generation Time Capsule and have never had any luck connecting an external hard drive (both Western Digital MyBook and Seagate FreeAgent Pro) via an USB hub for an extended period. They will connect for a few hours or up to a day or two before they lose the connection and look up the wi-fi connection (although the internet and connected printer don't seem affected). Thought it might be an issue with the powered hub, but have same issue with both (Belkin and APC). I have read that others have had similar issues.
For laughs, I connected a dinky personal drive (WD My Passpoert 750gb) to the USB hub and it came up instantly and had no issues for the 12+ hours it was connected. Question #1: can I run a portable drive for an extended period of time (weeks, months, years) via USB hub without killing it?
Also, I would like to house my large iTunes and iPhoto libraries to be accessed by 3 different MacBooks. Question #2: is a NAS drive connected directly via ethernet to the TC is the best answer?
I am spoiled by the simplicity of the plug-and-play connectivity of Apple products. Is there a mysterious sequence of procedures that I need to follow to get the Time Capsule to play well with the USB connected HDs?
Thanks in advance for your help.

To answer the general question, a drive that is constantly spinning is both more likely to be damaged and less likely to give issues of access to the USB.. the one fights the other. Feel the small passport drive and see if it is continually spinning.. if so that could account for it maintaining connection.. although according to your testing 12hrs is not long enough to know for sure. Feel the other drives. If they spin down and then when you try to access them, do they spin up? Or is it the spin down time that dictates the time they are available on the network. It may simply be a case of usb connected to a router is not getting the correct spin up info.
IMHO a NAS is the right way to do this.. especially if you have multiple computers accessing it. USB is not a fast connection. Especially hanging off the TC series 1, were not renowned for speed. A NAS is not that expensive now and using a mirrored raid you at least have some protection. Remember to always have the source files in mulitple locations. A NAS can also work as an itunes server, which the TC cannot. And the connection from gigabit ethernet to sata is not made via usb.
As a secondary option.. open your series 1 TC and put in a 2TB hdd.. this is well documented.. larger sizes give trouble but the series one can easily be updated to 2TB.. remember also the power supply in a series one can go at any moment. Get ready for it, plan for it.. one day it will happen.

Question on Time Capsule and external USB HDD

Hello everyone,
I have a 500GB Time Capsule that is working wonderfully. I recently have been downloading a number of large .iso image files that are taking up a lot of space on my internal drive on my Macbook Pro. I do not back these files up on the Time Capsule as it is getting full and i want it to backup other more important things.
I do however wish to backup these files. My current desk is rather full and really will not allow me to purchase a large 3.5" HDD and plug it in USB.
Is it possible to plug an external drive into the back of the Time Capsule and have it be used as a wireless disk as well?
I would prefer to have that drive not be part of the Time Capsule disks, i just want to be able to access it wireless over my network.
I would be grateful if anyone can help me out. If this solution will not work, is there some sort of NAS disk solution i can get to work with my TC?
Thanks

All you need is an external USB HDD. It needs to be formatted HFS+ (Mac OS Extended - Journaled), if you plan on a future Time Machine Disk on this drive, or FAT/FAT32. You could get a NAS, but you don't need to if you already have TC. Can I assume the USB port is free or do you have a USB printer hooked up to it?

Time Capsule and external Hard Disc

Hi,
I have a problem with my Time Capsule (1 TB) and External Hard Disc (1 TB). The external HD is connected via USB. The idea is to have use the device as a shared HD in my network. First it worked perfect. After upgrading to Snow Leopard i have following problem.
Once the external HD is turned on my Time Capsule is not longer recognized. I can't connect to Time Capsule and make any backups. It is also no longer appearing in the Airport settings.
Can anybody help?
Thank you.

Emma1609 wrote:
Hi,
hi emma, and welcome to discussions
Once the external HD is turned on my Time Capsule is not longer recognized. I can't connect to Time Capsule and make any backups. It is also no longer appearing in the Airport settings.
you could try a power cycle on your devices. turn off modem, TC, and HD for, say, 10 minutes. turn the modem back on for 2 minutes, followed by the HD, followed by the TC.
then go airport utility > manual setup > disks. see if your HD is showing beneath the TC

Time Capsule and External Drive Options

I wanted to inquire if I can use my Time Capsule as an external drive. Reading some of the questions submitted I am still a little unclear. Here is my issue, I have a macbook pro and I am reaching my maximum capacity on my hard drive space. Most of the data is iMovie, Photos, and iTunes. Now I do not need all this data all the time, it just sits on my macbook pro as if it is being stored. I would like to move this to a external drive and I assumed the Time Capsule functions as a external drive. But reading all the posts in the communities it seems like that the Time Capsule can hold some space as an external drive but then if the TC starts to reach its maximum capacity it would delete the stored data. I am interested in doing the following, please guide me if this is possible:
1) The videos/music/pictures that I do not need anymore but would like to archive it, can I store it on the Time Capsule and treat it like an external drive?
2) I got a 2TB TC which I know only 250GB space would be utilized maximum by my MacBook Pro and the remaining space would be utilized for nothing. Unless for instance my Macbook backs up everyday to the TC and it stores 250GB each day then it would reach its maximum capacity on the TC really quickly and will delete the latest version of back up automatically. Is that true? Or does the TC only creates another back up of the changes found. I am just trying to figure out if I can somehow utilize the space on the TC for storage especially if I know that I probably wont have enough data for 2TB.
3) What are my options if I want to store the data and want to retrieve it at my disposal. I just want to make more space on my MacBook Pro.
4) What is the return policy on the TC if opened?
Thank you

But reading all the posts in the communities it seems like that the Time Capsule can hold some space as an external drive but then if the TC starts to reach its maximum capacity it would delete the stored data.
When space is tight on the drive, Time Machine will automatically start to delete the oldest Time Machine backups to make room for newer backups.
But, Time Machine will leave any regular files or folders that you might have stored on the drive untouched. Those files will never be deleted unless you delete them yourself.
1) The videos/music/pictures that I do not need anymore but would like to archive it, can I store it on the Time Capsule and treat it like an external drive?
If you move any files from your Mac, then the only copy of those files that you will have will be on the Time Capsule drive. You have no backups for these files, so you might want to think about this a bit. If your attitude is such that if the files are lost due to a Time Capsule drive problem, and it is of no great concern, that's one thing.
If losing thes files would cause you grief, you would want to think about having a backup plan in place for the "original" files that you move to the Time Capsule drive. For some reason, users seem to forget that if they move a file from their Mac to another drive, they only have one copy of that file....unless they create backups manually.
Unless for instance my Macbook backs up everyday to the TC and it stores 250GB each day then it would reach its maximum capacity on the TC really quickly and will delete the latest version of back up automatically. Is that true?
Sounds like you are confused about how Time Machine works. The Time Machine application will back up everything on your Mac on the first backup. After that, it only backups up any changes that you make to the Mac.
If you do not anticipate making a a lot of changes or adding a lot of new data, your backups will remain very small. If on the other hand you regularly add a number of new large images from your camera, or new movies, Time Machine will be backing up each new set of images or movies that you add.
3) What are my options if I want to store the data and want to retrieve it at my disposal. I just want to make more space on my MacBook Pro.
You can move files from your Mac to the Time Capsule if you want to, as long as you remember that when you do this, you are moving the "original" files to the Time Capsule disk. You will have no backups in the evernt of a problem with the Time Capsule.
It sounds a bit harsh....but the truth remains that all drives will fail. If your Time Capsule fails , you lose the Time Machine backups, but you still have the "original" files on your Mac.
If you move an "original" file off of your Mac to the Time Capsule and the Time Capsule fails....you have no backups of these files.
The whole idea about a good backup plan is that you have "originals" on one drive and "backups" on another.....in case one drive fails, you still have a copy of everything. Make sense?
4) What is the return policy on the TC if opened?
Best to ask the store that you buy from about their return policies in advance. We can't speak for any stores, or for Apple here.

Setting up Time Capsule and external hard drive

Hi,
In the past i've been using Time Machine for backing up all my data from my Mac Book Pro to a 120GB lacie external hard drive.
I've now purchased a Time Capsule and want to know the best way to transfer my backup data from the External HD to my Time Capsule.
Once that is done, i want to mount my External HD to the Time Capsule so i can use it as external storage for music, photos etc. and access it from my laptop when required.
Is this possible and recommended.
I've also got a PS3 and was wondering whether i can hook this up to all of the above as well.

read these hypertexts and then you'll determine its a no no...different file system.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/04/04/exploringtime_capsule_feature_and_suitabilityreview.html

Move Time Capsule and Laptop to New Network

I have been searching the forums it haven't found a clear answer to this question. I have been backing up my laptop using Time Machine and Time Capsule on one wireless network (TC has joined the wireless network, it does not serve as the router for the network). I am now about to move to a new apartment and will be using a new wireless network. Can I transfer the laptop and the Time Machine to the new network and maintain the continuity of the backups I have been making? Can anyone provide guidance on how to do that? Also, is there a way to set it up prior to moving -- I know the SSID and password of the new network. I feel certain that these questions have come up before, but I can't find clear discussion of it.

My suggestion FWIW. Ask the cable/DSL provider if it would be possible to install just a modem with no router. Connect an Ethernet cable from the modem to the World or WAN port on the Time Capsule. Your computer can connect using wireless or wired as you choose.
The above should be done with all devices turned OFF for at least one minute. After you have everything physically connected first turn on the modem and wait until the status lights indicate it is connected to the ISP. Then power up the Time Capsule and wait until the status light turns Green or is blinking orange (or has changed from blinking to steady orange.) Lastly, power up the computer. Open Airport Utility and proceed from there.
If all goes well you will have a functioning network under the control of the Time Capsule router.
If the ISP will not provide a separate modem, then you have some potential problems using your Time Capsule. You would have to configure it to run in Bridge Mode. That means in Airport Utility you have to configure the Wireless setting to use the Join an Existing Network option. I can't tell you if a Time Capsule will work with a third-party router properly, but that is how you have to set it up.

What is the best configuration with Mac Book air, time capsule and external hard drive?

Hi, I just bought a MacBook Air with the new Time Capsule and I was wondering what is the best set up:
Option 1: use the time capsule as my main drive and back it up onto an external drive plugged at the back of it
or Option 2: use the external drive as the main drive and use the time capsule as the back up? in that case, would the ext drive need to be plugged to the MacBook Air?
Many thanks

Option 2 is far superior.. and actually the only one that works.
That is without killing yourself or having continual issues accessing your files.
You do need to plug the external disk into the MBA.

Time capsule and external hard drive

Can I attach a USB drive to time capsule to expand storage for my auto backups?

Just to add a warning.. the external USB plugged into the TC is very slow. It won't matter a lot for small incremental backups but you will really notice it for large backups.. Make sure the external is used for least amount of data transfer devices. And slower ones on wireless it will be less noticable.

Time capsule and external hardrive

can I attach an external hard drive to time capsule to expand storage? If so, are there any downsides?

I am having the same problem. I have two drives plugged into the USP port using a USB2.0 hub. Everything works fine for about a day. Then just the internet access works but none of the drives are accessible, not even the internal drive in the TC.
Symptoms:
• Internet access works
• Airport utility can find the TC but cannot access the settings.
• The desktop cannot access the Time Capsule.
To recover:
• Turn off the external drives and unplug the TC.
• Plug in the TC and wait for a green light.
• Turn on the external drives.
• Repeat every day or so.
Any ideas on how to fix this?

Time Capsule and External Drives

I just converted from Dell to Mac with purchase of a MacBook Pro. At the advice of two salespeople in my local Apple Store, I bought a Time Capsule 1TB for use as a wireless base station for my apartment and to back up my laptop and my two external hard drives, which have 400 GB and 250 GB of video files.
I just bought and hooked up the computer last night and this am. I am using the TC as my wireless base station without problem. I have attached the two drives to the TC with a USB hub, and I can access files on those external drives wirelessly throughout my apartment.
I now want to back up my files onto the TC. Since the MacBook Pro is new, I have almost nothing to back up from the laptop. But I want t do be able to backup the stuff on the external drives to the TC.
How do I do that? I cannot seem to find the answer anywhere. For that matter, I cannot even seem to move a file from one of the external drives to the TC. I can only move them to the Documents folder.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Of course you can back up your external drives, providing that they are formatted in HFS+ (it is also known as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". Just connect the external drives to your Mac, go to System Preferences -> Time Machine -> Options, and remove them from the excluded items list. You may have to press the padlock at the bottom left part of the Time Machine window in order to do that.

Time Capsule and External HD as Network Attached Storage

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