Time Capsule being a NAS

[Mr Ski 73]

Hi

Could I ask a quick question for you new time capsule owners. I want to get the 1Tb version, partition the disk so that say 250GB is used for time machine and 750GB is a wired gigabit NAS on my network.


The question is will the product serve my purpose or do I still need a base station and external drive.

Thanks in advance

Mr Ski

 

[gr8tfly]

As far as i can tell, there isn't anyway to partition the drive. The only option is to erase.

But, there really isn't a need to partition for Time Machine backups on TC. Each machine's backup is stored in a sparse image file. You can store whatever you like along side it/them.

 

[Diode]

As far as i can tell, there isn't anyway to partition the drive. The only option is to erase.

But, there really isn't a need to partition for Time Machine backups on TC. Each machine's backup is stored in a sparse image file. You can store whatever you like along side it/them.

Yea but eventually those backups will grow to the total space available on the hard drive and you won't be able to add any more files to the NAS part.

 

[ljones]

Thats the one thing about Time lack machine. It is seriously lacking controls. Apple is good for releasing new features with weak settings. Then they add new features in the next OS release.

I got the 1TB time machine figuring I would definitely exceed 500GB at some point. But I don't foresee that for a while. Just make sure you archive some things on your own. I have an applescript that runs every sunday at noon that archives my entourage data by date. Video files and final cut renderings and such, no need to back that up with time machine, those changes occur to frequent and the files are huge.

I would think large photoshop files could also cause the same problem.

Apple needs to add more control over TM. THe ability to kill out old data which is purely up to the user. Allow us to splice off the end of the backup data.

 

[gr8tfly]

Yea but eventually those backups will grow to the total space available on the hard drive and you won't be able to add any more files to the NAS part.

I guess a work-around would be to create a DMG, with whatever space you think you might need.

 

[Mr Ski 73]

So it sounds like it will work but I need to keep an eye on the back up area and make sure it doesnt grow too big.

I am thinking of putting both my iphoto library and also itunes library on there which are about 300GB at the moment.

 

[xraydoc]

I guess a work-around would be to create a DMG, with whatever space you think you might need.

This would be the solution. On a 1TB Time Capsule, make a fixed-size read/write disk image for whatever size you want, say 500GB. Then let Time Machine have at the other 500GB. Mount the disk image, and add/remove items at will. You'll have 500GB that Time Machine can't encroach upon.
But otherwise there is no way I see to partition the Time Capsule's drive.