How does Time Capsule...err...work?

[617660]

Sorry, but I have to ask.

I understand that TC backs up everything and gives you option to revert back to previous versions. But what if I want to save storage on MBA and dump videos and photos into TC? Will TC work like that as well?

Right now, I have a 1.5TB external HD which I partitioned into two. One for TM, another for carbon copy of documents, videos, and photos files. Obviously, TM takes care of its own partition, but it's very cumbersome to replace the carbon copies of files manually every time.

So can anyone shed some lights on my concern? Btw, if I buy an AEBS, can it be set up as a NAS? I know TC can do that.

 

[hafr]

Btw, if I buy an AEBS, can it be set up as a NAS? I know TC can do that.

Yes. You just connect an external hard drive via the USB outlet on the back and you're good to go. Just be aware of that it doesn't accept all file systems (exFat for instance), but even if you format the drive in HFS+ it can be accessed by Windows machines as well.

 

[CWallace]

I understand that TC backs up everything and gives you option to revert back to previous versions. But what if I want to save storage on MBA and dump videos and photos into TC? Will TC work like that as well?

Yes, in that you could back up media to the TC, delete the files from the MBA, and then later recover the files from the TC, but that is not a very elegant solution, IMO.

Also, should you fill the TC, it will start to remove older files to recover space. You therefore risk losing some of those media files as the TC won't see them on the MBA and assume you no longer need them.

You could partition the TC, I believe, and use one partition for TM backups and the other as a NAS device.

 

[blevins321]

External hard drives attached to a TC or AEBS are not officially supported for Time Machine capabilities. People have gotten them to work, but I've seen reports of firmware updates on the TC/AEBS causing sporadic issues with Time Machine on external drives.

 

[617660]

Thanks for confirming my suspicion. I definitely don't want TC to delete old media files...not that I am going to fill up 2TB storage any time soon.

Is there an app that works the same way as Synctoy on the PC side? I used that program on previous thinkpad to dump everything into the external HD (had it set up as "contribute" instead of "sync" mode, so the external HD takes whatever new files are on thinkpad).

Yes, in that you could back up media to the TC, delete the files from the MBA, and then later recover the files from the TC, but that is not a very elegant solution, IMO.

Also, should you fill the TC, it will start to remove older files to recover space. You therefore risk losing some of those media files as the TC won't see them on the MBA and assume you no longer need them.

You could partition the TC, I believe, and use one partition for TM backups and the other as a NAS device.

 

[aristobrat]

Remember that your Time Machine backups stored on the TC's internal drive will continue to grow in size until there is no space left. When that happens, TM will (with your permission) delete old TM backups to make room for new backups, however, it's not going to leave YOU with any extra room to continue putting your NAS related files on the TC's internal drive.

Unless you physically open a TC, remove the internal drive, and plug it into your Mac, you can't repartition it (like you did with your current external). You can, however, plug an external USB HDD into the back of a TC and use that for NAS storage (without any worry of TM backups running it out of space).