Can I turn my TC into AE?

[h9826790]

I have 2 TCs, and my Mac Pro is running 24/7 as server anyway. So I want to remove the HDD from the old 2T TC and turn it into an AE.

I prefer to do it this way because the backup always fail on this TC. So, I can put the HDD into my USB3.0 enclosure for testing, and which is a much better option to fully utilise the 2T HDD (especially in terms of speed, or use as a backup boot drive).

I've seen a lot of info on the internet on how to turn an AE into a TC, but not the other way around.

Provided that I carefully follow the iFixit guide to remove the HDD (without damage anything). I guess the network part of the TC will still able to function normally. However, is there anyone know if I will get an orange light / any other errors?

I still have plenty of storage, just thinking about fully utilise this 2T HDD. But I don't want to kill the TC, or deal with any errors. Any info are welcome, million thanks in advance.

 

[MCAsan]

By AE do you mean Airport Express or Airport Extreme? At Time Capsule is fundamentally an Extreme with a drive and SATA host. Ignore the HD and you have an Extreme.

If the TC is old, I suggest it is not worth the time and effort to remove such an old HD. Get a nice new HD, they are very cheap these days. Put the new HD into an enclosure that does UASP to get the max transport speed.

 

[Weaselboy]

I still have plenty of storage, just thinking about fully utilise this 2T HDD. But I don't want to kill the TC, or deal with any errors. Any info are welcome, million thanks in advance.

I've seen people continue to use a TC with a broken drive inside, so I know it will keep working. But I really don't know if Airport Util would throw a warning if you did that. Looking at Airport Util, I'm not seeing any spot for a warning like that.

 

[h9826790]

I mean Airport Extreme. And I want to use it as the Wi-Fi extender.

Yes, the HDD is old. However, I don't want to waste it. It's perfectly good for testing Beta OSX, store some large unimportant files, or BT etc.

 

[Altemose]

I mean Airport Extreme. And I want to use it as the Wi-Fi extender.

You must use the AirPort with another AirPort as the main router if you want to wirelessly extend. It should work fine without a hard drive inside.

 

[h9826790]

Thanks for the info, my main router is another TC, so should not be a problem then

 

[h9826790]

Finally have time to open the TC and get the HDD out. It's a 2T WD Green HDD inside, which still in good condition, write 95MB/s, read 100MB/s when connect to the SATA 2 port directly.

The TC will work as an AE. As Weaselboy point's out, the TC will treat it like a failed HDD inside. Airport Utility will pops up and tell me the HDD failed. Once I choose "Ignore", the light on TC will go back to green, and it will work exactly the same as a normal AE.