Can I expand a partition on my Time Capsule?

I have a 4TB Time Capsule. It's now my secondary Time Machine, but I still want it functioning for redundancy purposes, of course. When I first set it up a few years ago, I created a 2GB partition for TM and a 2GB partition as a family shared drive. We've since increased our size needs for TM and rarely use the family drive. Is there anyway to expand the TM partition / reclaim the drive space without formatting the entire TC and starting over? If I have to do so, then I'd be wiping out the TM history of our machines if I can't find another temporary holding place for the files. Thanks.

MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 17, 2020 10:30 AM

Similar questions

19 replies

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,108 points

Mar 18, 2020 4:04 PM in response to mborger

Deleted the folder. In Airport Utility, it shows 353 GB free. The two backup files are 1.14TB and 491GB.

That would sound about right if the Time Capsule drive is 2 TB. Most were.

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,108 points

Mar 26, 2020 3:43 PM in response to mborger

Try power off the Time Capsule, restart your Mac, then power the Time Capsule back up.

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,108 points

Mar 18, 2020 3:57 PM in response to mborger

if I delete the now-empty top-level "NetworkDrive" folder of the other disk image, will that automatically delete the disk image itself so that all the HD space of the TC is reclaimed for TM?

Yes, it should, but there may be some permission issues when you try this, so as LaPastenague mentions, it may take some commands in Terminal to get things done.

If you can delete the disk image, the space will be regained on the Time Capsule "Data" drive.

Mar 18, 2020 4:14 PM in response to mborger

Power the TC off and back on again and see if the space still shows as 350GB.. that is too small for 4TB drive. As Bob says it sounds about right for 2TB.

How much space did you recover with all the deletions?

Sorry I was slow to post.

now the TC shows up in Disk Utility alongside the external HD that the TC is attached to. It shows up as a 1.9TB image, so it looks like it self-cannibalized as soon as I deleted the top folder I was using as the share. I don't know why it shows up now and not earlier, but I won't worry about that.

Can you delete the 1.9TB image from Disk Utility??

In the end you might have no choice but to get another drive.. archive the TC and then erase.

There are some ways to get further direct control but it is hacker territory. I can get you ssh access if you want to go down that road.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Can I expand a partition on my Time Capsule?