Time Capsule with External HD

Can anyone tell me what happens when you connect an external HD to a Time Capsule? Does the TC recognise the new drive and treat it as more capacity and therefor continue to do backups spilling over onto the new drive? Or does it just see it as another seperate drive and therefore you need to setup a new backup to use it?

It is the latter. The external HD and the TC are recognized as a separate drives.

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Time capsule with external hard drive

My wife and I just recently became an all Mac family and I am looking into backing up our files. We have approximatly 1 TB of Photos and 1 TB of Music/Movies. We are photographers (well, my wife is, I just take blurry photos) and so we expect the size of our Photos to grow.
We both have Macbook Pros and a mac mini (1 TB of storage). Connected to our mini is a an 8 TB external hard drive currently set up as a Raid 10, so I have effectivly 4 TB storage with 4 TB of back up. My plan was to buy an Air Port Extreme to replace our 4 year old wireless router, and I see some of the Air Port Extreme's have time capsul storage built in.
My question is, our photos, music and movies will be kept on my EHD, which is mirrored and will make its own back up. Is it worth buying an Air Port Extreme with time capsule to back up everything? We will primarly be keeping programs word documents and home school stuff on the Mini and everything on our Macbook Pros will be files we take from the EHD.
Also, should I plug the EHD into the Air Port Extreme or the Mini?
I formated the EHD on the mini, so it is set up as journaled, not FAT32.

Connected to our mini is a an 8 TB external hard drive currently set up as a Raid 10, so I have effectivly 4 TB storage with 4 TB of back up.
I would quibble with you on the use of the word backup.. Mirror yes.. you have a mirror.. but that does not represent a backup. But you also suggest later that you have a separate backup as well .. if so you have not listed what exactly this is.
The issue is if you delete a file.. it is deleted from the array.. if you manage to corrupt a file.. it is corrupted in the array.. worse yet.. if you corrupt a library.. very real possibility with the way apple stores files.. and I do hope your are storing original RAW versions.. so the library will then be corrupted in both sections of the array.
How is this connected to the mini? I hope it is a recent mini and using thunderbolt??
The best backup imho is a 4TB drive plugged into the array by usb or whatever is the fastest port it has.. esata would be great.. expensive but thunderbolt even better. Does the software with the array have some inbuilt backup?? They are usually the best way to do it. I would even consider a second cheap USB stored offsite.. friends house. Thieves love those big disk arrays.. they are worth a lot of money.. and they collect your TC/AE along with the rest.
Now all this might be already part of what you are doing so please take it simply that you didn't list it.
My question is, our photos, music and movies will be kept on my EHD, which is mirrored and will make its own back up. Is it worth buying an Air Port Extreme with time capsule to back up everything? We will primarly be keeping programs word documents and home school stuff on the Mini and everything on our Macbook Pros will be files we take from the EHD.
Also, should I plug the EHD into the Air Port Extreme or the Mini?
I formated the EHD on the mini, so it is set up as journaled, not FAT32.
You can use Time Machine in the notebooks to do a backup of the current configuration of them. Without needing to do the backup of the EHD which is really too big to do effectively. TM is very good at keeping incremental backups.
A Time Capsule is good value considering the price of the hard disk now.. so you can buy an Extreme and run it with USB drive.. but the TC with inbuilt drive is a better option in that the drive speed of the internal far superior to the usb2 drive.
The new AC models are still somewhat buggy.. I think I would wait a bit for Apple to get their act together.. a few months probably. Of course I only see the people with issues here.. but the firmware is still immature.
I read a review recently by a guy I respect on our local forum.
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2125865
Compared to the Asus N66U model.. the AE wasn't even in the same class. And that is not AC but just 900mbps (so called) N wireless. That the AE was totally outclassed is somewhat of a surprise.. they are basically identical.. the chipset both use is standard broadcom. That means Apple has tried to do funny stuff instead of sticking with the broadcom OEM linux firmware.. they have to rewrite it in NetBSD.. and this is going to take some time to debug.
For now you can use TM to network drive,, just as easily as to a TC.
See http://code.stephenmorley.org/articles/time-machine-on-a-network-drive/
This is plainly opinionated.. and others might be in better position to post.. so go ahead and tear me to shreds.. but I would take great care.. before leaping at new edge technology.. unless you like the bleeding edge.

Time Capsule with External Drive

I really want to buy a Time Capsule since we have a few Macs in our house now. However, we already use a Hitachi external drive as our Time Machine back up. Can I connect it to Time Capsule so...
1. I can access the back up files wirelessly just like it is a part of Time Capsule.
2. Add more space to Time Capsule.
One more question. What is the make of the hard disc drive inside Time Capsule? Is it Seagate? Hitachi? Or else?
Thank you!!

If you plug the existing external drive into the TC, you may not be able to access the existing backups.. they could be copied to the internal TC drive, and then copied back.. so all kinds of things are possible but just a warning .. the remote network backup is dealt with differently to local hdd backup.
It will be accessible via wireless plugged into the TC.. it will exist as separate space.. not more space on the internal disk.. ie not JBOD.. it will be two separate drives.
The Disk in the TC is generally WD but at the moment supply is so short I am not sure.. Apple have used samsung, seagate and hitachi drives.. so it depends on flavour of the month I suspect. Price and availability.
You might find the review interesting.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4
Note his internal drive speeds seem high.. and the USB drive speed attached to the TC is really low.. ie speed over wireless will be fine.. because wireless is limiting factor.. over gigabit the internal drive is much much faster than the USB.. and even copying to the USB locally is about twice the speed as over network using gigabit.

Time Capsule with external HDD as fileserver and backup

We have two mac minis running Leopard.
Today, we have an old Windows 2000 machine that acts as a file server over the network.
All files are stored on the PC.
Now, we have bought a TC. Sure it's one thing to automatically backup the mac minis, but I also want to connect an external USB hard drive (1 TB) to the TC and store all files on that disk.
Then I want Time Machine not only to backup the Mac minis, but the content on the external disk as well.
From what it looks like, this seems doable. We do not have any Macs or PC that has 802.11n capacity, so the TC will be hooked up on Ethernet via cable.
Are there any issues on what disk can be used?

There will be no problem with this, however the speed seems to be better with the internal drive. I am not sure why though.
On a wired connection I got 13MB/s, thats > 100 mbps write speed to the internal drive, but only about 9 MB/s to the USB drive. On wireless it wouldn't matter, as you can't get 9MB/s speed anyway.
I have a 500GB TC and a Lacie 500GB USB hdd.

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 can I use my time capsule with Ethernet cable? How is it also possible to use time capsule as a normal external hard drive?

My problem is that I don't know how to use my Time Capsule with Ethernet Cable, as when I use wireless it is really slow.

Make sure that there is an Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on your modem/wireless router to the WAN port on the Time Capsule
Click on the Wireless tab at the top of the page
Change the setting for Wireless Mode to Off (I assume that you do not want the Time Capsule to provide a wireless network since you already have a wireless network)
Next, click the Internet icon at the top of the screen, then click the Internet Connection tab
Connect Using = Ethernet
Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode)
Click the Update button at the bottom and wait 30 seconds for the Time Capsule to restart and display a green light
Then, you must power off your entire network...all devices....in any order that you want
Wait a minute
Start your modem/router first and let it run a minute
Start the Time Capsule and let it run a minute
Keep starting devices one at a time until everything is powered up
If you are using Time Machine for backups, you will need to reset the connection because you have changed the way in which the Time Capsule connects to your network
Open System Preferences (gear icon) on the dock
Open Time Machine
Click Select Disk
Click the Time Capsule to highlight it
Click Use for Backup or, it might be Use Disk
Now you can connect your Mac using an Ethernet cable to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule to back up using Ethernet. Be sure to turn off the wireless on your Mac before you start the backup.
If you want to backup using wireless, disconnect the Ethernet cable from the Mac to the Time Capsule and turn on the wireless and connect to your wireless network. Your computer will now backup using wireless.

Can i access my old macbook pro's 'Time machine' saved on time capsule with a new laptop

How can i access my old macbook pro's 'Time machine' saved on time capsule with a new laptop.
Also why can i only EITHER have the capsule attched to the internet OR have it as my backup external hard drive?? Things are not running smoothly can someone please help?
Many thanks,
Cirsflan

Answered in your other thread.. keep to one. Just confusing running two threads with the same question.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4863146?tstart=0

I have a Time Capsule with 2tb of storage, and an I-Mac with 500Gb. (which is at capacity) Can I use the Time Capsule to store data in addition to backing up the hard drive?

I have a Time Capsule with 2tb of storage, and an I-Mac with 500Gb. (which is at capacity) Can I use the Time Capsule to store data from my hard drive that I want to access later in addition to backing up the hard drive?

Can I use the Time Capsule to store data from my hard drive that I want to access later in addition to backing up the hard drive?
Yes, but if you move the "original" data on your iMac to the Time Capsule....then the "original" data is now on the Time Capsule disk.
When...not if...the Time Capsule disk has a problem, you have no backups for this data.
Perhaps a much safer plan might be to add an external hard drive attached directly to your iMac. Then, move the data to that drive from the iMac.
Now, Time Machine will back up both your iMac and the external hard drive so you have "originals" on one drive and backups on another. Would that plan work for you?

Please Help - Time Capsule and External hard drive Issues

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

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

Back up from Time capsule to External Drive

I want to move all of my media from my hard drive on one macbook to my time capsule. i currently use the time capsule with time machine to back up my hard drive. but, i have multiple computers. at home, i have a macbook and a macbook air. at work, i have an imac. i'd like to keep my photos, videos and music on the time capsule's hard drive, so i can access it from each computer. i have the time capsule registered with mobileme, so i can see the contents of it from each computer. presumably, then, if i put the media on that disk, i can access it from each location.
but, now i want to have a back up of all of that media. i have an external hard drive i can plug into the time capsule. my question is this: is there a way to use the time capsule as i have described and then have the time capsule's contents backed up to the external hard drive? if not, is there a way to put everything on the external hard drive, connected to the time capsule, access the content from all three computers, and then have the external harddrive back up to the time capsule?
any help would be really appreciated!

Hi, and welcome to the forums.
No, Time Machine cannot back-up any network drive.
Your options are limited. See #Q6 in the Using TIME MACHINE with a TIME CAPSULE *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum.

Using Time Capsule as external hard drive on a PC, and beyond...

I need to achieve two separate things with my new 500GB TC. The first is to send it to a friend on the other side of the country for her to use Time Capsule with her PC as an external hard drive.
I then want to take those files (once sent back to me from CA), and put them on my computer. After that I just want to use Time Capsule with Time Machine, but I'm pretty sure I can figure that set-up out.
My question is, is this possible? And if so, what is the easiest process to tell my PC friend in order for her to connect Time Capsule as an external?
The reason I am attempting to do this is because I didn't see a need to buy an external and TC as well. The guy at the Mac store said it would be easy to do this, but I'm rather computer illiterate.
That being said, I apologize for my ignorance in regards to the use of Time Capsule, but any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Brody M. Nasse

Well, you just hook the Time Capsule up (either wirelessly or wired via ethernet) and for the PC you will want to install AirPort Utility, run it, and then she will be able to copy files to it. Then when it gets back to you you can run AirPort Utility (it is located in Applications/Utilities) and then access the files she put on your Time Capsule.

Want to use Time Capsule as external hard drive / Time Capsule als externe Festplatte

Can somebody tell me what steps I have to take to use my TC as an external hard drive? Thanks! / Kann mir jemand einmal genau erklären, wie ich meine Time Capsule als externe Festplatte für meine Fotos etc. nutzen kann? Mein 128 GB Mac Book Air kommt nämlich an seine Grenzen:) Brauche ich dafür eine weitere externe Festplatte oder kann ich den Speicherplatz nutzen, den die TC hat und auf dem im Moment immer die automatischen Bachups über Time Machine gespeichert werden? Danke!

There might be a big improvement in the new photo app.
The OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 update includes the new Photos app and improves the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac.
With Photos you can:
Browse your photos by time and location in Moments, Collections, and Years views
Navigate your library using convenient Photos, Shared, Albums, and Projects tabs
Store all of your photos and videos in iCloud Photo Library in their original format and in full resolution
Access your photos and videos stored in iCloud Photo Library from your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iCloud.com with your web browser
Perfect your photos with powerful and easy-to-use editing tools that optimize with a single click or slider, or allow precise adjustments with detailed controls
Create professional-quality photo books with simplified bookmaking tools, new Apple-designed themes, and new square book formats
Purchase prints in new square and panoramic sizes
It’s easy to upgrade your iPhoto library to Photos – just open the app to get started. To learn more about Photos, visit: https://www.apple.com/osx/photos/

Time Machine/Time Capsule with ext hard drive backup probem

I installed Time Capsule with no problems. A 1 TB LaCie hard drive is attached by usb cable to the TC. The LaCie is seen by finder and I can open, edit and save files to it and so can the Macbook Pro on my network.
Time Machine backed up my internal hard drive on my Mac just fine, but Time Machine refuses to see the external Lacie drive so it cannot back it up.
Here is the situation:
1. If I go to Time machine preferences and click Options there are no volumes or folders listed as Do Not Back Up. nothing is there.
2. If I click Change Disk the name I gave my Time Capsule is listed as it should be but the LaCie drive is listed also as if it were possible for me to back up to that also. The LaCie's name is there with the name of the Time Capsule in parenthesis. Isn't that odd?
3. When I select the LaCie icon on my desktop and select Get Info in the Sharing & Permissions section it says, "You have custom access" below it says
Name Privilege
(unknown) Read & Write
everyone No Access
I am new to Mac in general and this permission and sharing thing is still a bit mysterious to me so I don't know if these sharing & permission settings are usual or weird and could be contributing to why the back up of the LaCie drive is not happening.
This is the final hurdle I have in absolutely convincing my small but vocal office that switching to Macs all around was a great idea.
Any help would be appreciated.

External hard drives connected to Time Capsule are not backed up by time machine. I solved this by connecting the hd directly to my mac and sharing it. That's not the solution I was hoping for but it will do for now.

I was just wondering if I can use time capsule with my iphone for both back up and to access the hard drive on the capsule?

I was just wondering if I can use time capsule with my iphone for both back up and to access the hard drive on the capsule?

I don't think backup is supported but you may be able to access the TC's internal drive, from the iPhone, with an application like: NetPortal
Note: I haven't actually tried this app, so if someone else has and was successful in accessing the TC's drive they can certainly chime in.
Follow-up. Just downloaded and installed this app ... and I can now verify that it, indeed, can access both my TC's internal and externally attached USB HDD.

Time Capsule with new MacBook Pro

I recently purchased a new MacBook Pro and synced it with my old computer. How do I get it to connect to my Time Capsule to pull old files? It wants to start a new library under the new computer, but I need files from my old computer on my new one.

From your profile.
Your old TC.. is more than old.. it is ancient.
Time Capsule 802.11n (1st Gen),
I mean like seriously from bygone era.. and very likely to not appreciate even more load than it already has. I hope you are planning for what happens when it finally bites the dust.. they tend to go rapidly .. like one day it works.. next it is over.. all over.
I am looking at the option of picking up a new USB 3.0 external drive (e.g. Toshiba Canvio Basics 2TB or Slim 500 GB) and plugging it into the (unused) USB port of the Time Capsule for my MBP Time Machine backup. Will this work?
Yes it will.. but slow.. very very slow.
I imagine that MBP Time Machine setup will show 2 drives to back up to and I would simply select the second/USB drive as backup.
Correct.
If this setup works, I am also wondering if I should do the initial backup via USB 3.0 without the Time Capsule intermediary to speed up the process. My Time Capsule doesn't sport a USB 3.0 port, but the new MBP and USB drive will.
Sadly no, that is not possible.. Time Machine does not work the same way on network drives cf local drives.. you just have to live with the very slow backup.
So of course this is also impossible.
Also, can I switch back and forth between using Time Machine using 1) Time Capsule with USB drive connected for wireless backups at home and occassionally plugging the 2) same USB 3.0 drive directly into the MBP for on the road backups?
But you can buy a second USB drive and take it with you.. you can setup two different locations for backups and TM will recognise when the USB drive is plugged in.
You could also use CCC and create a bootable drive image.. which will get you backup and running in a few minutes cf TM which can takes several hours of absolute brain beating. CCC backups means you are more likely to recover files than simply using one backup utility. You can also use CCC to the USB drive at home.. now and then.

Time Capsule with External HD

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