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Warning: Apple Says macOS 27 Won't Support AirPort Time Capsule Backups
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My Time Capsule actually just went kaput a week ago it looks like. Last Saturday is when my Time Machine backups stopped. I only just noticed today that it wasn't powered on. I bought this off Facebook Marketplace last year and put a 4TB WD Red in it. It is an original 2008 model so it was a pretty good run.
Goes both ways and based off this thread more have had my experienceArgument from anecdote - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
If one stays on Tahoe the TM backups to TCs can be used. The only issue will be if the TC's disk fills and you decide to erase it and start over again with an empty. In this case you will be stuck as Tahoe requires the TC's disk to have existing Time Machine backup data on it when it's being setup..... so maybe keep a Mac running Sequoia or have a Sequoia macOS you can use so you can at least make a small TM backup to the TC's disk in order to allow Tahoe to use the disk again. Good luck to Y'all. I plan to use my 3 Time Capsules for years to come.
For those concerned with accessing Time Machine (or other) data on a Time Capsule or Airport Extreme after your main OS is upgraded past macOS 26 Tahoe: you could create a virtual machine (VM) that runs Tahoe (or earlier, anything back to Ventura, I believe), and use it to read or write to the network volume using AFP.
Creating a VM using Apple's Virtualization Framework is quite easy using any of a number of apps like UTM, Viable, Parallels, VirtualOS, etc. Set one up to run Sequoia as the guest OS, for example, and it will be able to use AFP to access the TM backups or network volumes. The guest OS could use Finder to copy files/directories directly to the host if you set up shared folders for the VM.
Creating a VM using Apple's Virtualization Framework is quite easy using any of a number of apps like UTM, Viable, Parallels, VirtualOS, etc. Set one up to run Sequoia as the guest OS, for example, and it will be able to use AFP to access the TM backups or network volumes. The guest OS could use Finder to copy files/directories directly to the host if you set up shared folders for the VM.
Hello, does this mean that accesing the disk on the Time Capsule won’t work at all or just for Time Machine backups?
The original article says:
AFP (not to be confused with APFS) is a remote-file access protocol used by a client Mac (in this case) to access files on a volume attached to another device on the network (a Time Capsule, in this case).
They are saying that the AFP client code will not be included in macOS 27 (as yet unnamed), that will presumably be coming out in the Fall of 2026.
Once your Mac is upgraded to macOS 27 (next year), that Mac won't be able access any files on your Time Capsule disk, unless you:
(a) downgrade your Mac to macOS 26 Tahoe
or
(b) remove the drive from the TC and attach it directly to your Mac (say, with an external SATA HDD enclosure)
or
(c) create a virtual machine on your Mac that runs macOS 26 Tahoe or older and have the VM access the TC. (I believe this will work, because the Tahoe release will still have the AFP client code in it.)
(emphasis mine.)
AFP (not to be confused with APFS) is a remote-file access protocol used by a client Mac (in this case) to access files on a volume attached to another device on the network (a Time Capsule, in this case).
They are saying that the AFP client code will not be included in macOS 27 (as yet unnamed), that will presumably be coming out in the Fall of 2026.
Accessing won't work at all.
Once your Mac is upgraded to macOS 27 (next year), that Mac won't be able access any files on your Time Capsule disk, unless you:
(a) downgrade your Mac to macOS 26 Tahoe
or
(b) remove the drive from the TC and attach it directly to your Mac (say, with an external SATA HDD enclosure)
or
(c) create a virtual machine on your Mac that runs macOS 26 Tahoe or older and have the VM access the TC. (I believe this will work, because the Tahoe release will still have the AFP client code in it.)
Any idea how it determines whether existing backups for that Mac exist on the Time Capsule? Did it ask if you wanted to claim existing backups on the device (if there were any, even from another Mac)?
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I used this news as an excuse to setup a time machine destination on an old PC with Linux Mint installed, using this guide https://blog.giuli.cat/en/p/network-time-machine-samba-on-linux/
So far it's working beautifully, with the added benefit of it being much faster. Transfer speeds to the time capsule seem to max out at about 30Megabytes a second, where as with this the only limit appears to be the network connection max so if I'm plugged in via ethernet I'm getting 114megabytes a second over a gigabit network (wifi is a bit slower on my wifi 6 connection).
So far it's working beautifully, with the added benefit of it being much faster. Transfer speeds to the time capsule seem to max out at about 30Megabytes a second, where as with this the only limit appears to be the network connection max so if I'm plugged in via ethernet I'm getting 114megabytes a second over a gigabit network (wifi is a bit slower on my wifi 6 connection).
I have an AirPort Extreme (the “tall one”) with no internal hard disk (by design).
I am using an external SSD connected to the USB port of said AriPort Extreme for sharing files (docs, music, et al) across several devices at home (iPhone, iPad, Mac mini). On iPhone and iPad I use File Explorer Pro for accessing AirPort Extreme shared SSD.
- What devices will be affected by MacOS 26 and 27, i.e., no access to the network disk?
I don’t do Time Machine backups to the network as I have an SSD plugged to my Mac.
Thanks in advance,
Carlos (from Argentina)
I am using an external SSD connected to the USB port of said AriPort Extreme for sharing files (docs, music, et al) across several devices at home (iPhone, iPad, Mac mini). On iPhone and iPad I use File Explorer Pro for accessing AirPort Extreme shared SSD.
- What devices will be affected by MacOS 26 and 27, i.e., no access to the network disk?
I don’t do Time Machine backups to the network as I have an SSD plugged to my Mac.
Thanks in advance,
Carlos (from Argentina)
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According to the original article, macOS 27 will stop supporting AFP (Apple Filing Protocol -- NOT the same thing as APFS). So if you upgrade your Mac to macOS 27, that Mac won't be able to access your external SSD connected to your Airport Extreme. If you keep your Mac on macOS 26, you'll still be able to access the network disk.
I have not heard whether or when iOS and iPadOS will drop support for AFP. I would guess that it will happen in iOS/iPadOS 27 alongside macOS 27, but I haven't seen that written anywhere. If so, then upgrading your iPhone and iPad to 27 would also cause them to lose access to your network disk.
Keep in mind all this is more than a year away from now, and only after you upgrade your devices' OSes.
At present, my Airport Time Capsule 5th gen (A1470) is formatted using APFS and the RAW image format system. Will we, in macOS 27, actually be able to reformat our Time Capsules into the latest and greatest file system, e.g. Apple's new disk image format system called ASIF (Apple Sparse Image Format) and continue to use said Time Capsule as a Time Machine backup drive❓
It's not related to the disk format, but rather the communication protocol. The Apple Filing Protocol (AFP/the AppleTalk Filing Protocol) is an Apple-only network protocol, renowned for its support of Unicode file names and advanced file locking mechanisms. It was the primary protocol in macOS for years, but it is EOL - macOS 27 will not support AFP. Also, macOS 27 will NOT support Intel Macs...
Oh, Dear 😭😡
So that means, I presume, that mine and everybody else's Airport Time Capsules are just going to be instant BRICKS. NOT Great for the environment and not great for Apple's Green Credentials.
I don't really need the Wi-Fi router component, what with my fibre optic router and Mac Mini M4 in built Wi-Fi, but of course this will be great for the manufacture/s we are all going to have to buy from for a replacement device.
I look forward to MacRumours doing an in-dept report on available solutions and hardware etc closer to the time.
This could also become a problem with »Mac shared as a network backup destination«
if you use an older Mac or can't update further than Catalina (or High Sierra 10.13.6 because you want to keep Server 5.6.3 like me). So maybe better turn SMB on and AFP off (for your backup drive) then.
(https://support.apple.com/en-us/102423)
if you use an older Mac or can't update further than Catalina (or High Sierra 10.13.6 because you want to keep Server 5.6.3 like me). So maybe better turn SMB on and AFP off (for your backup drive) then.
(https://support.apple.com/en-us/102423)
I tried to go this route with a second Mac and an external USB drive, but every time it restarted for whatever reason, the disk would become unavailable and I'd have to go to the console and log in so the disk could mount and be available on the network again. I ended up getting a 2 TB Time Capsule AC on a bargain and couldn't be happier... until today.
I didn't know about AFP not being supported for generic network files! I have a USB drive connected to my Time Capsule AC, and I use as a network disk for my Macs, as well as to stream video and audio files to a 4K Apple TV running Firecore's Infuse. Will that stop working for me with Tahoe and tvOS 26?
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That sucks. I wonder what will happen when a TM backup eventually blows and the Mac wants to make a new one to replace it? Will Tahoe allow it?
I came here because I just got a notification when the scheduled TM backup started after updating to Sequoia 15.6. It directs me to this webpage (https://support.apple.com/en-us/102423?cid=mc-ols-TimeMachine-article_102423-Settings-04282025) that has a remark under the AEBS and Time Capsule section saying "These solutions are no longer recommended, because they use Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), which won't be supported in a future version of macOS."
PS: Connecting to the host "smb://Airport-Time-Capsule.local/Time\ Capsule" appears to establish the connection over SMB? I'm not sure what SMB version it uses (probably stuck at v1?), but would that work around the problem?
PS: Connecting to the host "smb://Airport-Time-Capsule.local/Time\ Capsule" appears to establish the connection over SMB? I'm not sure what SMB version it uses (probably stuck at v1?), but would that work around the problem?
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I'd say there is no need to install Tahoe (Beta) to test that. If Time Capsule backups work via SMB connection there is a good chance they still work when AFP is unsupported in macOS.