Mounting an NTFS USB drive connected to a Time Capsule?

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Mounting an NTFS USB drive connected to a Time Capsule?

I have a 500GB USB drive formatted NTFS that works fine attached directly to my MacBook Pro. I'm using the Paragon NTFS for Mac tool to add writing support to the NTFS disk so it's not just read-only. When I move the USB drive from the MacBook Pro to the USB port on the Time Capsule, I get a blinking amber warning light on the TC and the AirPort utility pops up announcing a disk error. I'm asked to connect the disk to the computer to repair it. When I disconnect the USB drive from the TC, the error clears and reports it is resolved. When I connect the USB drive back tot eh MBP, it mounts and runs fine.

I need the NTFS drive attached to the TC so I can access it from the MBP and the Windows computers on my home network.

How can I get this NTFS USB drive working when attached to the TC?

MacBookPro4.1, Mac OS X (10.5.6), NTFS USB disk connected to Time Capsule

Posted on Jan 16, 2009 8:49 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,538 points

Jan 16, 2009 9:16 PM in response to John Brock

I have a 500GB USB drive formatted NTFS that works fine attached directly to my MacBook Pro. I'm using the Paragon NTFS for Mac tool to add writing support to the NTFS disk so it's not just read-only. When I move the USB drive from the MacBook Pro to the USB port on the Time Capsule, I get a blinking amber warning light on the TC and the AirPort utility pops up announcing a disk error.

The Time Capsule only supports USB storage devices that have a block size of 512 bytes, and are formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS-plus), FAT16, or FAT32 ... NOT NTFS.

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Answer 2

John Brock Author

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Jan 16, 2009 9:45 PM in response to Tesserax

Well crap. I did format it with a 512 byte block size, but I need NTFS so I can backup my Windows systems to it. I guess the solution will be to pick up a Linksys NSLU2 device and plug a couple NTFS drive into it.

I'm seriously wondering why I spent all that money on the Time Capsule in the first place. I'm not using the wireless capability because my Linksys router is a solid performer and wireless backups to the TC are too slow. My printer connects directly to the network too. This limitation is clearly designed in by Apple. What a disappointment.

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Answer 3

VA2020

Level 4

3,455 points

Jan 16, 2009 9:59 PM in response to John Brock

You can't use FAT32 instead? Any reason it has to be NTFS? The other option is to partition your USB HDD, but the NTFS partition would be inaccessible until you plugged it in directly to your PC. BTW, the drive should be recognized as a network share, so NTFS may not be required. Partition and give it a try on the new HFS+ or FAT32 partition. XP can still read and write to it.

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Answer 4

Duane

Level 10

124,293 points

Jan 17, 2009 7:18 AM in response to John Brock

...but I need NTFS so I can backup my Windows systems to it.

This is only true if you are connecting the drive directly to the PC.

If you plan on backing up the PC through the Time Capsule to the external drive, it doesn't matter that the drive is formatted HFS+ or FAT. The file server feature of the Time Capsule presents the drive in a format readable by Windows.

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Answer 5

John Brock Author

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Jan 17, 2009 10:42 AM in response to Duane

Interesting. I'll have to try that. I tried the external USB formatted as FAT32 and it would work with Windows Backup because of the 4GB file size limit. I tried that with the drive plugged into the PC. I did not try it through the Time Capsule. I'll give that a go and see what happens.

I'll try the HFS+ format. I don't like FAT32 because of the fixed File Allocation Table size. When files get fragmented, and they always do, FAT can drop file clusters and the data is gone. NTFS doesn't have that problem and I understand that HFS+ doesn't either.

Now is the time to fool with this stuff before I get too much data out there to shuffle it around. My internal disks are filling rapidly so it's time to get hot. Thanks!

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Answer 6

John Brock Author

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Apr 18, 2009 7:43 PM in response to John Brock

After all was said and done, an external USB drive of ANY TYPE was far too slow to be of any legitimate use whatsoever. Write off that "feature" of the Time Capsule as a total wast of time.

I ended up removing the USB drive and taking it to work where I use it on a Windows machine. The Time Capsule is only being used for backups now. I also carry a 300GB USB drive I use on the MacBook for backing up Virtual Machines and other large files that get small changes so as not to over stuff the Time Capsule.

Next time, I get a MacMini instead of the Time Capsule. Then I'll have fast external storage for about the same price.

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