Time Capsule: Questions Re: PC/Mac, ITunes, General Backup

Hi, very new (renew really) back to the Mac community. Just bought a MBP and a TC. I've added them both to a PC home, which is to say I have a PC desktop and laptop, both running off a wireless home network (FIOS if that matters). I've just now set up the MBP and the TC successfully, in the sense that they are both running, connected to the home network (TC by wired by ethernet to wireless router, MBP by wireless to same), and I've done one back up. Great, that works.
Now, here's what I want and need guidance on:
1) my non-mac laptop has tons of digital photos on it that I want on the TC as both back up and creating space and also so I can then access from any other computer connected to the wireless home network. this will be similar to next question, but ideally I want more than a backup, i want the TC to serve as an external network hard drive for both space and convenience purposes. Is there some trick to this? I haven't tried, but I note that while my PC sees the drive on the network, it also views it as inaccessible. I haven't d/l'ed the airbook to the PC yet.
2) I've seen this ITunes question asked other places but not sure I understand the answers and what to do exactly. So I now have a desktop PC where most of our Itunes library resides. I also have three Ipods, two Ipads, and now a MacbookPro. Is there a good and effective way to get the music onto the the Time Capsule in one place that all can benefit from and use, at least as a library from which to draw? We use most of the devices in the home for music but not always, and want our music when we travel. what is the best way to do this ??
Thanks for any advice

AJWFallsChurch wrote:
Hi, very new (renew really) back to the Mac community.
Welcome back!
my non-mac laptop has tons of digital photos on it that I want on the TC as both back up and creating space
Those are two very different things. You do not want your only copy of anything important on the TC; when (not if) something awful happens to it . . .
i want the TC to serve as an external network hard drive for both space and convenience purposes.
You can do that, but it's a bit tricky, since you cannot partition it. See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for an explanation and some possible workarounds.
It's a bit cumbersome, and I'm not entirely certain it will work for everything you want (I don't do Windoze); your best bet might be to connect a USB drive to the TC for the media files.
Since Time Machine cannot back up from any network location, you'll need another app to back the USB drive up to the TC. The Chronosync app might be good for that; you might want to create a disk image on the TC (per #Q3) for those backups.
You'll need yet another app to back up the PC, if that's what you want to do (I read about one called WinClone that might work). Depending on what you can find, and space available, you could put those backups on the TC or a partition on the USB drive.
If necessary, you can connect multiple USB drives (and/or a printer) to the TC, via a powered USB hub.
Many possibilities . . . food for thought.

Similar Messages

Time Capsule question from a Mac Newbie

Hi,
I have a weird question. I plan on buying a new laptop for my switch to OSX. I was planning on getting a time capsule so I can use time machine, get N wireless and use it as a network storage device (store video files so it's accessible between my desktop pc and laptop).
2 questions:
1) I saw PC's and non-leopard users can use the TC as a external HDD, just wanted to confirm leopard users can do the same. I assumed it would be possible, but assumptions are the mother of all you know what.
2) I saw some people stating they are using a TC and a external HDD connected to it. The only reasons I could come up with is the TC does not provide enough space or my assumption of being able to use the TC as a time machine backup device and networked external hdd is incorrect. Just wanted to ask if there are any other benefits / reasons one may choose a setup like that?

Mikeyhp wrote:
2 questions:
1) I saw PC's and non-leopard users can use the TC as a external HDD, just wanted to confirm leopard users can do the same. I assumed it would be possible, but assumptions are the mother of all you know what.
Leopard can absolutely use the TC HDD.
2) I saw some people stating they are using a TC and a external HDD connected to it. The only reasons I could come up with is the TC does not provide enough space or my assumption of being able to use the TC as a time machine backup device and networked external hdd is incorrect. Just wanted to ask if there are any other benefits / reasons one may choose a setup like that?
Firstly, TC isn't readily partitionable, which is a major drawback. If you are planning on using TC as the TM destination, you shouldn't stick your PC stuff on it, in case you ever need to erase the HDD. However, you could simply plug a USB HDD into the USB port and Viola! you have another NAS! Also, there is an Archive feature on TC that allows the entire TC HDD to be quickly backed up for Archive purposes.

Time Capsule question from a Mac virgin

Hi
I am something of a luddite when it comes to computers but have just purchased a Time Capsule as an easy way to ensure that I am constantly backed up. I currently access the internet via the "wireless box" (which I now know to be both a modem and a router) provided by o2 when I signed up to their broadband. I would REALLY appreciate some advice.
From a quick scan of these boards it seems that I have a couple of choices:
1. Use the o2 wireless box as a modem only and connect the Time Capsule to it via an ethernet cable to act as the router.
2. Ditch the o2 wireless box entirely and purchase a specialist modem to use with the Time Capsule.
Is one approach likely to be better than the other? In both cases do I need to physically connect (via an ethernet cable) the modem to the Time Capsule? Or is it possible to keep the two separate (e.g. if I keep the wireless "switched on" and the Time Capsule connects "remotely"?
(I suspect that last question is possibly a stupid one...)
Anyway, any help or advice would be very gratefully received. Thanks in anticipation.
Jay

Hello JayH_Mac. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
You actually have a third option and that would be to connect the new Time Capsule (TC) by Ethernet to the o2 gateway device. You would just need to reconfigure the TC as a bridge to allow the gateway to continue to provide both NAT & DHCP services for all network clients connected to either router.
You would reconfigure the TC as a bridge by using the AirPort Utility: AirPort Utility > Select the TC > Manual Setup > Internet > Internet Connection > Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode))
This third approach would be the simplest to configure. It would also provide you with the option to disable the wireless function of the gateway or leave both to provide wireless in a "roaming" network configuration.

Hi.. I'm new to mac, I've got a mac book air and time capsule is it possible to save music,video from iTunes Store directly to time capsule leaving my 128GB Mac free? If so please help..

Hi.. I'm new to mac, I've got a mac book air and time capsule is it possible to save music,video from iTunes Store directly to time capsule leaving my 128GB Mac free? If so please help..

You can move your iTunes library.. Apple have explicit instructions to do it. If the library is moved to the TC and accessed over wireless, the efficiency of the whole system will drop dramatically..
A file you download goes.. Modem---TC--Laptop--Back to TC--Store on disk. Double looping the wireless slows it dramatically..
As far as using TC for your iTunes.. you CAN.. but SHOULD YOU?
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

Under Snow Leopard I used a WD My World NAS to back up my Mac Pro (Mid 2010). When I upgraded to Lion I am unable to access the backup because the NAS does not yet support AFP. I have now bought a Time Capsule and want to transfer the old backup onto it.

Under Snow Leopard I used a WD My World NAS to back up my Mac Pro (Mid 2010). When I upgraded to Lion I am unable to access the backup because the NAS does not yet support AFP. I have now bought a Time Capsule and want to transfer the old backup onto it.
How can I recover the NAS back up to put on my new Time Machine.
Talking to Apple Support Adviser was a waste of time on case number 239647273
Any thoughts or pointers?

Keep the old OS around and just kick the tires and test new OS. Apple has a history and habit of breaking support in things like this.
You can use TimeMachine as one level of backup, and even there there were changes with Lion, I would always recommend foremost backup clones of every volume. And clone (SuperDuper etc) can be stored on something like HP NAS Media Server which also was supporting TimeMachine, iTunes - until Apple made that harder and more their own proprietary format.
Apple AirPort Time Capsule Support
Lion Communities
Cloning as a Backup Strategy
Rather than "upgrade" I would clone the system, and do a clean install, then allow Setup Assistant to import your files.
Others who are asking the same question:
http://www.bing.com/search?q=mac+os+x+lion+WD+My+World+NAS

How can i get files from my time capsule to my new mac?

Hello there,
I know this topic i much discussed, but searching has not turned up a solution.
I have a new mac book pro 15 on order and want to grab my files from my time capsule. My old mac book pro 15 (3 months old) was encrypted with file safe. In the past i have never had good results with bringing data to a new mac from time capsules; I've tried many times for my self and family. As a result I use the time capsule for day to day old file retrieval needs and do manual backups of my data onto externals and NAS devices for migration to new computers-tedious but it has yet to fail me. This time, I did that with everything except a few folders of my movies and pictures. They are now prisoner on the time capsule.
What is the best way to get files off the time capsule and does it require that my login and user name on the new mac be identical to that which was on my old mac?
(I change my user names each time i get a new mac, not specifically on purpose but i haven't paid attention to what they were when setting up a new computer.)
any assistance is appreciated.
Thanks

Thanks Allan,
Help me understand what question you're referring to. I've been through several new macs and am not sure what specifically you're speaking about.
My old mac had a partition on the drive that I do not want on the new mac, so I am concerned about doing a full restore and prefer a file by file or folder by folder. is this possible?

How do I find and access files backed up using a time capsule on a different mac?

I have been backing up files from two macs to a time capsule. I had a problem with the time capsule and took it to an authorized facility for repair. When I got it home and reconnected to it, the time capsule seemed to start over as though it was the first time it was ever hooked-up. The repair facility says my old files are still there. My question is, how do I find the original backup files and reconnect them to my macs?

On one of your Macs.....try a right-click on the Time Machine icon on the dock and then select Browsel Other Time Machine Disks to see if you can locate your backups there.
If you find them, you will be able to restore files from the disk as needed. The same would be true of your other Mac.
If Time Machine started all over with a new backup of each computer....as I suspect is the case based on the info in your post.....you will not be able to combine the old backups with the new backups.
To switch back to your new backups, click the Time Machine clock icon at the top of the screen and select Time Machine Preferences. Click Select Disk and click to highlight your Time Capsule disk. Then click Use for Backup.

I have Time Machine that I used to back up my old computer. It was running snow leopard. My MacBook died, so I got a new one which is running Lion. how can I restore the data from the time capsule to my new Mac?

I have Time Machine that I used to back up my old computer. It was running snow leopard. My MacBook died, so I got a new one which is running Lion. how can I restore the data from the time capsule to my new Mac?

In technical support, sometimes you have to make educated guesses. I'm sorry that you were offended.
iTunes does prompt when it is going to erase a device, and the message is clear.
She said in her message that she was able to successfully sync the old ipad. This indicated to me that itunes wiping the data was not an issue, because either it had been setup at the apple store (in which case it doesn't actually wipe the ipad despite saying it will*) (*based on a single case I saw), or because the itunes media folder was migrated.
Furthermore, my solution was to tell her how to backup her ipad (by either doing it manually, or as a last resort, by deleting the corrupt backup -- that she couldn't access anyway.)
I got that last part of the instructions from the "Taking Control of your iphone" book which I found samples of when I did a google search for "corrupted backup itunes".
She marked this as a solution, so it worked for her.

Can I use a time capsule in place of mac mini?

Can I use a time capsule in place of mac mini as a backup storage?

If you mean as a TM backup target.. that is what the TC is designed for..
If you mean as a media player centre with all your itunes etc.. no it is a failure.. the TC has no media players.. no smarts at all. It is a hard disk in a wireless router.. nothing more.

Connect time capsule via ethernet to Mac for back-up only. Is it possible without internet connection ?

Connect time capsule via ethernet to Mac for back-up only. Is it possible without internet connection ?

Hi Bob,
I'm not certain the post I sent was posted correctly, as I added it as a reply to a 3-year old thread. Since this is a recently-active thread, though not specific to the issue at hand, I thought I'd post again:
Three years ago you helped me set up a roaming wireless network in my home. It's been rock-steady and I'm forever grateful to you for the time and guidance you gave me. I'd now like to swap out my AirPort Extreme base station for a time capsule. As I understand it, I should be able to unplug the base station and replace it with the TC without problem, so long as I use all the same settings on my TC... network name, security protocol, password, etc. Given the complexity of my network, I thought I should check with you first for any advice you might have. I don't want to set up a new network or make any changes to the existing one-- with the exception of using the TC in place of the AE. I'm already using Time Machine for backups. As a refresher, my current setup has the AE as base station and 3 expresses hard-wired with Ethernet connections elsewhere in my home. I have a 4th express set up wirelessly to use with my stereo system at the front of the house. All AXs are 'n's and are set up, as per your instructions, in Bridge mode to extend the existing network. I'm running the most updated version of Mavericks on my MBPro. Any suggestions you might have will be, as always, very much appreciated! Sincerely, Phyllis Sommers

I had maually stored files on my time capsule using my old mac now i can't open them using my new mac?

I had an old mac book pro,using it i maually stored files on it,i sold my old mac book pro and got a new mac book pro but it cant access the old files what should i do?

How do I begin backups again using the same Time Capsule?
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Time Machine
Turn Time Machine "ON"
Click Select Disk
Choose your Time Capsule
Click Use This Disk
The first backup will begin in a few minutes.
If you decide to delete your old backups, do this before you back up the "new" Mac as listed above.
Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click on the Time Capsule icon, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears
Click the Disks tab at the top of the window
Click Erase
Choose the Quick Erase option
Click Erase Disk
The operation will only take a minute or two.....then, you can set up the first backup of the Mac as listed above.

After resetting Time Capsule, how do I access my previous backups?

After re-setting Time Capsule, how do I access my previous backups?

Access it to do what??
You can migrate the data.. see Pondini instructions for migrate. (or from apple).
His instructions are a little out of date.. but still more useful than the over generalised stuff Apple give you.
http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrateLion.html
OS X: How to migrate data from another Mac using Mavericks
If you wanted to continue using the backup with TM.. no you cannot inherit a backup from a different machine.
To simply access the backup .. then open the sparsebundle from finder or TM..
See the instructions in Pondini.. Q15-17 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
If you want to do something else you need to tell us what it is??

When my time machine tries to backup to my time capsule I get the following message"The backup disk image "/Volumes/Data/Kent's MacBook Pro.sparsebundle" is already in use. " What do I need to do to fix this?

When my time machine tries to backup to my time capsule I get the following message"The backup disk image “/Volumes/Data/Kent’s MacBook Pro.sparsebundle” is already in use. " What do I need to do to fix this?

Restart the Time Capsule.

Time Capsule (OSStatus error -6602.) Cannot choose backup disk

I have no idea what to do next. The wireless connection on my 500 GB Time Capsule works fine. However, a few days ago, I noticed that it was no longer backing up. I tried the usual things (resetting Time Capsule, unplugging Time Capsule, changing my disk name) and even did a full erase. Every single time I try to turn on my Time Machine and select the backup disk, it gives me this error when I enter my password:
Operation could not be completed
(OSStatus error -6602.)
I know I am entering the correct password. I tried to run disk utility but even though I can see my Time Capsule, I cannot verify it. Any thoughts?

I've had this problem since August. Every once in a while I do searches and try different things, but so far nothing has worked. Would love to find the answer to this. I can no longer backup anything even though I've reset the capsule and even wiped out my data and tried to start from scratch.
I finally sprung the $9.99/month for drop box just to have backups. It's ridiculous.
This is about the 5th time I've had issues with the time capsule and had to wipe out my backups.

Time Capsule full, no longer deleting deleting old backups automatically

Hi, My Time Capsule needs to backup 18.32 GB, but ther'e only 15.20 GB left on it, so it tells me that it couldn't complete the backup. It used to delete old backups automatically when it ran out of space, but, for whatever reason, it isn't doing that anymore.
Can anyone help, please?

Unfortunately, the Time Capsule cannot delete enough information to be able to make room for the new backup.
It would take forever to try to manually delete backups...and might not be successful....so you really are faced with a decison on whether you want to:
1) Add a new Time Capsule and start with a new "master" backup and move forward from there. You can keep the old Time Capsule connected and go back to browse backups there if you need to do so.
2) Erase the Time Capsule and start over with a new "master" backup and move forward from there.
If you really don't need all the old backups from months ago, and you don't mind starting over again, this makes sense for a lot of users. I usually start over about every 6 months or so, but your needs may vary.

Time Capsule: Questions Re: PC/Mac, ITunes, General Backup

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for