TimeCapsule Disk Replacement

[haralds]

I am currently using a Mac Mini with a stack of USB drives for TimeMachine. But I am working on slimming down the number of Macs in our house. Sometime next year we will be down to two MacBooks (M1 with 1TB and 2TB drive) and a media Mac Mini.
I am looking to simplify life and returning to using my TimeCapsule currently in mothballs. I know it will be slow, but tests have shown it is not really much worse than using a Mac Mini. And after the initial backup it really does not matter. I also do occasional Carbon Copy Clones, but TS is great for rolling back and versioning and "not thinking about it."
The 3TB drive is getting noisy and I am planning on pulling it and replacing it initially with a 4TB NAS drive I have pulled out of my cMP likely to also be retired next year.
It also has a 10TB drive I could fit. Has anybody tried a larger drive in the TimeCapsule?

 

[J.Gallardo]

I am currently using a Mac Mini with a stack of USB drives for TimeMachine. But I am working on slimming down the number of Macs in our house. Sometime next year we will be down to two MacBooks (M1 with 1TB and 2TB drive) and a media Mac Mini.
I am looking to simplify life and returning to using my TimeCapsule currently in mothballs. I know it will be slow, but tests have shown it is not really much worse than using a Mac Mini. And after the initial backup it really does not matter. I also do occasional Carbon Copy Clones, but TS is great for rolling back and versioning and "not thinking about it."
The 3TB drive is getting noisy and I am planning on pulling it and replacing it initially with a 4TB NAS drive I have pulled out of my cMP likely to also be retired next year.
It also has a 10TB drive I could fit. Has anybody tried a larger drive in the TimeCapsule?

...I find this old post "searching" about Time Capsule, which is a very nice device. My 2TB one keeps working ok, but a drive replacement is mandatory, as my disk is supposed to fail more sooner than later.
I do believe Time Capsule can use any HD that fits its sata interface (I've read about it, don't remember where exactly; but technically there should be no problem at all).
I was even considering the use of a ssd, but speed gain is no important for back-up duties. Even having a fast disk, directly wire connected, Time Machine uses really slow speeds by defect (some app can speed up the transfer).

I was searching for users that have done the drive change, to know about their experience and perhaps to catch a good advice. (I love the Time Capsule, I think it's one of the most perfect devices Apple has ever made).

 

[elvisimprsntr]

@J.Gallardo

TimeCapsule is deprecated, obsolete, and likely contains security vulnerabilities that haven't been patched.

Consider an alternative.

1. Open source enterprise class NAS SW from https://www.truenas.com installed on 3 redundant OEM NAS appliances, which supports all file system protocols (including TM) and built in support for a long list of cloud storage providers. Data is automatically encrypted in transit and optionally encrypted at rest.
2. Enabled TM on all clients. I have successfully restored TM backups a number of times, including to a new M1 from an Intel backup.

I don't have to worry about manual intervention, i.e. manual backups to an external SSD, cycling SSDs off site, etc. It just works automagically!

If you are not a DIY'er, then any OEM NAS will support TimeMachine backups