This posting is related to an earlier 2013 success report on a 2nd generation TimeCapsule upgrade to a 4TB internal hard drive. Like that posting, it is a success report, not a set of step-by-step instructions. It will serve a self-directed person to know what worked for one person one time. I an not equipped to provide additional details for those who may have questions, other than to correct errors and improve clarity.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...upgrade-sparceimage-transfer-success.1665163/
I imagine those seeking step-by-step instructions will be served by iFixIt's offering
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/AirPort_Time_Capsule_A1470
Notes:
I needed a set of dental tools to supplement iFixIt's tools. The connectors that connect wires from one side of the device to the other, crossing over the hard drive, must be accessed at an angle, unlike earlier TimeCapsules, which have comparatively unrestricted access. My spudger tool worked great in the latter but was completely ineffective in the former. The dental tools, bright illumination, and a magnifying lens allowed these connectors to be safely removed. Reseating the connectors after installing the new hard drive requires precise yaw, pitch and roll adjustments to properly "land" the female connector atop the male connector on the printed circuit board. This is easy to do with fingers alone on the older TimeCapsules, but harder on the A1470, where fingers block your view. The dental tools make this possible, albeit awkward.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OSB8T0?
The butyl rubber shock-absorbing spacers that abut the four corners of the hard drive are designed for the original hard drive. It was necessary to carefully cut down all four so that the new hard drive would fit. Without this, the unit cannot be closed up.
Changing the hardware and keeping the hard drive, with its history, is the opposite of the case I reported with a 2nd generation TimeCapsule in 2013 (see first link above). Perhaps I gave up too soon, but I was unable using terminal commands to persuade any of my four backed-up Macs to reattach to their old sparceimages on the old 4TB hard drive in the new A1470 4th Generation TimeCapsule. (Some of the relevant terminal commands are listed in the first link above.)
To bound the problem, I made a copy of the most important 1.7GB sparceimage and then used the A1470 to wipe the 4GB hard drive and start completely over. All four Macs needed of course to do their initial backups and proceeded to do so. I supplemented wireless connections with ethernet by attaching appropriate cables between the A1470 and the computers that were backing up.
During this time the 4GB hard drive did a lot of work and it heated up. This caused the status light to switch from solid green, to flashing orange/amber and then to go dark entirely. The AirPort utility displayed a blinking orange/amber light and the message "This Time Capsule may be overheating" or words to that effect.
Removing the bottom of the TimeCapsule (which is where the intake and output ducts of the forced air cooling both live) and turning the A1470 on its side reduced the physical sense of heat but I believe that the light remained dark during these initial backups. After the backups were completed, the unit cooled off and the normal green status light returned. Replacing the bottom and placing it in its normal upright position did not change this condition.
All appears to be normal as of this writing.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...upgrade-sparceimage-transfer-success.1665163/
I imagine those seeking step-by-step instructions will be served by iFixIt's offering
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/AirPort_Time_Capsule_A1470
Notes:
I needed a set of dental tools to supplement iFixIt's tools. The connectors that connect wires from one side of the device to the other, crossing over the hard drive, must be accessed at an angle, unlike earlier TimeCapsules, which have comparatively unrestricted access. My spudger tool worked great in the latter but was completely ineffective in the former. The dental tools, bright illumination, and a magnifying lens allowed these connectors to be safely removed. Reseating the connectors after installing the new hard drive requires precise yaw, pitch and roll adjustments to properly "land" the female connector atop the male connector on the printed circuit board. This is easy to do with fingers alone on the older TimeCapsules, but harder on the A1470, where fingers block your view. The dental tools make this possible, albeit awkward.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OSB8T0?
The butyl rubber shock-absorbing spacers that abut the four corners of the hard drive are designed for the original hard drive. It was necessary to carefully cut down all four so that the new hard drive would fit. Without this, the unit cannot be closed up.
Changing the hardware and keeping the hard drive, with its history, is the opposite of the case I reported with a 2nd generation TimeCapsule in 2013 (see first link above). Perhaps I gave up too soon, but I was unable using terminal commands to persuade any of my four backed-up Macs to reattach to their old sparceimages on the old 4TB hard drive in the new A1470 4th Generation TimeCapsule. (Some of the relevant terminal commands are listed in the first link above.)
To bound the problem, I made a copy of the most important 1.7GB sparceimage and then used the A1470 to wipe the 4GB hard drive and start completely over. All four Macs needed of course to do their initial backups and proceeded to do so. I supplemented wireless connections with ethernet by attaching appropriate cables between the A1470 and the computers that were backing up.
During this time the 4GB hard drive did a lot of work and it heated up. This caused the status light to switch from solid green, to flashing orange/amber and then to go dark entirely. The AirPort utility displayed a blinking orange/amber light and the message "This Time Capsule may be overheating" or words to that effect.
Removing the bottom of the TimeCapsule (which is where the intake and output ducts of the forced air cooling both live) and turning the A1470 on its side reduced the physical sense of heat but I believe that the light remained dark during these initial backups. After the backups were completed, the unit cooled off and the normal green status light returned. Replacing the bottom and placing it in its normal upright position did not change this condition.
All appears to be normal as of this writing.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.