Time Capsule claims to be out of space

I have 125 GB to back up using Time Machine, using a 500 GB Time Capsule. It tells me there is not enough space on the disk. (But Time Machine is supposed to erase old backups as needed.) What should I do?
--Henri

What I did, which seems to have worked, was use Airport Utility to erase the Time Capsule disk. (I learned how to do it in another discussion on this site.) So far, Time Machine seems back to normal.
--Henri

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How do I expand the storage of a time capsule that has run out of space?

In supporting the three Macs in our family, our little 1Tb Time Capsule has run out of space and now does not backup any of our Macs. No surprise since the total storage of our Macs is 2.25 Tb. So ... can I just add a large external hard drive to my Time Capsule and point, say, 2 of my Macs to it with Time Machine and everything will be good again?
Thanks for any suggestions,
Dean

Several options.......
Simplest and least expensive.....erase the Time Capsule disk and start over with new backups from all the Macs. Few of us ever go back more than a few days to a week or so to pick up a file that was accidentally deleted or somthing similar....but I understand that some users find it difficult to part with the old backups, even if they will never use them.
Yes, there is the very tiny chance that if you erase the Time Capsule and a Mac fails before you can back it up later today.
Cost of a new hard drive......add a USB drive to the Time Capsule and point each Mac there to continue backups. The downside.....Time Machine will make a new complete backup for each Mac first, and then run incremental backups. The upside....you keep your "old" backups on the Time Capsule if you cannot part with them.
Painfully slow and not worth the effort......manually delete old backups from Time Machine to create more space on the Time Capsule for new backups. This will take weeks in terms of time, and the Time Capsule will soon be full again, ao you have to repeat the process again in the near future.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Your Time Capsule disk is low on storage space - error

I am getting the error "Your Time Capsule disk is low on storage space." and it now flashes amber. I use the time capsule to set up a wireless network and I can no longer access the internet from my MapBook Pro in another room, only if I am next to the Time Capsule. Help!!! Why is my time capsule low on storage space? I thought it is suppose to delete the old backups to make room for the new backups.

MacDoz wrote:
I too am getting the same low disk space issue on my Time Capsule, and have not been able to find an answer anywhere given that I thought the Time Capsule was meant to automatically delete old back-ups.
Those are two different, independent, things.
Since you can use a Time Capsule for things besides backups, there's a built-in warning (the flashing light) when it gets near full (exactly how full is not clear).
Time Machine is separate; when it doesn't have space for a new backup, it will delete the oldest backup(s) as necessary, if it can, to make room for new ones.
The handling is a bit different, though, for Leopard vs. Snow Leopard.
In Leopard, if you have the +Warn when old backups are deleted+ box checked in Time Machine Preferences > Options, it will fail with a message. All you have to do is remove the check.
In Snow Leopard, it will delete old backups as necessary, do the backup, then send a message if you have the box, now worded +Warn after old backups are deleted,+ checked.
See #C4 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting for details.

Time Capsule full after a "Erase Free Space" using Disk Utility

Hello,
I am facing some issues related to my Time Capsule.
Reviewing my past, I had a lot of backups on this, using Time Machine and it always worked pretty well. But after deleting some backups manually to reclaim disk space, this was not exactly freeing it.
Searching in the forum here, I saw that I could mount the backup sparsebundle image and map it into the Disk Utility. This always worked greatly too both for disk checking and reclaiming the space back.
The problem starts on the last Friday when I performed the operation again, but it started using the whole free space that I had and did not give it back.
Studying the case I found that it creates a temporary folder to store the file it creates to write the byte 0 on the disk. This file actually resides in the sparsebundle image and therefore I can see the file with 200GB, for example, in the Finder, this is a split in bands (8MB) just like the backup is. After the disk gets full, the Disk Utility should delete the file properly and give me back the space safely.
Right now my Time Capsule has 0 byte free and I can't do anything on it beyond redo the the Erase Free Space operation. When I do it, it starts writing the temporary file again and the problem repeats itself.
I know that if I backup the data and really erase the disk, I'll get it back, but this is not an option for me because I want a smart solution for this.
The only thing that changed between when it worked and now is the 10.5.6 update that I made and I'd like that it's not the root of the issue.
Is there any suggestion or general stuff I could do to fix it?
Did anybody already face the same issue?
If anyone needs more details to help me out of this, just let me know.
Thanks and regards,
Eduardo

Just another thing to add, I'd like a good solution for this as the redo operation from Disk Utility takes around 2 days and then it just "dies".

How to access Time Capsule hard drive with out internet connection?

Basically I live in a four bedroom house. One of my roomates moved out who had the internet in there name. Now i dont have an internet access but I have the Time Capsule with a 2 TB hard drive that stores my whole itunes library. I have enough space on my Macbook Air to store my whole library. I'd like to move my whole iTunes library back to my computer and wipe the Time Capsule Clean.

If the Time Capsule is providing a wireless network signal, an Internet connection does not need to exist to move files from the Mac to the Time Capsule, or vice versa.
Log onto the Time Capsule wireless network
Open Macintosh HD
Look for the Time Capsule icon under the SHARED heading on the left side of the window
Click on the Time Capsule icon and a folder named Data (unless you have renamed it) will appear to the right
Double click Data to mount the drive on the Mac's desktop
Open the drive on the desktop and you can drag/drop files over to the destination that you choose on the Mac.
Once the file transfer is complete, double check to make sure that the files are back on your Mac and everything is working properly. Then, you can erase the Time Capsule hard drive.

"Your Time Capsule Disk is Low on Storage Space" What are my options?

Hi I just got a message from Airport Utility that my Time Capsule is low on Disk space. My 500 GB Time Capsule only has 25GB of space left. What do I do? Do I have to purchase a 1GB Time Capsule. Can I simply replace my 500 GB Time Capsule with a 1GB Time Capsule. Will the new Time Capsule remember all my network and computer settings? Thanks

Welcome to the discussions!
You didn't mention if you were using Time Machine for your backups to your Time Capsule, but I will assume that you are.
Some users reason that they don't need all the backups from many months ago and elect to erase the TC and start over with a complete backup. The risk here is that you have no backup until the new full backup is completed.
And, if you have transferred files from your computer to the TC and then deleted the files on your computer, you lose those files if the TC is erased.
In theory, you don't need to do anything as Time Machine will simply start to delete the oldest versions of backups to make room for new backups. My 500 GB TC ran out of space a few months ago. I used to be able to see how my computer looked a year ago. Now, I can see how how it looked about 11 months ago.
If you want to preserve every backup since day one, then you will need to add more storage space. If you purchase a new Time Capsule, Time Machine backups will continue on the new machine.
If you get a new Time Capsule, there would be very little configuration required. Basically, the new device would be setup as a bridge to the old Time Capsule using a short ethernet cable. You would need to reset Time Machine by pointing it at the new Time Capsule for backups.

Can I connect an external hard drive to my time capsule to add virtual hard drive space?

I would like to make a 4 TB external hard drive available wirelessly on my home network. I have heard that I could connect it to my router or my Time Capsule to do this. Is this possible? Is there any special setup I need to do to enable this to work?
Additionally, I have two Macbooks in the house and have recently purchased a second Time Capsule. I would like to back up each computer to its own Time Capsule. Is there a configuration that would make this possible?
If the two Time Capsules are connected together via an ethernet cable (in extend the network mode), and one elects to back both of their computers up to the primary Time Capsule, does the primary use the secondary Time Capsule's hard drive space to continue backing up once it becomes full?
Thanks in advance for any advice you all may have for me in this situation!

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

Time Machine failure: Disk run out of space unexpectedly

Hi
I'm having serious problems in the last few days with Time Machine backups.
I have an iMac '27 (late 2009) running Mountain Lion 10.8.2. The internal disk is 1 TB, and I use an external FW HD LaCie d2 Quadra 1 TB for my TM backups. After 3 years the disk is always full, but old backups were regularly removed. All the possible source of large variable files were excluded long time ago (VM disks, temporary directories, large download files).
TM used to work quite smoothly, but now, since 10 days, the backup fails with the message
"The backup disk ran out of space unexpectedly. Time Machine will try to make more space available by removing expired backups during the next scheduled backup."
I've checked previous messages in the forum about such an error, but the various cases do not seem to match my specific problem (or I was not able to find the message with working answer).
It seems that the "unexpected" problem is related to the fact that Time Machine is trying to backup again a large part of my filesystem, and it determines this fact only after the backup starts (so there is no pre-cleaning): when it happens I can see that the target size of the backup increases over time, while more and more data are written on the disk, until the disk is full.
I'll try to summarize my situations with an itemized list:
The current backup fails because it runs out of space, leaving an .inprogress file behind
The latest backup did not fail: the log report a successful backup (checked with Time Machine Buddy)
Examining the content of the latest backup, the one that did not fails, shows that some system directories, /Applications, /usr, and /bin are missing
So, possibly, the "unexpected" error happens because the system is backing up a lot of stuff (like 60GB), and TM discover this only after it starts writing the files
I've verified with Disk Utility both the TM disk and the internal HD, and they both report no problem.
After some digging around, I was able to make TM work again removing the .inprogress file (using the Pondini instructions), removing (using the "Star Wars" interface) the latest backup, the one with the incomplete content, and removing a few older backups to create some more free space.
The first time I thought it was a transient problem, but it happened again after a few days.
So the real issue is, why the latest successful backup is actually incomplete, with a large number of directories missing, but there is no hint of this in the logs?
I've read that old LaCie HDs might have problems with Mountain Lion, and with its power saving settings. May this be the cause? I did already turn off the power saving setting (put HD to sleep when possible) before the latest failure, but nothing changed.
I've also tried to update the d2 Quadra firmware, as indicated by other messages and on LaCie website, but the update fails and the provided instructions are less than useful (I'll try to contact LaCie on this issue).
My doubt is that this does not seem a power save issue... the failed backups happen while I'm actually using the machine (so no wake up/disk spin issue seems to happen), and the backups starts with no problem: they just finish abruptly with no apparent reason but with a success message.
Does anyone have problems similar to mine (successful but incomplete TM snapshots)? Is the problem triggered by the HD firmware, or there are other possible causes?
I plan to repair the TM one more time, and then keep it turned off to run only manual backups, but I'm aware that there is no guarantee that also a controlled manually started backup is not going to fail in a similar way.
Thanks for any suggestion.
Maurizio

I am not running out of space, but I do have the same problem. Every so often TM does a backup which is about 60 GB bigger than expected.   The extra is always a new backup of /System /Applications /usr etc. - that is the 'system files'.
The key thing is, as you have noticed:
Examining the content of the latest backup, the one that did not fail, shows that some system directories, /Applications, /usr, and /bin are missing
As a consequence the next backup is, in my case, 60 GB bigger because it includes all the system files.
It is as if 'systemFilesExcluded' was turned on for the previous backup (the one that 'did not fail'). But I have looked in the .exclusions.plist for this backup and it is exactly the same as for other backups and does include:
        <key>systemFilesExcluded</key>
        <false/>
It seems that TM is treating this as if <true/>.
Like you, I have done a disk verify and it finds no errors.
I think this must be a bug. I have had this on four occassions since upgrading to Mountain Lion. And it is doing a large one right now - I have caught it in the act!

Can I connect an external HD on the time capsule and use it as storage space ?

Hello,
I am thinking about purchasing a time capsule for backing up my data, but I also need storage space for photos and videos, can I connect an external hard drive to the time capsule and use it as storage ? If so, is there any risk of the time machine use the external hd space for backup as well and eat up all the storage ?

can I connect an external hard drive to the time capsule and use it as storage ?
Yes....for storage, as in backup files. But, not recommended for "working" image or media libraries.
If so, is there any risk of the time machine use the external hd space for backup as well and eat up all the storage ?
No, unless you intend to also use the same drive for Time Machine backups.

Time capsule claims mobileme incorrect password

So, today my printers are not working, and they've been hooked up to my wireless network through Time Capsule for over a year, nothing changed from my side. When I opened Airport Utility and restarted the TC, I got a Problem reported: Your MobileMe member name or password is incorrect.
So, I entered them, the thing restarted again, and I'm right back where I was, with printers that show up but don't print. When this first started, the printer showed up as "Printing" though nothing was happening. Then, a bit later, and now "In use" in System Prefs, but still nothing. I've unplugged the one I'm waiting on now, replugged, no go. I've put the job on Hold, then resumed, no go. I've put the printer on Pause/Resume Printing, still not working.
Worked yesterday just fine. Is this a MobileMe is History issue perhaps?

Sorry, spoke too soon. For those looking (though it didn't help in my case, it might in yours), Airport Express>Base Station>Manual Set up> tab for MobileMe, I just deleted my MobMe account altogether. Not sure if I did that prior to a reboot, though, so I'll try rebooting the whole TC and the DSL router ahead of it and report back.
Meanwhile, anyone finding any solutions out there? **** frustrating to not have the use of printers that I depend on for my work.

Lost internet connection via time capsule, wireless signal grayed out. What may be wrong?

My mac mini started intermitently losing connection to the Internet. Checked settings, look OK, no changes. Wireless signal icon in the menu bar is sometimes full sometimes grayed out (no connection at all). Other computers connecting via the same Time Capsule without any problems. I've serched forums and tried some suggestions to no avail. My mini is core 2 duo 1.83 GHz, 2GB RAM. Snow Leopard up to date.
What may be wrong?

Well, I reset the TimeCapsule to factory settings and configured it again for my home network and all works like a charm again.

Time Capsule wireless intermittent drop outs to PC and iPhone

I have a Time Capsule that we use in our home as a wireless router and back-up. It is connected to a Comcast cable modem only. It has worked well, but about a couple months ago we started to have issues. Our iMac sees the Time Capsule through the wireless fine and has no connectivity issues. However, my PC laptop, that used to connect wirelessly, now has issues keeping a connection and so does my iPhone. The two devices will see the network and connect, but the connection drops out after a minute or so, then reconnects, and the cycle continues. I am not sure what to do to fix this and it makes me even more confused since our iMac has no issues with the wireless connection. Has anyone experienced this issue? Thanks!

All that is Ok, and TIvo says I am hooked up correctly. THey say this is the problem, they can look at the box to see the error #.
The following ports (whether inbound or outbound) must be open to allow your TiVo box to communicate with the TiVo Servers, other TiVo boxes, and your Macintosh or Windows PC:
TCP port 37
TCP port 80
TCP port 443
TCP port 2190
TCP port 4430
TCP port 5222
TCP port 5223
TCP port 5254
TCP port 5354
TCP port 7287-7297
TCP port 8000
TCP ports 8080-8089
TCP port 8101
TCP port 8102
TCP port 8181
TCP port 8200
UDP port 37
UDP port 123
UDP port 2190
UDP port 5353
In addition, TiVo Desktop for Macintosh computers requires at least one of the following ports to be open for communications: 8101, 8102, or 8200.
Didn't locate any information about this.

Time capsule hard disk spinning out of control

My TC's hard disk out of of the blue yesterday started spinning louder than it usually does and cuasing it to emit a whirring, grinding like sound which acclerated to the point I thought the tc was either going to become airborn and/or explode or both.
The tc was not living in unusal condions both enviroment, configuration or extreme temperature variations. It was on a seperate return portion of my desk with nothing around it to crowd or adversly affect. Configuration is ethernet to comcast smc business gateway over the wan port and a direct ethernet to thunderbolt conx to my macbook pro retina and finally a sonos bridge was connected as well.
At the time this occured I had not been putting the tc through anything more unusal than providing DHCPservices for my local area network in my house.
When I plug it back in its spits and tries to spin but gives up and the status light remains solid amber. it will not reset either as far as changing from solid amber to blinking to open airport utility.
its a first generation 500gb tc, however it is the third device genius bar has replaced since i purchased originally in Apr 2009? each time genius bar has replaced it through apple care on my mac as a peripheral device covered by applecare they have strangly had three! of the original (same 2008/9 model to replace the failed one which none to date has ever had any of the sympotons i describe here. just trouble accessing files. Now my fear is I no longer have the imac w/apple care the tc was covered by but I have a new macbook pro retina which I bought in December and is still under warranty so i wanted to try and economize and wait to by apple care later this spring.
all my backups are on the tc 500 gigs worth plus I need the router support as i have comcast business class and they dont offer a wifi cable modem. I'm frantic that I will get nothing from apple care or genius bar but the same bland, robotic like detatchment all apple employees seem to be secretly instructed to treat its custromers with these days as they maddeningly tell me to buy a newer tc for $299 or $399 that i simply dont have the money to do so and dont antcipate having it at all in the next 6 months especially snce I just shelled out 2 grand in Decemeber for the new macbook pro retina. Especially saddened I coud have potentially lost all of my photos and my 60 or so gigs of itunes media purchased entirely from itunes fair and square for the past decade to the tune of twenty thousand dollars!
Appreciative of all your expertise,
Desperately mistrustful of Apple in the post Steve culture
San Francisco, Calif

I am reading through the boards here and it sounds as though there was a small fraction of those who purchased the orignal tc in the spring of 2008 who have experinced the same issues exactly. It also sounds as though Apple ackowledged this to those who complained with a replacement of a later generation tc AND conceeded to those affected that there was indeed a design flaw. Astonishingly, Apple did not issue a press release nor a product recall!
As I said Genius Bar here in San Francisco did replace the device three times but with the exact same model. The most recent swap was in Jan of 2012.
I am sick to death of being disregarded and abused by Apple everytime I experience a valid hardware issue or reuire tech support period. Since 2004 I have faithfully purchased Apple Care agreements with nearly every device I've purchased and this one time when I try to save a little money by waiting untill the 90 day warranty on my macbook pro I purchased in Dec 2012 is close to expiring AS advised "off the record" by more than one Apple Care advisor.
An abbriviated list of the hardware I have purchaded directly from Apple retail and online:
2 ipod classics 2004
3 ipod nanos 2006, 2007, 2009
macbook white unibody 2007
macbook black special edition 2008
macbook aluminum 2009
imac 20" 2008
imac 24" 2009
imac 27" 2010
time capsule 2008
airport expresss 4 purchased between 2008-2012
the last airport express I bought less than one week before the new model hit the shelves but do you think Apple felt compelled to tell me or even let me trade up?
iphone frst gen 2007
iphone 3g 2008
iphone 3gs (4 devices of this model purchased between 2008-2010
iphone 4 (2 devices)
iphone 4s "
iphone 5 purchased in oct 2012
Macbook pro retina purchased Dec 2012
Do you think maybe I've just been a little too loyal? Or am I just stupid???

Time capsule works as router but storage space and all data has disappeared!

I have used my apple time capsule for about 3 years. Suddenly the time machine stopped backing up and I can not view backups or access any/all other data that was on the internal HD. The TC still works as my wireless internet router. Please help me. I am afraid that I have lost all of my children's pictures etc. I continue to get the error "Operation could not be completed. OSStatus error -6602" when I try to use it for time machine. I have looked at many of the "fixes" on here with no luck.

Have you tried the things in #E4 of Time Machine - Troubleshooting?
Your backups are on the Time Capsule, right?
Where are the originals -- on your internal HD? If so, are they intact?

Time Capsule claims to be out of space

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