Time Capsule and additional Hard drive?

[crizyal]

I have a 500Gb Time Capsule that I use with My 2009 MBP and my soon to have MBA. I would like to add an external hard drive to my network. I have the old MBP drive in an enclosure with a USB interface. What equipment would I need to add this drive to my network? I was hoping this I could just plug it into my Time Capsule, though it seams that doesn't work. Thank you in advance for your help.

 

[Clackamas]

Nobody has had any success with this feature of the time capsule?!?

I don't have a Timecapsule (I configured my Linux Box to be one) but it would be helpful to know the errors you are seeing (that is, describe how it isn't working)...

As I think about it, when I looked into my time machine options, I don't believe Apple designed time capsule to use an external drive as a backup drive but only as a NAS. But, I am not 100% clear on the use of usb drives via Timecapsule as a backup drive.

But again, knowing the errors and behavior that isn't allowing it "to work" would help people address your problem.

 

[bluespaceoddity]

I have a 500Gb Time Capsule that I use with My 2009 MBP and my soon to have MBA. I would like to add an external hard drive to my network. I have the old MBP drive in an enclosure with a USB interface. What equipment would I need to add this drive to my network? I was hoping this I could just plug it into my Time Capsule, though it seams that doesn't work. Thank you in advance for your help.

Have you set up your Time Capsule in AirPort Utility for use with an USB attached External drive?

In case you have not (with the USB disk attached to the Time Capsule):
- If not on already - Start Airport on your Mac or connect your Mac to the Time Capsule via Ethernet Cable.
- Open AirPort Utility (Located in the Utilities Folder inside your Applications Folder)
- Click "Manual SetUp"
- Click Disks
- Make sure that your USB drive shows in the the Airport Disks Pane under Disks
- Under File Sharing check the Enable file sharing box.
- Set a Password from the options provided (Secure Shared Disks)
- Set any other preferences for usage of that disk.
- Click the Update button.
(AirPort Utility will now save the changes you made in the configuration and the Time Capsule will restart. (For a few seconds the Network will be gone) Afterwards the disk should show up in your Network)

 

[Dualica]

In case you have not (with the USB disk attached to the Time Capsule):
- If not on already - Start Airport on your Mac or connect your Mac to the Time Capsule via Ethernet Cable.
- Open AirPort Utility (Located in the Utilities Folder inside your Applications Folder)
- Click "Manual SetUp"
- Click Disks
- Make sure that your USB drive shows in the the Airport Disks Pane under Disks
- Under File Sharing check the Enable file sharing box.
- Set a Password from the options provided (Secure Shared Disks)
- Set any other preferences for usage of that disk.
- Click the Update button.
(AirPort Utility will now save the changes you made in the configuration and the Time Capsule will restart. (For a few seconds the Network will be gone) Afterwards the disk should show up in your Network)

This worked fine for me. I partitioned the usb drive in two. One for my mbp as external storage, and one for windows as backup drive. Works flawlessly.

 

[crizyal]

I did attempt to set up USB drive in Airport utility. I am getting an error with the Time Capsule thats states my USB disk needs to be repaired. I have the drive formatted for Mac OS Journaled and GUID. It checks out fine when attached to my Macbook Pro. File sharing is enabled. When I go to add the drive to airport utility it shows up there. All seems well until I reboot Time Capsule. When it reboots I get the amber flashing light and the "USB drive needs repair" error. I am sure that I am just missing one small step though I cannot figure out what it is.

Edit: I am not trying to use this external drive to back up. I have it laying around and just wanted to make use of the drive on my network.

 

[bobr1952]

I have a first gen Time Capsule and also wanted to add a network drive. All I did was plug it in--that's it--plug it in and there it is along with the Time Capsule drive as a shared drive.

 

[crizyal]

I have a first gen Time Capsule and also wanted to add a network drive. All I did was plug it in--that's it--plug it in and there it is along with the Time Capsule drive as a shared drive.

OK, I have a network drive and yes, that was plug and play. The drive that I am trying to add is a 2.5inch drive in a USB enclosure. The drive was the one that I took out of my Macbook Pro. I reformatted it and plugged it in to the USB port on the TC.

 

[bobr1952]

I wonder if some drives just don't get along with Time Capsule/Airport extreme. I am using a USB powered Seagate GoFlex connected to my Time Capsule and it works great. Also tried a powered Western Digital USB drive and it worked. But the first one I tried was a powered Iomega 1TB USB drive--works fine on my iMac, but could not get the Airport utility to recognize it as a network drive connected to Time Capsule.