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Quick question - Time Capsule expandable with USB drives?

dec.

dec.

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Original poster
Apr 15, 2012
1,349
765
Toronto
We have a time capsule 4th gen, 2 TB. as we seem to be getting more and more apple computers in this household, I'd like to know how easy it is to expand the backup storage by using USB drives? Any recommendations on which drives to use, if it's possible?

thanks!
 
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opinio

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2013
1,171
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dec. said:
We have a time capsule 4th gen, 2 TB. as we seem to be getting more and more apple computers in this household, I'd like to know how easy it is to expand the backup storage by using USB drives? Any recommendations on which drives to use, if it's possible?

thanks!
Click to expand...

You simply plug in a USB drive that is formatted journaled (default OS X in disk util) and it should be recognised. There are some access options in the Airport app if you want to look at them.

I have used a number of drives on an AE. Mostly seagate 3.5" USB drives.
 
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skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
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Just to clarify, this will only add additional drives that will be shared. This will not increase the space of the internal drive. You can point new machines to back up on the external, but any backups currently on the internal drive will not be automatically extended to the external drives when it is full.
 
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ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
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I've attached a USB drive to a TC for years now without issue. Just pick a reliable USB drive in the size you want. You don't need much performance. You will then divide the macs among the drives. A TM backup will not currently span drives.
 
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opinio said:
You can always replace the internal with a larger drive. Not for the faint hearted but it can be done.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1600698/

Although this was on the latest 2013 TC. I think the 4th gen doesn't like 4TB (hit and miss).
Click to expand...

Nice job there! But I always was the kid that took things apart - and couldn't get them back together ... Tweezers, faint hearted... No! :D

The TC is hidden under a couch anyway, so the looks are irrelevant.
 
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DianeK

macrumors regular
Jun 4, 2013
222
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opinio said:
You simply plug in a USB drive that is formatted journaled (default OS X in disk util) and it should be recognised.
Click to expand...

Looking for a bit of clarification here. We cannot get our AirDrop to work so we're thinking of plugging in a thumbstick into the shared Time Capsule and sharing files that way. Are you saying we need to format it specifically for Mac? Or can we leave it as FAT so that our Windows machine could also read any files on it if we plug the thumbstick into the PC?
Thanks
Diane
 
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DisplacedMic

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2009
1,411
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dec. said:
Nice job there! But I always was the kid that took things apart - and couldn't get them back together ... Tweezers, faint hearted... No! :D

The TC is hidden under a couch anyway, so the looks are irrelevant.
Click to expand...

make sure it and any additional drives you added have room to breath. i'm sure you know that already, but just in case :D
 
O

opinio

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2013
1,171
7
DianeK said:
Looking for a bit of clarification here. We cannot get our AirDrop to work so we're thinking of plugging in a thumbstick into the shared Time Capsule and sharing files that way. Are you saying we need to format it specifically for Mac? Or can we leave it as FAT so that our Windows machine could also read any files on it if we plug the thumbstick into the PC?
Thanks
Diane
Click to expand...

I am not absolutely certain but I beleive the TC can only read USB drives that are HFS+ (journaled). But I believe OS X and Windows can still read that drive through the TC as it is a NAS. If that is the case, no, you cannot run the same thumb drive on Windows unless you have special software in Windows. I haven't used Windows or FAT for years so I am not absolutely sure on that. I would suggest you run a few simple tests.
 
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DianeK

macrumors regular
Jun 4, 2013
222
8
opinio said:
I am not absolutely certain but I beleive the TC can only read USB drives that are HFS+ (journaled). But I believe OS X and Windows can still read that drive through the TC as it is a NAS. If that is the case, no, you cannot run the same thumb drive on Windows unless you have special software in Windows. I haven't used Windows or FAT for years so I am not absolutely sure on that. I would suggest you run a few simple tests.
Click to expand...

Thank you.
Diane
 
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