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Time Capsule/Airport Extreme question

boston04and07

boston04and07

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 13, 2008
1,834
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Hi everyone - I've run into a predicament with my Time Capsule and was hoping you could help me. I own a latest generation Airport Time Capsule and have used it for a while to back up my Mac. I'm temporarily staying with several roommates for several months, who already have their own wireless network set up via a latest-generation Airport Extreme. I don't want to mess with their wireless set up, but still want to keep backing up to my Time Capsule, especially since I'll be taking it back with me when I eventually leave. Is there any way to do this? I'm thinking that being able to use it as a wireless drive somehow would be ideal, but when it comes to routers I get easily confused and just don't want to mess anything up.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
 
I would simply try connecting your Time Capsule to their Airport Extreme by using an Ethernet cable and see if that works. You should connect the cable to the bottom most port (AKA the WAN port) on your time capsule, and the other end should go into the one of the three ports (LAN ports) on their Airport Extreme.
 
Use the AirPort Utility to configure your TM to bridge the Internet connection from the Extreme to this one, via wireless or LAN. What this means is that you will get their wireless Internet, but I'm fairly sure that all devices connected to it (including the built-in hard drive) will only be accessible if you're connected to that specific router. Hope this helps.
 
garirry said:
Use the AirPort Utility to configure your TM to bridge the Internet connection from the Extreme to this one, via wireless or LAN. What this means is that you will get their wireless Internet, but I'm fairly sure that all devices connected to it (including the built-in hard drive) will only be accessible if you're connected to that specific router. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate it! I'll try this tonight when I get home.
 
garirry said:
Use the AirPort Utility to configure your TM to bridge the Internet connection from the Extreme to this one, via wireless or LAN. What this means is that you will get their wireless Internet, but I'm fairly sure that all devices connected to it (including the built-in hard drive) will only be accessible if you're connected to that specific router. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

No. If the Time Capsule is in Bridge Mode connected to the Extreme via Ethernet then it becomes a client. With the wireless radio disabled, the Time Capsule will work just like a regular NAS that anyone on the AirPort Extreme's network can access.
 
Altemose said:
No. If the Time Capsule is in Bridge Mode connected to the Extreme via Ethernet then it becomes a client. With the wireless radio disabled, the Time Capsule will work just like a regular NAS that anyone on the AirPort Extreme's network can access.
Click to expand...
But if I'm correct, using apple's utility to bridge the network wirelessly won't do this and will actually separate the TC from its source?
 
garirry said:
But if I'm correct, using apple's utility to bridge the network wirelessly won't do this and will actually separate the TC from its source?
Click to expand...

There is no "join" mode within AirPort Utility for wirelessly joining a network on an Extreme or Time Capsule. Therefore, OP must either connect the TC via Ethernet and set it to Bridge Mode and disable the Wi-Fi, or set the Time Capsule to wirelessly extend the Extreme's network, which may affect network performance.
 
Altemose said:
There is no "join" mode within AirPort Utility for wirelessly joining a network on an Extreme or Time Capsule. Therefore, OP must either connect the TC via Ethernet and set it to Bridge Mode and disable the Wi-Fi, or set the Time Capsule to wirelessly extend the Extreme's network, which may affect network performance.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, I forgot that there were two options (join and extend). So I assume that join combines them into a single network, while extend makes the router a client to the other router, right?
 
garirry said:
Oh yeah, I forgot that there were two options (join and extend). So I assume that join combines them into a single network, while extend makes the router a client to the other router, right?
Click to expand...

Join makes it a mere client, but it is not supported on the Extremes and Time Capsules. Extend will wirelessly replicate the network of the main base station.
 
Hmm, thank you both for your help with this! This is a tough one. So if I'm understanding this correctly, if I plug my TC into their Extreme via Ethernet and disable the wifi, how would my Macbook Pro connect to the TC to perform its backups?

Alternatively, they do have a hard drive attached to their Extreme for their own backups, and I've been putting my backups there for the time being until I get this sorted out. I really don't care where I back up my MBP while I'm here, just that I have all my backups when I leave. If I do back up to their Extreme, is it possible for me to take my own backup file and somehow combine it with my existing backups on my TC?

Again, thanks so much for the help and insight! Time Machine has saved me many times but also tends to confuse the crap outta me...
 
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