figgledort

Q: Can the Time Capsule provide the same hard drive sharing that the AirPort Extreme does?  And, can the Time Capsule automatically back-up via Time Machine the hard drive that is attached to it?

Can the Time Capsule provide the same hard drive sharing that the AirPort Extreme does?  And, can the Time Capsule automatically back-up via Time Machine the hard drive that is attached to it?

Posted on Aug 31, 2012 8:10 AM

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Q: Can the Time Capsule provide the same hard drive sharing that the AirPort Extreme does?  And, can the Time Capsule automatica ... more

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  • by Amar Singh,

    Amar Singh Amar Singh Oct 5, 2012 4:19 AM in response to figgledort
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    Oct 5, 2012 4:19 AM in response to figgledort

    Yes, you can attach an external USB hard drive to the Time capsule and share it the same way as with an Airport Extreme.

     

    Apple gives conflicting answers to whether such a USB drive is supported for Time Machine backups. The articles here says it's supported: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2421 and http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2038, which is the general consensus. However, the article here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427 states the opposite: "Time Machine can’t backup to an external drive that's connected to an AirPort Extreme, Time Capsule, or a drive formatted for Microsoft Windows (NTFS or FAT format)."

     

    Apparently, doing Time Machine backups to a USB drive connected to an AirPort Extreme is NOT supported by Apple. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4327 It was initially advertised to work, but then Apple removed that claim from it's marketing materials because it was unreliable. Why, in 5 years, Apple's been incapable of fixing this is a mystery to all. Especially when you consider that the AirPort Extreme uses the exact same CPU (SoC, actually) as the Time Capsule. The only difference I can tell is that the TC has twice the RAM of the AE.

     

    There's lots more info at: http://www.pondini.org/TM/Home.html