Time Capsule

[Big Ron]

Hi All

I'm a new user so please go easy on me & apologies if this question has been previously answered:

A year or so ago I purchases a white Apple 500MByte Time capsule with a view to upgrading the hard drive when I eventually bought my Mac.

Now the shiney new IMacs are about to hit the shelves here in the deepest parts of the UK, I thought I better get a move on with this issue therefore:

The questiona are: Am I going to hit any problems with swapping out the 500Mbyte hard drive and putting in a 3TByte one?

Are there Firmware problems?

Thanks in anticipation for any replies

Big Ron

 

[skorpien]

I think you're safe. There seemed to be issues with the older firmware, but the latest (6.5.1) should work well.

What model of TC and firmware do you have?

 

[Big Ron]

Time Capsule firmware version

Hi

When I said earlier 500Mbyte I meant 500GByte.

Thanks for the speedy reply, the firmware version reports itself as 7.6.1

Do you think I will be able to replace the existing drive with a 3Tbyte one?

Any suggestions which is good value??

 

[xraydoc]

Hi

When I said earlier 500Mbyte I meant 500GByte.

Thanks for the speedy reply, the firmware version reports itself as 7.6.1

Do you think I will be able to replace the existing drive with a 3Tbyte one?

Any suggestions which is good value??

Do a Google search before upgrading the drive. There's some instructions on how to format the hard drive for best functionality (I don't think it's just a straight up Mac HFS+ format).

As for the drive itself, I think a "green" 5400 RPM would be sufficient - Time Capsule transfer speeds don't require a 7200 RPM-class drive and the heat produced by the faster drives could potentially shorten the device's lifespan.

 

[Brian33]

If you have a 500 GB Time Capsule, then (I think) it must be a 1st-generation one, like mine. In a way that's good, because I've read that the 1st-gen TC can be fitted with a 3 TB drive, while later ones cannot, strange as that seems. I think it was in this thread at Ars Technica

I was a participant in this (long!) thread here, where some people had "spin-down" problems with some WD 2 TB drives. In that last few pages, I see reports of succeeding with these 3 TB drives:

"I believe it was a WD30EZRX -- the model number on the box is WDBAAY0030HNC-NRSN"

"WD30EZRSDTL"

and I'm pretty sure earlier someone reported in that thread success with a Seagate "low-power" drive, too. My guess is any recent WD or Seagate would work, but it's just a guess. As mentioned before, i would choose one of the "green" drives, too.


Also -- you don't get the option for the drive's format. Don't format it at all -- just install the new drive (don't forget the hair dryer or heat gun), then power it up and use Disk Utility to "Erase" it (which actually formats it as HFS+, I believe).

 

[Big Ron]

Time Capsule

Excellent advice many thanks.

Ive just ordered one of the new IMac's, it is 10 days away from delivery so once the initial setup is out of the way, ill turn my attention to the Time capsule.

I'm completely new to Macs therefore I might take a little longer to sort myself out, once again many thanks

Ron

 

[AnonMac50]

If you have a 500 GB Time Capsule, then (I think) it must be a 1st-generation one, like mine. In a way that's good, because I've read that the 1st-gen TC can be fitted with a 3 TB drive, while later ones cannot, strange as that seems. I think it was in this thread at Ars Technica

I was a participant in this (long!) thread here, where some people had "spin-down" problems with some WD 2 TB drives. In that last few pages, I see reports of succeeding with these 3 TB drives:

"I believe it was a WD30EZRX -- the model number on the box is WDBAAY0030HNC-NRSN"

"WD30EZRSDTL"

and I'm pretty sure earlier someone reported in that thread success with a Seagate "low-power" drive, too. My guess is any recent WD or Seagate would work, but it's just a guess. As mentioned before, i would choose one of the "green" drives, too.


Also -- you don't get the option for the drive's format. Don't format it at all -- just install the new drive (don't forget the hair dryer or heat gun), then power it up and use Disk Utility to "Erase" it (which actually formats it as HFS+, I believe).

Excellent advice many thanks.

Ive just ordered one of the new IMac's, it is 10 days away from delivery so once the initial setup is out of the way, ill turn my attention to the Time capsule.

I'm completely new to Macs therefore I might take a little longer to sort myself out, once again many thanks

Ron

Actually, I think what you should do is erase it in Airport Utility. That would be better.

 

[skorpien]

Just to clarify (apologies for the delay in response), there are some second generation Time Capsules that had 500GB drives (the early ones), though I do think that yours will work even if it is second gen. The ones I've seen that had issues with the 3TB drive were third gen I believe. It could also have been a firmware issue that may have since been corrected.

Mine is first gen and I've upgraded it to 2TB. As AnonMac50 said, all that was required was to swap it and erase the drive using AirPort Utility. It will format it and create the necessary partitions for it to work (there are two small, invisible partitions in addition to the main one).

 

[Big Ron]

Time Machine Thanks

Skorpien, AnonMac50, Brian33 & xraydoc

Many thanks for your sage words, I'm gonna print off all your advice then finally ditch this Windows millstone masquerading as a PC.

I'll hopefully be up and running this side of X-mas and I'll tackle the Time Machine. I'll report back then.

Ron

 

[Phragmites]

Remote access to time capsule

Hi, I need help in setting up my macbook to connect remotely to my time capsule.

I have a Virgin router, with TC plugged into its WAN port via Ethernet cable, the wifi on the TC is turned off, as using the Virgin router.

I am currently using the TC just as a back up when Im at home.

However, I want to set up my time capsule , so I can access it when away on business, to access reports etc.

I can find out how to set up my Macbook, which I have done, but dont know how to do port forwarding on my Virgin router?

I can access it, but do not know what to put in to port forward, will the software PF Config find my TC and set it up it I pay and download it?

So anyone in the UK have any experience of this, I would buy you a pint!

thanks in advance Steve