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I have two time capsules with time machine backups on them. I no longer want to use them as either routers or access points. I simply want to connect them to my nighthawk router with an ethernet cable(lan to wan) and still be able to automatically back up to them. Is this possible?
Check using AirPort Utility to make sure that the Time Capsule is set up in Bridge Mode, which Apple calls "Off (Bridge Mode)".
AirPort Utility > select Time Capsule > Edit > Network Tab > Off (Bridge Mode).
Then, you will need to reset the "path" to reach the Time Capsule as follows.....because things have changed on your network. Time Machine remembers the "old" path to reach the Time Capsule. It needs to know the "new" way to locate the Time Capsule on your network.
Click the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the Mac's screen
Click Open Time Machine Preferences
Click Add or Remove Backup Disk
Click to select and highlight the current Backup Disk near the top of the window
Click Remove Disk
Close the windows
Restart the Mac, then open Time Machine Preferences again and select the backup disk again
Click Use Disk
Try a backup. You may see "Preparing" for a long time before the backup actually begins because Time Machine must look at and evaluate all the changes that have occurred since the last backup.
Check using AirPort Utility to make sure that the Time Capsule is set up in Bridge Mode, which Apple calls "Off (Bridge Mode)".
AirPort Utility > select Time Capsule > Edit > Network Tab > Off (Bridge Mode).
Then, you will need to reset the "path" to reach the Time Capsule as follows.....because things have changed on your network. Time Machine remembers the "old" path to reach the Time Capsule. It needs to know the "new" way to locate the Time Capsule on your network.
Click the Time Machine "clock" icon at the top of the Mac's screen
Click Open Time Machine Preferences
Click Add or Remove Backup Disk
Click to select and highlight the current Backup Disk near the top of the window
Click Remove Disk
Close the windows
Restart the Mac, then open Time Machine Preferences again and select the backup disk again
Click Use Disk
Try a backup. You may see "Preparing" for a long time before the backup actually begins because Time Machine must look at and evaluate all the changes that have occurred since the last backup.
Is this possible?
Sure. Set up the Time Capsules as access points and then turn off the WiFi function on each device once the basic setup is complete.
That's the only option that you can use using the AirPort Utility setup "wizard", since Apple does not offer a dedicated manual setup.
Ideally, both Time Capsules will connect to separate Ethernet ports on the Netgear router, but there are other options as far as the wiring goes.
Post back if you need a few tips on the setup process. We'll assume that you will be using a Mac to set things up.
Hi, I have reset the one of the time capsules. Wireless is turned off. I named it the same thing as the last backup to it. The time capsule appears in network and I can connect to it. It also shows as an icon in locations. When I try to backup to it, however, the Time Machine backup process can't find it. It says it is looking for AirPortTime Capsule Downstairs.local. The disk that is shown does not have the .local extension. Will it see it if I rename it as "name.local?"
If all is well, you should be able to back up to the existing backup files on the Time Capsule, but as I noted, Time Machine will probably take time "Preparing" the backup before it actually begins.
For example, I once went about 10 days without backing up to the Time Capsule when I was making changes on my network. Time Machine continued to back up to the existing files on the Time Capsule, but it was "Preparing" for about 3-4 hours before the backup actually began. Your experience may be different.
Worst case, Time Machine will start all over with new complete backup of your Mac and move forward from there. Things like this can happen if you have updated to a new operating system on your Mac and all of the old backups were made with an older operating system on the Mac.
Catalina 10.15.x has been problematic for a number of users who are backing up using Time Machine to a Time Capsule, likely because Apple discontinued the Time Capsule more than 2 years ago.
The only problem I am having though is that it is making me rechoose the disk as if it doesn't know it and tick the box to encrypt it. If it was going to the same backup image it would know it was already encrypted.
The only problem I am having though is that it is making me rechoose the disk
We already explained that the "path" to reach the Time Capsule that was used to back up on your old network has changed, so you need to set up a new "path" so Time Machine will know how to reach the Time Capsule backup disk.
If it was going to the same backup image it would know it was already encrypted.
If Time Machine needs to know "where" the Time Capsule disk is on your new network......(it does)......it obviously has no way of knowing now whether the previous backups were encrypted or not......because it cannot even "see" the disk and backups yet.
If all goes well.......after what may be a long time of "Preparing".......Time Machine will discover the existing backup file and continue to back up to that file. The fact that you are using encryption will usually slow things down by a factor of 3-4 times. So, you might see "Preparing for 6, 8, 10 hours or more before the new backup actually begins.
As I noted above, worst case........(this often occurs with users who are using the Catalina operating system on their Macs).......Time Machine will not be able to continue backing up to the existing backup file and it will start a complete new backup again and then move forward from there.
If you are looking for guarantees that Time Machine will back up to the existing backup file, I cannot provide them. Perhaps you should wait for another user to reply who might be able to tell you what you want to hear. I don't know how they could possibly guarantee that their "method" will do what you want though.
Hi,
Sorry I got busy. I tried it and sadly it started a whole new backup. I am sorry if I sounded fussy but i was really asking two questions in this thread which wasn't fair. I am going to mark your detailed direction post as the correct answer as it was to my original question. I will start another thread about trying to continue using the same backup image after moving the time capsule to a different network.
No need to start a new question about trying to continue using the same backup image after moving the Time Capsule to a different network. The answer to your question is that Catalina.....more than any other operating system that I've worked with since Time Machine and the Time Capsule were introduced more than 12 years ago.....is more likely to start all over again when you make any major changes on a network.
It's unfortunate that Time Machine started all over again, but I noted several times that this was a possibility in my answers.
Catalina will not normally erase the old backups when it starts over with a new complete backup, so you still might be able to access the old backups if you need them. Post back if you want to explore that possibility.
On the other hand, most users never need old backups from weeks, months and years going back in time. All they really need is a current backup of their Mac in case the hard drive fails on the Mac, so when the Mac is repaired and new hard drive installed, they can reload the current backup on the "new" Mac and the "new" Mac will look just like the "old" Mac.
I am running Mojave on my late 2014 15 inch MacBook Pro. I didn't move to Catalina because I had some 32 bit apps I wanted to use. There must be some hidden identifier that makes the old image invisible. That might make sense from a security perspective as someone might steal the time capsule but they would also have to steal the Mac so I dunno.
Unfortunately, Time Machine does not adapt all that well when you are making significant changes on a network. Encryption makes things even more complicated.
It is not unusual for Time Machine to start all over again with a new backup if it detects that changes have occurred since the last backup.
Ok. I have figured out a work around. I had two time capsules. All the instructions you get on the web always have you start by soft resetting the time capsule. If you want to continue with your old backup:don't do this! Just turn off wifi and put it in bridge mode. This way whatever unique identifier that we can posit is not changed. I wish I would have known this but maybe this thread can help someone out in the future.
The "unique identifier" that you mention.....which Apple calls the UID.....does not change, no matter whether you apply any kind of reset, change the device name, password, wireless network name, or router mode on the Time Capsule.
It might be possible to do this though, if a programming guru was somehow able to get into the embedded firmware to locate and edit the data.
I have made a several firmware edits in my younger days. Once to deceive a gaming machine that the flash card was OEM and matched the security dictated sector size and another few times to trick consumer grade PCs unlock full GPU potential. In those cases I was getting paid to do it and it took quite awhile to get the toolkits needed to make the edits. I have no idea of sourcing toolkits for Apple products because they have such a closed ecosystem and besides I am too old a lazy to relearn it all. Like you said maybe someone will look into it one day but at least I learned that you can do it if you don't reset the time capsule,
Thanks. I guess my real question at this point is can I resume backing up now to existing images as if there was never any interruption. I was hoping to not have to start a new image.
how to setup up time capsule as a time machine backup only
