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.

Similar Messages

How does one sync the new time capsule with the old airport extreme and airport express in order to extend range?

How does one sync the new time capsule with the old airport extreme and airport express in order to extend range?

Thanks for the additional information.
Unfortunately, the AirPort Utility application in the Lion and Mountain Lion operating systems, which is used to configure the new Time Capsule does not support the older versions of the products that you have.
Even if it did, there are no settings on the older AirPorts to "Extend a wireless network", so they are not compatible with the new Time Capsule if you intend to extend the network only using wireless connections.
If you have the ability to connect each AirPort to the Time Capsule using a permanent wired Ethernet cable connection, it might be possible to use a complicated workaround to install an older version of AirPort Utility to configure the older AirPorts to work with the new Time Capsule.
If you have another Mac there that is using the Leopard or Snow Leoapard operating system, things would likely be simpler. I have not done this type of procedure to mix a new Time Capsule with older AirPorts, so I would not be able to say whether this would work or not.

Time Capsule with ext HDD seems too slow for ethernet big file transfer

With new Snow Leopard on a Mac Mini, I have a wired Time Capsule with an external WD USB 2.0 HDD added. While moving files over 802.11N files seem to work fine, a full wired Ethernet connection seems to send the files too fast for the WD external drive to keep up. I get only the first 50Mb before the transfer gets corrupted. Isn't there a handshake that limits the file transmission to allow for the USB drive to stay ahead?
Has anyone else seen this? Is there a remedy?
Thanks
Bill H.

With new Snow Leopard on a Mac Mini, I have a wired Time Capsule with an external WD USB 2.0 HDD added. While moving files over 802.11N files seem to work fine, a full wired Ethernet connection seems to send the files too fast for the WD external drive to keep up. I get only the first 50Mb before the transfer gets corrupted. Isn't there a handshake that limits the file transmission to allow for the USB drive to stay ahead?
Has anyone else seen this? Is there a remedy?
Thanks
Bill H.

Time Capsule as external HDD and backup drive

I'm looking to buy a Time Capsule; can I use it as an external hard drive for my movies, and as a backup drive to work with Time Machine? I want to have my whole iTunes library on the Time Capsule so I can store everthing there to free up space for my Mac, and still be able to use Apple TV with those movies. In addition I want to use the rest of the space to back up the rest of my Macs files with Time Machine. Is that possible?

@Joop
TC can handle TM and other backups at the same time.
The TC is much slower (and more expensive) than a "normal" external drive, because everything has to go via WiFi. Especially when you are going to place Libraries on it.
So I suggest that you acquire an exeternal backup disk.
Second:
if you want to place Libraries on the same disk as your backups/TM: when that disk goes down you do not have any backup for your Libraries (even when you partition the disk to separate between backup and libraries). Think about that. Imagine how you feel when you loose your photo library....
Third:
So all in all, I suggest to have two SEPARATE external disks.

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 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 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.

Time capsule as external HDD

I bought a 3TB Time Capsule to free up audio and video files from my macbook.
Can I see what is inside my TC from my computer? Is there a way I can drag and drop into the time capsule or is it only for the time maching to back up to?
I hope Im asking the questions correctly. My first apple product....and i love it!!

   They recommend you do the 1st initial backup with an ethenet cable because the initial backup will be the longest since it backs up the whole system and doing it wirelessly will take a long time so your better off doing the initial (1st) backup with ethernet since it will be a lot faster then you can go wireless because all backups after that are only incremental meaning only changed files will be backed up and these won't take long at all.
   However since my Mac is new and I don't have a lot of stuff on there, (just some iTunes songs) I did the initial backup over wireless and my initial backup only took only about 20-30 minutes. That's fine if you've hardly got anything on there like me.
   But if you've got a lot of data on there it may take hours or even overnight is why it's suggested that you do the first backup with ethernet and then you can go wireless after that for following incremental backups. For me I didn't really have to go ethernet because I've hardly had anything on there.

Use Time Capsule as extern HDD and time machine?

Hi, I own a Time Cap. 1 Gb and use it for Time Machine, but I also want to use it as en extra Harddisk.. But I don' t get a harddisk icon on my desktop.. Så how do I get acess to it?
Thanks
Lasse

open Airport Utility (assuming you run a Mac not Windows)
two scenarios; select Finder preferences under General and check box "show connected servers on desktop"
1) your local network use GO function, found top file menu then select "connect to server" you'll see a blank window type afp://your router ip address should be number such as 10.0.1.1
2) using the internet because you are not near your local network, open Airport Utility write down your internet tab ip address example such as 68.43.46.123
Also using Airport Utility under Disks/File Sharing check box "enable file sharing" and "share disk over wan port." When using afp command such as first scenario use your internet ip address
Personally I have used this afp internet connection when I was in Pittsburgh, Pa over the past holidays to get a few of my files off my TC network in Detroit, Mi.

Time capsule + 1TB external HD and 2 macbookpros

How do I go about setting up Time Capsule for 2 notebooks? I have a printer attached to the USB port and have gotten a 1 TB HD and a powered USB hub. I'd like to put a 200 gb notebook on the Time Capsule and a 500 gb notebook on the 1 TB external drive. Presently, I've been running the small notebook on the TC but have just migrated the data on the HD to the 500 gb notebook. Can you suggest steps on how to go about this?

LannyRLevenson wrote:
I was running TC on the original 200 GB notebook
To avoid confusion, try to distinguish between Time Capsule (an Apple combination AirPort router and backup drive) and Time Machine (backup software).
but haven't used it with the external HD or the new 500 GB notebook. Should both notebooks be running (attached with ethernet cable) when I go to configure the TC to share the attached notebook over the network?
An initial Time Machine backup can run faster if it is run over an Ethernet cable rather than over Wi-Fi. I'm not sure what you mean by "share the attached notebook over the network". What is it about the "notebook" that you want to share and to what do you want to share it?
Where do I find "sparsebundle" file?
It should be on the network drive where Time Machine has been writing its backups. (Time Machine backups written to a locally-attached drive are named differently.)

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.

Confused - Using Time Capsule as External HD and Using TC With Time Machine

Hello,
I've been using my Time Capsule for about a month now and I am very pleased. I have only been using it as an external hard drive as I wasn't really worried about backing EVERYTHING up. Yesterday my macbook's internal drive messed up and after reinstalling all my apps I've decided that running Time Machine would be a good idea.
So, I currently have 120 GBs of stuff on my 500 GB Time Capsule. Can I simply create a folder on the Time Capsule and set Time Machine to make backups to that folder? Also, is there a way I can limit how much space Time Machine will take up without partitioning the drive?
Thanks in advance,
Josh.

time machine will make a sparse bundle in your TC - so no need to make a folder.
"Also, is there a way I can limit how much space Time Machine will take up without partitioning the drive? "
no, you can not limit the space, and you can not partition the TC drive unless you physically take it out of the box, put it in a firewire enclosure, partition, than put it all back.
for this reason, i use superduper for my backups.

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.

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?

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.

Time Capsule with external HDD as fileserver and backup

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