Time capsule finding plugged in usb drive

I've got a new time capsule and have plugged in a USB drive into the USB slot. It's the drive I used to use as a time machine and external drive, which I now wish to use just as a wireless external drive. It is a partitioned drive with Mac OS journaled on two of three partitions (the old time machine, the external drive) and the last partition was used as an external drive for Windows files.
I've gone into Airport Utility and under the Disks tab I have ticked 'share disks over WAN' box. I can see all three partitions in the box above but they don't appear in Finder. I am able to back up my existing Aperture vault wirelessly, so I know it's connected and working, but I can't access them it directly in Finder. Any ideas?

Thanks - the Connect to Server helped, typing in the IP address shown in Airport Utility. I can see the Mac drives and the time capsule drive which is what I'm after (but not the Windows drive). I had to drag the drive into the left tab of the Finder window to keep it there, but it's now there every time I open Finder, which is what I'm after.
Could I gain 'better' access to this USB drive wirelessly? Disk utility can't find it - I was going to remove the old time machine partition on the external USB. If I plugged the disk straight into the computer I could do that, but I wondered whether I could get the same level of access without having to remove it from the time capsule

Similar Messages

Can the hard drive from the Time Capsule be used as USB drive only?

My Time Capsule "router" kept losing the wireless capabilty, so I purchased an Airport Express (with the dual-band router).
I'd like to salvage the Time Capsule hard-drive portion and connect it to a USB port.
But when I plug-in the Time Capsule, the light blinks yellow suggesting some configuration problem.
When connecting to a USB port, my iMac will not detect a new device.
Can the Time Capsule hard-drive be used separately from the router?

Can the hard drive from the Time Capsule be used as a USB drive only?
Sorry, but no. The Time Capsule is a network drive, so it must be connected to a network using an Ethernet or wireless connection. The USB port on the Time Capsule is there only to add additional storage capacity.
Can the Time Capsule hard-drive be used separately from the router
Yes, you would configure the Time Capsule in Bridge Mode to do this. If you do not need the wireless capability, you can turn the wireless off on the Time Capsule.

If I get an airport Extreme/time capsule and plug a USB printer into it does it become an airplay printer so I can print from my I devices

I wanna get a new airport express or time capsule, I'm leanin towards the time capsule but in wanna know If I plug my USB printer into it if it becomes an AirPlay printer so I can print from my iPad

Nope. It's got to be a real AirPrint printer.
However, you may be able to use an app and print the way you described. Check out printopia.

Airport Extreme and Time Machine backups using a USB drive

Hi there,
I checked through the threads/FAQ's for an answer to this but couldn't find anything...
I have an AE set up with a USB drive attached as my Time Machine backup drive. When I start my MBP up and initiate a forced backup, Time Machine will go and find my drive (via the AE), mount it and carry out the backup without a problem. However, if I start my MBP up and wait for the scheduled hourly backup, TM doesn't see the drive (or perform the backup) unless I go and manually mount the drive first.
I realise I can put the drive in my login items to auto mount on boot but I wondered if there was a way to get the scheduled backups to work without doing this (as with the forced backups).
Thanks

mattschenker wrote:
Pondini,
Actually, I wasn't thinking about theft. I was just thinking that for security in a possible data-loss "event," it was better to have the backup drive physically separated from the main computer. But maybe that's not necessary.
That's unlikely. A power surge could take out both your Mac and connected external HD. You do have your Macs on good surge protectors or, better yet, U.P.S. systems, right? If not, see [Using a U.P.S. System with a Mac|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/UPS.html].
But wherever the external HD is, unless it's on a surge protector or U.P.S., it's still exposed.
Other things causing data loss are even less likely to affect your Time Machine drive (especially if there's no other data on it).
Yes, I could hook something up to my Mac Mini. Good point! And that would really keep it separated, since it would be in an entirely different floor. But then again, Time Machine backups done wirelessly would probably take forever.
The first one, yes. But if you have a good WIFI connection, subsequent ones shouldn't take too long or be too obtrusive, except when you've updated a lot of data (like installing an OSX update).
See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for setup instructions.
But this just shows that there are a lot of options.
Yes.
I do wish Apple would solve the problem of Time Machine working via the Airport Extreme. That would be my favorite option.
Not likely. Time Machine's been out since Leopard, about 3 years, and backups via an Extreme have never been reliable or supported. Just why they work well on a Time Capsule, or even a USB drive connected to a TC, but not an Airport, is a mystery, but that's the way it is.
But it's always a good idea to keep secondary backups. See #27 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum), for some suggestions.

Mac Formatted Time Capsule w/ PC Formatted External Drive Via USB?

I use a Mac-formatted Time Capsule to run Time Machine backups on my MacBook Pro. My wife backs up her PC laptop on a PC-formatted Western Digital "My Book" hard drive which is powered via A/C wall adapter. I connected the Western Digital PC drive to the Time Capsule via USB so it would be available on our home network and my wife could run her PC backups wirelessly, BUT the drive is not showing up on our network. Anybody have any idea what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks in advance!
---Tim

My questions continue below in red. Thank you for your patience.
LaPastenague wrote:
Tsac77 wrote:
Thanks for the in depth clarification. A few follow up questions:
1) Are you saying that even though I am only using the TC (in this instance) to make the windows drive available on the network, the drive still needs to be formatted in HFS+?
HFS+ or FAT32.. the later having severe issues with large disk and large files.
Great. I'll do HFS+
2) If I format the windows drive in HFS+, will the windows laptop be immediately able to write/read to it over the network? Or will I have to install some sort of program on the windows laptop that allows windows to read/write to HFS+ (which I've always undewrstood to be a mac only format)?
The format of the disk connected to a NAS is totally irrelevant.. if it offers windows networking file protocol.. ie SMB then it can store files on the hard disk.. it is just like sharing the disk in the Mac.. you can write to that directly from the PC. Try it.. The disk is controlled by the Mac. But it presents SMB to the Network.. On your Mac, go to system preferences.. sharing.. it should be in Internet and wireless.. but on Lion I have no idea. Open file sharing which should be ticked..there should be a public folder by default.. you can add others.. go to options, turn on SMB.. then from the windows computer you should see the disk available in networking. If not fix the names to SMB standard.. you will need to do this on the TC as well.. short, no spaces.. pure alphanumeric names. Copy some files from windows to your Mac.. you have now copied to a network drive.. with the drive format totally irrelevant to your windows computer.
I'm sorry, but I don't know what "windows networking file protocol" and "SMB" mean. Also, when you say "NAS" are you referring to the Time Capsule or another device? Can you please explain things like "The disk is controlled by the Mac but it presents SMB to the network" in a less advanced way. Pretend I'm a child. You won't be far off. It seems like this technique you're explaining is a way for the windows PC to write to the external drive via my MacBook. Is that even close to correct? The setup I must create needs to work regardless if macbook is on/off/out of the house.
3) Does plugging a USB drive into the TC never work properly or is this just a semi-common problem that happens sometimes? My odds of success will probably dictate whether I try this or not. I already own the windows USB drive and would like to avoid buying more hardware if possible.
It is problematic enough that I recommend you try it before committing to it. Even if you have to copy the files off to another location and then reformat the drive. Test it for a couple of days.. the issue happens especially when you are using Lion.. but will also happen with windows. Especially when the disk spins down it will not spin up again and become available to the network.
Got it.
4) What do you mean by files being in "native format"? And what does a dead TC have to do with whether or not they can be recovered to the windows laptop? If the TC dies, can't I just plug the windows USB drive directly into the windows laptop and it will be the same thing as connecting the drive and laptop via network? How does a dead TC make things more difficult?
Thanks for your continued help.
HFS+ is not windows native format... so files stored by the TC on the USB drive.. when the TC dies.. they all die eventually may be difficult to recover unless you plug it into another TC.. as the PC cannot natively read them. If you format FAT32 then the windows computer can read it.. just there are other issues. eg the disk can be slow.. very slow and it has far less protection. eg a power failure can corrupt the drive.. this was an issue before we moved in windows to NTFS.
Why do you say "files stored BY THE TC on the USB drive" Why is the TC storing files on the USB drive? Isn't plugging the USB into the TC just making the USB available on the network to my windows laptop? Why is the TC storing files?

Can I turn off Macbook while Time Capsule is archiving Time Machine backup to a USB drive?

My Time Capsule is archiving my Time Machine backup to a USB drive attached to it. I have initiated this process on my macbook (on the same lan with the Time Capsule), on which I am monitoring the archiving progress on the Airport Utility. Still almost a couple of days to go... Can I turn off my Macbook, or will that interrupt the process of archiving?

If LaPastenague is willing to do a "test", then we will all know more.
Opened my big mouth.
The archive is happening.. I turned off the computer it was setup from.. running Mavericks and latest utility once I got it started. I have been checking from v6 utility on Mountain Lion.. and it is excruciatingly slow. But is running.
I can check the progress but v6 utility is utterly and completely useless.. it continually shows the same numbers.
v5 utility does show it is crawling along.
v6
20min later..
Look, look, there is a tiny blue fleck in the progress bar!!
v5 utility shows the actual progress. Actually tells you total and amount backed up so far.
Amazing how advanced v5 utility is over v6.
The estimate of 10hours is probably correct at the present rate of progress. I suppose for 500GB, around 50GB/hr is about what we expect from TM backups etc.
I will post another picture in an hour and probably kill it then before I die of watching paint dry.

To add a 6 TB G-Raid (Mac os extended) ext drive to a 2Tb time capsule, using a powered usb with the TC usb port. Using the airport utility 5.6 on iMAC (10.7.3). Went to manual setup,then disk. Have options of the TC

Want to add a 6 TB G-Raid (Mac os extended) ext drive to a 2Tb time capsule, using a powered usb with the TC usb port. Using the airport utility 5.6 on iMAC (10.7.3). Went to manual setup,then disk. Have options of the TC or 6TB. Won't allow update to the 6TB

4Buck5 wrote:
Want to add a 6 TB G-Raid (Mac os extended) ext drive to a 2Tb time capsule, using a powered usb with the TC usb port. Using the airport utility 5.6 on iMAC (10.7.3). Went to manual setup,then disk. Have options of the TC or 6TB. Won't allow update to the 6TB
I am not 100% what isn't allowed.. but I am assuming you want to spread the backup across the two disks.. internal TC and 6TB external.. this is not possible.. It has to be one or the other. TC has no way to build a raid JBOD or anything else. Nor would you want to as that is the most likely to fail and kill your data.
Let me add, backing up 6TB over USB on TC.. will be the most excruciating experience of your life.. cf child birth or passing kidney stones.. large ones.. being the male equivalent.

Will the USB port from the Time Capsule power an external hard drive?

I am interested in purchasing an external hard drive (Iomega 1TB Helium Portable or G-Technology 750GB G-DRIVE mobile)
to connect to my time capsule, expanding my wireless storage, but I want to know if the Time Capsule has a powered USB port or does the drive I purchase need to have its own power source? Also, Is there any compromise to using a drive that is USB powered, vs one that requires a power source?
Thanks!

Even if the hard drive that you choose has its own power supply, you usually need to use a powered USB hub with the Time Capsule.
Reason....the USB port on the Time Capsule is under powered. You should not really rely on this port to power anything except a single printer.

How do I use time capsule as a direct backup drive only connect to my macbook pro via ethernet cable

I have recently abandoned my cable internet service provider and am using my iPad as a hotspot via verizon wireless service. I am trying to reconfigure my time capsule as a back up drive only connected by an ethernet cable.
I was able to set it up on my new hotspot wireless net, but do not want to use it that way because of the data usage impact on my verizon wireless account.
Hopefully there is an easy answer, but it is not intuitively obvious to me.

Well I have to say you can do it.. but if you are plugging and unplugging ethernet, you could just as easily plug and unplug an external USB drive.. and it will be faster and more reliable than the TC.
I explained how to do the TC as a secondary network in the posts here. Look down the bottom of the discussion.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4817218?tstart=30
If any of that doesn't make sense just post again here..
You can also do it with wireless if you accept using a USB wireless stick plugged into the Mac.. then you have two wireless clients and can connect simultaneously to two different networks.. using the same principles as above that you remove the gateway and dns problems that arise by manual settings.

Configure Time Capsule as a wired network drive for Time Machine Backups

I have a 4th generation Time Capsule, a MBPr on OS X Mountain Lion.
Time Capsule/Time Machine work fine in wireless mode. But, that's not what I prefer!
Rather, I want to connect Time Capsule by ethernet cable to my cable modem (VZ FiOS), and turn off the Time Capsule's wireless, and access the Time Capsule as another newtork hard drive and let Time Machine perform backups with my Asus RT-N66U router.
I have got the Time Capsule set up, but can't get Time Machne set up to perform backups with it. Here are the steps I've taken:
Open Time Machine
Turn Time Machine On
Pop-up shpws Other Time Capsule
Highlight Other Time Capsule and click SetUp
AirPort Utility pops up and can't find the Time Machine, of course, since its wireless is turned off.
On the menu, File-->Enter Address and Password for the Time Capsule
The Time Capsule screen comes up under Base Station. No need to change the name or password.
Back To My Mac is set up with my Apple account
Internet shows 192.168.1.101 as the Time Capsule's address
Wireless: Network Mode is off
Network: Router Mode set to Off-Bridge Mode
Disks shows one Time Capsule partition. File Sharing is enabled, and Secure Shared Disks is set to With Device Password.
I have to change something...then change it back...to get AirPort Utility to try to update settings on the Time Capsule. That's where things fall apart. AirPort Utility just spins away. It never finishes. I end up using Force Kill to close AirPort Utility.
Any suggestions? Is there a way to configure Time Machine without AirPort Utility?

Let me just be clear on the setup..
I want to connect Time Capsule by ethernet cable to my cable modem (VZ FiOS), and turn off the Time Capsule's wireless, and access the Time Capsule as another newtork hard drive and let Time Machine perform backups with my Asus RT-N66U router.
This is the sentence I am having issues with.
There should be one router.. The Asus..
The TC should be plugged into that, not the cable modem. Only the Asus should have a connection to the cable modem. The TC should be in bridge.. which from your other listing it is.
I think this is the actual setup you have..
You should be able in finder to make the TC disk available (alhough I don't use ML yet).. using to server.
And type in AFP://TCIPaddress or AFP://TCName obviously replacing the generic with the actual name.
Does that work?

Time Capsule with two external USB harddrives (only 1 is recognized).

I have a 1TB Time Capsule with two MacBooks, a Mini, an AppleTV, and 1 Vista PC, connected to it without any problems. I've also added a USB2 hub where I have plugged in a Canon printer, 1 500GB Seagate drive, and 1 1TB Lacie (BigDisk) drive. For some reason the 1TB Lacie drive does not appear as an available drive on the Time Capsule but the Seagate drive works fine.
I've formatted the Lacie drive multiple ways (currently it is Mac Extended (Journaled) with a single partition) but this did not change anything. I can plug the Lacie directly into any of the MacBooks or Mini and it appears as an available drive. What gives? Does Time Capsule only support 1 external drive? Thanks for any assistance.

Thanks for your post. I did as you suggested and plugged the problem drive directly into the TC and sure enough the drive appeared and was accessible. It appears that the problem follows the USB hub. I tried a second hub (but it was only USB1.1 capable) and it had the same problem. I will take this up with LaCie.
Thanks again for the response.

How do I transfer time capsul data to external hard drive to free up space?

How do I transfer time capsule data to external hard drive to free up space?

The fastest method is straight copy and paste..
Plug a suitable hard disk into your computer.. format it Mac OS extended journaled (if not already).
Select the folders/files you want to move.. copy and paste them to the external drive..
Double check that the files are copied because the next step will delete the files forever.. there is no trash on the TC.
Delete the files on the TC.
You can also do a full archive of the TC disk to a USB plugged into it by USB.. it must be formatted Mac OS Extended Journaled. It must be big enough to hold all data on the TC disk.. best idea is to buy the same size or bigger.. so if you use 2TB TC buy a 2TB or bigger external drive.
In airport utility select archive.
That will copy everything on the TC disk to the USB drive.. you could then Erase the disk of the TC.. this is super fast if you choose quick erase.. just a few minutes. But the archive will take many hours.. say for 2TB about 12-24hours.. and you cannot use the disk in the TC during that time.

How do I use my time capsule as an external hard drive?

I am trying to use my time capsule as an external hard drive but can't figure it out... can anyone help me out?

1. Run AirPort Utility
2. Click on your Time Capsule
3. Click Edit
4. Click on the Disks Tab
5. Click on Enable file sharing
6. Choose the way you want to control file sharing access, whether it is by the Time Capsule password, an independent disk password, or accounts for different users.
7. You should then be able to access your Time Capusle drive from Finder.

Backing up Mac HD with Time Capsule AND an external hard drive

I am sure that this question has been asked one way or another but I can't seem to find the exact answer.
I would like to back up my Mac HD with the Time Capsule AND another hard drive essentially to create two backups. Should one fail, I still have another copy as a precaution. The Time Capsule will be my primary back up because my external hard drive is usually switched off and will only be turned on from time to time to perform "less frequent" backups.
With Time Capsule AND the external hard drive on, will Time Machine just update the backup on the external hard drive without becoming confused with the other copy on Time Capsule? In other words, can Time Machine distinguish between two different Time Machine Backup files and bring them up to date accordingly?
I understand there is an archive function on the Time Capsule, which would also serve the purpose. However, I am wondering if there is another way.
Thanks.

Rheopaipo wrote:
I am sure that this question has been asked one way or another but I can't seem to find the exact answer.
I would like to back up my Mac HD with the Time Capsule AND another hard drive essentially to create two backups. Should one fail, I still have another copy as a precaution. The Time Capsule will be my primary back up because my external hard drive is usually switched off and will only be turned on from time to time to perform "less frequent" backups.
With Time Capsule AND the external hard drive on, will Time Machine just update the backup on the external hard drive without becoming confused with the other copy on Time Capsule? In other words, can Time Machine distinguish between two different Time Machine Backup files and bring them up to date accordingly?
I understand there is an archive function on the Time Capsule, which would also serve the purpose. However, I am wondering if there is another way.
I don't think it's possible to configure Time Machine to back up to two locations without modifying its settings frequently.
You might consider using that external drive to hold a bootable backup. You can create such a thing with either of the utilities SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. If you pay the registration fee for SuperDuper! (~US$28), there's a mode where it will back up only what has changed, which makes the backup operation run quicker. (Carbon Copy Cloner may offer a similar feature.)

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 finding plugged in usb drive

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