Time Capsule - Reported Disk Size in Airport Utility

[funlad]

Hi,

I bought a new 2TB Time Capsule, and had problems completing the initial backup. I finally sourced the problem to files that were buried deep in a stack of folders, which seemed to make the file name/path too long.

Anyway before I realised that I tried to reformat the Time Machine, and this seemed to work ok.

However Airport Utility is now reporting the Time Capsule Disk Size as being 1.8TB, rather than 2TB. I think before I reformatted the disk it showed as being 2TB in this menu, but I cannot be sure. I am worried that I have somehow formatted it wrong and lost some data space?

If I go into Disk Utility, it does say there that the Data partition is 2TB, so it seems strange that Airport Utility shows it at 1.8TB.

Can someone else who has the 2TB Time Capsule let me know whether in Airport Utility it shows as being 2TB or 1.8TB?

Thanks,

Tim

 

[skorpien]

Computer and hard drive manufacturers advertise drive space incorrectly. They advertise 1 TB as 1,000 GB and 1 GB as 1,000 MB. In actuality, 1 TB should be 1,024 GB and 1 GB should be 1,024 MB. Taking this into account, the actual hard drive space on a 2 TB TC will be in the 1.9 TB range. As well, formatted capacity is always slightly less than actual capacity, so the 1.8 TB available space is spot on. Don't worry.

 

[funlad]

Computer and hard drive manufacturers advertise drive space incorrectly. They advertise 1 TB as 1,000 GB and 1 GB as 1,000 MB. In actuality, 1 TB should be 1,024 GB and 1 GB should be 1,024 MB. Taking this into account, the actual hard drive space on a 2 TB TC will be in the 1.9 TB range. As well, formatted capacity is always slightly less than actual capacity, so the 1.8 TB available space is spot on. Don't worry.

Hi, yeah I was thinking that may be the case - it just seemed odd that in Disk Utility it showed the Time Capsule as being a 2TB partition with 2TB available space!

 

[skorpien]

Yeah, that is strange that it would report 2TB total drive space initially. Unfortunately I've erased the disk on my TC multiple times, so I can't be sure what mine said originally (not to mention I've swapped out the inital 500GB drive with a 1.5TB one ). I'll check the reported total size in Time Machine and post back here when I can, though if I remember correctly I think it reports the disk as being 1.3TB.

 

[funlad]

Yeah, that is strange that it would report 2TB total drive space initially. Unfortunately I've erased the disk on my TC multiple times, so I can't be sure what mine said originally (not to mention I've swapped out the inital 500GB drive with a 1.5TB one ). I'll check the reported total size in Time Machine and post back here when I can, though if I remember correctly I think it reports the disk as being 1.3TB.

Thanks, that'd be a great help!

 

[skorpien]

Hmm... It seems I stand corrected... My apologies.

My TC reports the capacity of the internal drive as 1.5 TB. So yours should actually report 2 TB. When you formatted the TC's drive, did you use AirPort Utility?

 

[funlad]

Hmm... It seems I stand corrected... My apologies.

My TC reports the capacity of the internal drive as 1.5 TB. So yours should actually report 2 TB. When you formatted the TC's drive, did you use AirPort Utility?

Hi, is that the reported capacity from within Airport Utility?

I tried formatting three times, once by erasing the 'Data' file from within Airport Utility, and also by reformatting the Data, and also Sparsebundle from within Disk Utility.

I think it may have been this last action which messed things up, as for a short time my Mac was seeing two Sparsebundles on the Time Capsule.

Any ideas how I can totally reformat the Time Capsule so I get the full 2TB again? In Airport Utility, it is the drive capacity that is reported as 1.8TB, so I'm not sure if just erasing the Data partition from within here will do the trick?

 

[billib]

"base 10" or "base 2"

Hi,

I bought a new 2TB Time Capsule now reporting the Time Capsule Disk Size as being 1.8TB
If I go into Disk Utility, it does say there that the Data partition is 2TB, so it seems strange that Airport Utility shows it at 1.8TB.

Snow Leopard calculates HD size using "base 10" in Disc Utility. Could the "AirPort Utility" still be using the OLD binary "base 2"?

 

[skorpien]

The best way to erase the disk on the Time Capsule is to use AirPort Utility and erase it from the Disks tab. Select the disk and click on "Erase..." It's not meant to be mounted and formatted using Disk Utility, and although you can format the .sparsebundle image, it may cause problems as you have discovered.

And to clarify, it was my Time Machine preferences that reported the internal Time Capsule disk as being 1.5 TB. If I go into AirPort Utility, the disk is listed as having a capacity of 1.4 TB. So maybe the Time Machine preferences were displaying your drive as 2 TB in size and your AirPort Utility Disks tab as 1.8 TB?

 

[funlad]

The best way to erase the disk on the Time Capsule is to use AirPort Utility and erase it from the Disks tab. Select the disk and click on "Erase..." It's not meant to be mounted and formatted using Disk Utility, and although you can format the .sparsebundle image, it may cause problems as you have discovered.

And to clarify, it was my Time Machine preferences that reported the internal Time Capsule disk as being 1.5 TB. If I go into AirPort Utility, the disk is listed as having a capacity of 1.4 TB. So maybe the Time Machine preferences were displaying your drive as 2 TB in size and your AirPort Utility Disks tab as 1.8 TB?

Ok thanks, maybe it is normal to have a smaller reported size in there then! I have had problems backing up again, so have just tried erasing and starting all over!