Time Capsule Questions? Using it as an extrenal drive?

I may have been misinformed by the people at the Apple Store when I bought a Time Capsule. They said I can use it as an external drive and that even my iTunes music library can live on it wirelessly. Is this true?
Now that I have it and am looking through the booklet that came with it, it seems to say that it can only be used with Time Machine to back up your computer. Is there no way to access the drive within the Time Capsule to copy files back and forth (like a macbook air)?
Or is the only way to do this by connecting another external drive to the Time Capsule via the USB port on it? Can I then access that data and even have my iTunes library live there?
Thanks!

Thanks! I figured it out with the help of support.
You go under the "Go" menu in the finder and select "Network". The time capsule should then show up and you have to log in to is using the password you initially gave it.
You are then connected and it's as easy as dragging and dropping files.
I copied my whole iTunes library over by hardwiring it via an ethernet cable. You can then set the iTunes to use it as the library and have all your music wirelessley.
Here's how you connect with the ethernet cable:
I connect it directly from the ethernet port on my MacBook to one of the LAN ports on the TimeCapsule (not the one with the circle of dots - that's the WAN port).
I then had to go into the airport setup assistant and re-configure for an ethernet connection and re-start the TimeCapsule.
You then have to go under the "Go" menu in the finder and select "Network". The time capsule should then show up and you have to log in to is using the password you initially gave it.
You are then connected and it's as easy as dragging and dropping.

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Can the time capsule be used as an external hard drive

Can the time capsule be used as an external hard drive

If you mean by usb to a computer no.. it is a network device only and has to be used via ethernet or wireless.
It can be used standalone,, ie not plugged into an existing network.. but there are some steps required to make it work if you want internet connection at the same time. It is generally much easier to have the TC bridged into the network.

Can an Apple Time capsule be used as a external hard drive?

Hello I have a 4th Generation time capsule and I've had it for some time now and never used it and I was wondering if it could be used as a external hard drive instead of just a back up disk. Also I am planning to install a copy of Windows 7 on my Mid 2011 21.5" iMac and I was wondering if Windows would recognize the TC as a external hard drive and would alow me to use it as such.

It is not an external hard disk.. you cannot use it via USB if that is what you mean.
It is now and forever more a Network drive. You can store files on it as a network drive.. with the following provisos.
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
Windows can also use the TC for files. Much the same warnings apply.

Can the 2013 airport time capsule be used as an external hard drive

or do you have to purchase a separate external hard drive and connect it to the time capsule??

Under the same network, I do use it as a music server (iTunes library) and files to share.
If you have an apple ID, you can get access to this drive any where via Back to My Mac

Can Time Capsule Be Used Only as a Hard Drive, Not as a Router?

I have been using a Time Capsule as a router and as a wireless backup system for a year, but had endless trouble with the dual use, since my personal Macbook is on the second floor of my house and the router must reside in the basement, where we have other computers. Wireless backups are much too slow. So I replaced the Time Capsule with an Airport Extreme Base Station, which works fine. I'd like to continue using the Time Capsule, but solely for backups and not as a router, and connect the TC by ethernet or usb directly to the MacBook. Can this be done, and if so, how? Thanks!

Hello JohnFrancis. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
I'd like to continue using the Time Capsule, but solely for backups and not as a router, and connect the TC by ethernet or usb directly to the MacBook. Can this be done, and if so, how?
Yes it can. You would just need to disable its wireless radio. You will also need to connect it by Ethernet as the TC's USB port is only for connecting it to USB hard drives, printers, and/or hubs.
To disable the radio: AirPort Utility > Manual Setup > Time Capsule > Wireless tab > Wireless Mode = Off

Can time capsule be used as an external hard drive for storing media

Can you use it in such a way that you put movies and music and home vidoes on there to be accessed on when on the network along with using it for backing up data. Could it be used in such a way that you can access your files when on wifi from anywhere?

TC is not designed to be a NAS.. principally it is lacking any means to back itself up. And TM cannot backup a network drive.
If you put data on it like your movies and music in raw format that is fine.. if you put your itunes or iphoto etc library on it.. you will find it is slow to start, quick to stop, stutters and has issues. Also wireless frankly is just not that good.
I am not sure how far away is anywhere?? Do you mean remote access? That is possible via btmm using icloud.
The problem is, TC is not a media player.. it is a dumb as a board hard disk in a router.
How are you going to play your videos or music unless you move itunes library onto the TC??

Can I store iphoto pictures in time capsule and use with pad

Can I store iphoto pictures in time capsule and use with pad

We can tell you that it is possible to store separate images on the Time Capsule drive. If however, you are asking if you can access separate images from your Time Machine backups on the Time Capsule, this is not possible.
How you get the images that your want from iPhoto on your Mac to the Time Capsule drive is a question for the iPhoto experts. It will likely involve "exporting" the files that you want and then moving them using the Finder to the Time Capsule drive.
How you access those images on the Time Capsule from an iPad is a question for the Using iPad experts.

Can time capsule be used on windows7

can time capsule be used on windows7

We have Macs and PCs in our house. The mac is set up and running fine on TC/TM.
Questions is - what is the best way to also use TC to back up the windows 7 machines?
The windows machine is set up on the wireless network - but not currently sharing files.
If not practical I'll stay with the Windows external hard drive to back up that laptop.
Thanks.
You can just connect to the TC and use a backup software.. I backup to TC using Macrium Reflect which is free for disk image.. paid for version does incremental.
Make sure you have plenty of space though on the TC for all the computers hdd usage.. with about 2x or 3x that space spare. TM uses a lot of free space and gets slow and unreliable deleting old backups if there isn't sufficient space.
An NTFS formatted disk makes good sense for a pc.. if you want to see and use the files you backup.

Time Capsule Questions....Joining Existing Network

Firstly, the below questions are based on my assumption that the Time Capsule's firmware & hardware is similar to the Airport Express (but with the addition of the HDD!)
The router my network's running off is a Linksys WRT600N (has both 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz and 802.11b/g/n).
I'm interested in adding a Networked hard disk to the network (not through using the router's USB port) for the sole purpose of Time Machine backups.
From what I know, Time Machine doesn't work with NAS's apart from the Time Capsule (which from looking at it, would be a waste of money as I don't want to use it as a router.)
From what I've read, the Time Capsule can be connected by ethernet to the existing router (or switch), and have all it's Wi-Fi & routing functions turned off - making it only work for it's NAS HDD (that'll work with Time Machine.)
Now that seems like quite a waste of money on a £200 device that has WiFi etc built in.
Now, thinking about it, one of the locations I'd put the Time Capsule when connect as above, has bad wireless reception......
From what I've read (especially this thread), when the Time Machine is connected as above, and I disable the Time Capsule's built in router and DHCP server, it can be assigned a different SSID (my network already has 2 (one for 2.4ghz & one for 5ghz)) and it'll be broadcasting without interfering my existing network.
My wireless devices could be given the Time Capsule's SSID & encryption details, and would be able to connect to that or the Linksys (depending on where abouts in the house they were) - and as both networks are connected together, all shared HDD's and internet would work fine joining together over the three SSID's from the Linksys & Time Capsule.
The tricky bit, is there a way of having the Time Capsule repeat/boost the signal coming from the Linksys? (instead of broadcasting on a different SSID, it'd be acting as a Wireless Access Point).
From my research about repeating, I know that WDS is needed, and accoring to here[ the Linksys WRT600N supports it. (whatever it actually is!)
So, would the Time Capsule be able to repeat/boost the Linksys's signal? If so, how? (I'd keep the two router's connected together by gigabit as obviously the location of the Time Capsule would be one where the Linksys's signal struggles to reach.)
Anything wrong with the idea of broadcasting on a different SSID? And any ideas about broadcasting on the same SSID?
Blimey that's a long post! If your still reading this far and understand what I'm on about you can have a cookie
Thanks
Ed.

Westyfield, Welcome to the discussion area!
The tricky bit, is there a way of having the Time Capsule repeat/boost the signal coming from the Linksys?
Your scenario has Time Capsule connected via Ethernet to the Linksys. To extend the Linksys's wireless network, simply configure the Time Capsule to use (a) the same SSID as the Linksys, (b) the same encryption type/level/password as the Linksys, and (c) a channel as far as possible from the one used by the Linksys.
For all wireless clients there would be one big wireless network.
There is no need for WDS.

How to use AirPort Time Capsule 2TB as an external storage hard drive only?

I have a new AirPort Time Capsule 3TB, now I want to use my AirPort Time Capsule 2TB as an external storage hard drive only, how do I it?
I would like to connect the AirPort Time Capsule 2TB directly to my Mac Pro. using OS X 10.7.5.
I have erase disk and reset the 2TB to factory default, after that, I cannot make it to connect to my Mac. Please help.

The 2TB Time Capsule needs to connect to your 3TB Time Capsule using a wired Ethernet connection.
Connect from a LAN <--> port on the 3 TB Time Capsule to the WAN "O" port on the 2 TB Time Capsule and configure the 2TB Time Capsule in Bridge Mode and turn off the wireless function on the device as well.
Once that is done, you can connect your Mac directly to the 2TB Time Capsule using another Ethernet cable, or your Mac can connect to the network using the normal wireless network, if you prefer.

Using an external drive with shared files (iPhoto, iTunes), attached to a Time Capsule, can the contents of the external drive be backed-up to the internal Time Capsule drive? Perhaps a RAID1 mirror to a partition?

Using an external drive with shared files (iPhoto, iTunes), attached to a Time Capsule, can the contents of the external drive be backed-up to the internal Time Capsule drive? Perhaps a RAID1 mirror to a partitioned Time Capsule? I understand that the Time Machine (software) cannot backup a networked drive (the external) and that Time Capsule (the router/wireless hard drive) does not have its own backup software... so it won't backup the connected drive. What I would like is an alternate solution for having an automated backup of a networked drive. A 2TB Time Capsule has more than enough space for Time Machine backups of my family of Macbooks, so I had hoped to mirror a 500GB external drive (with shared media files) to a portion of the Time Capsule internal hard drive. I assume this would require a partition of the Time Capsule drive. If not, would the sparse file from the various computers being backed up need to be copied to the external drive as part of the RAID1 setup? This seems like overkill for the Time Machine backup, but it would cover the media files.

The complexity with this idea is the software has to run from a Mac computer on your network.. so you need a Mac turned on, probably most of the day.
It isn't possible to partition the TC although you can create a image area.
The software would have to copy the material, that means all files to be copied, go from USB drive, back to the Mac, then back to the TC, and written to the drive. In other words you have just added Network congestion, although a proper incremental backup type software will not actually use a lot of capacity.
Finally it will be slow.. network drives are slower than internal drives. Well USB connected drive is much slower than the same drive connected directly to the computer.. and if the drive is connected directly to a computer it can be shared with the network.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4
Read carefully the speed of the USB drive plugged into the TC.

I recently purchased a new Mac Pro and have been trying to back it up on my Time Capsule for the first time. However, it says there is no available disk space. This time capsule was used with my old Mac Pro that had a Home vault open on it.

The time capsule was used with my prior Mac Pro laptop that unfortunately had the home vault active on it.
My new Mac Book Pro does not have home vault open. But I am unable to back up my new MAC pro laptop because it says there is not enough storage space available. Therefore, t there any way to just completely delete all the old backup data out of my Time Capsule from my prior Mac Laptop?
When I go into the time capsule - it shows me NOTHING as being in the backup datas. So, I don't know where to begin to delete all the old data off the
time Capsule and start with a completely empty machine.

Therefore, t there any way to just completely delete all the old backup data out of my Time Capsule from my prior Mac Laptop?
Here is how to do this:
Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click Manual Setup
Click the Disks icon at the top of the AirPort Utility window
Click the Disks tab below the icons
Click Erase
The "Quick Erase" option will only take a moment or two
Now you can backup your MacBook Pro. If you connect an Ethernet cable from the MBP to one of the LAN <-> ports on the TC, the first backup will go 3-5 times faster than wireless.
Once you have the first backup done, you can use wireless for subsequent backups since they will only take a few minutes

Can I mount external hard drive to Time Capsule and use it as external storage?

I have a 500GB external hard drive that I'd like to use on the Time Capsule as a hard drive to store mp3 and mp4 files. Can I attach it to the Time Capsule and use it like this? Or does it just give an additional 500GB worth of back ups from my iMac?

Can I attach it to the Time Capsule and use it like this?
Yes, if the drive has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)...preferable....or FAT32. Access to the files will somewhat slower than if you had the drive attached directly to your computer.
Have you given some thought as to how you will keep this drive backed up?
Time Machine will not be able to back up the drive that is attached to the Time Capsule's USB port.
But, it would be able to back up the drive if you connected it directly to your Mac and the drive was formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

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.

HT1178 Can the time capsule be used with a pc running Windows Vista , 7 or 8 as a backup drive

Can the time capsule be used with a pc running Windows Vista , 7 or 8 as a backup drive. If so what software do I need to buy?

Can the time capsule be used with a pc running Windows Vista , 7 or 8 as a backup drive.
Yes, on XP, Vista and 7. Have not tried 8.
If so what software do I need to buy?
Genie Timeline Pro does a very nice job...and it is similar to Apple's Time Machine. It's not cheap though. Check with the Genie folks for more info and compatibility with Windows 8.
Genie Timeline Pro | Overview | Time Machine Backup Software for ...
Other users may have some other suggestions.

Can time capsule be used to store the iPhoto library?

Hi.
Can somebody please advise if the time capsule can be used to store iPhoto library files (90GB) and iMovie files (600GB).
Kind Regards
Tony

Don't know about iMovie, but if you check with the experts in the iPhoto support area, they will strongly advise against locating the iPhoto library on the Time Capsule....especially if you are using wireless.
Might be a good idea to post over there for first hand info, but even if you decide to do this....risking corruption to your image library....have you thought about how you will back up the iPhoto library once it is on the Time Capsule?
You will need another hard drive for this, of course...and an application that can backup a network drive....since Time Machine cannot do this.
A better idea might be to connect a hard drive directly to your Mac using USB or FireWire and store the iPhoto library there....as the iPhoto experts will also recommend.
Then....Time Machine will back up both your Mac and the hard drive.....so you have backups of everything.

Time Capsule Questions? Using it as an extrenal drive?

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