Partitioning Time Capsule

Great! 🙂

Glad it's sorted out, and thanks for the feedback.

I really need help recovering email that I saved locally in my Apple Mail application from prior to wiping my laptop's hard drive and doing a "clean install" of Mountain Lion. I have a complete TM backup of my laptop from before I did the "clean install" that I moved from TC to an attached drive. I've tried the Migration Assistant as recommended by several post, but I cannot get it to finish connecting to the TC attached drive. MA sees the backup, and I can select it but it never gets further that that.

I've even tried connecting the drive directly to my laptop, but then MA never gets beyond locating a TM backup. It just never gets past the part where it is supposed to connect to TM backup.

I can use Finder and view the TM backup files, but I don't have a clue as to where my saved email is stored. Surely it is located in the Library folder, but I'm unable to view the Library folder with Finder.

I'd appreciate any help offered.

Alte Weisen wrote:

. . .

MA sees the backup, and I can select it but it never gets further that that.

Yes, it does that in some cases (including me). 😟

Try repairing the backups, per #A5 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting. Use the procedure for a disk attached to a Time Capsule.

Assuming it ends up saying the backups "appear to be ok," try mounting the backups manually, by double-clicking the sparse bundle via the Finder, then trying Migration Assistant again.

I can use Finder and view the TM backup files, but I don't have a clue as to where my saved email is stored. Surely it is located in the Library folder, but I'm unable to view the Library folder with Finder.

Yes, in ~/Library/Mail. Restore the entire folder.

Hold the Alt/Option key while selecting the Go option in the Finder menubar, then select the Library folder, then Enter Time Machine. If that will show you the ~/Library/Mail folder, restore the whole folder.

If that doesn't work, open the Terminal app (in your Applications/Utilities folder). Be very careful with this app. It's a direct link into UNIX, the underpinnings of OSX, but without the protections of OSX.

In Terminal, the prompt looks like this: <Computer Name>:~ <your name>$

(where <your name> is your short user name). It's followed by a non-blinking block cursor.

Copy the following after the prompt: chflags nohidden followed by a space.

Then, via the Finder, drag your home folder from the backups to the Terminal window. That will format the "path" to it. Note that a backslash (\) will be inserted before any spaces in any of the names -- that's normal.

Then type /Library after the name (do not leave a space).

The result should be:

chflags nohidden /Volumes/<TM volume name>/Backups.backupdb/<computer name>/<backup folder>/Users/<home folder name>/Library

Then press the Return key on the Terminal window.

That should make the Library folder visible in the Finder.

Thanks. I was able to recover my email.

jennigje wrote:

hi there,

I would like to know if I can partition a Time Capsule and use some of it for backing up my Mac, and the rest to store files I need to remove from my Mac due to lack of space. Can anyone advise?

the core of my issue is that Ihave run out of space on my Mac. I want to remove all my music from my Mac and store it externally, so Itunes can pick it up from another location. For this reason I need to know if a Time Capsule can be partitioned or not?

Can anyone help me with that?

J.

Actually you can partition your Time Capsule. Even though Neil and Pondini seems to know their way around osx they are not entirely right.

Disk Utility will show the HDD in the TC and you will be able make partitions if you just "show" the HDD to DU first. Simply start a Time Machine backup and DU will see the HDD and you will be able to select and divide the HDD into a number of partitions, no problem. It might take a few tries before it will succeed, I think my iMac failed twice before it worked. The Apple Care personnel knew nothing about this though.

Alvenzo wrote:

. . .

Actually you can partition your Time Capsule.

No, you can't. Not without physically removing it from the TC (which voids the warranty), placing it into an enclosure so it becomes an external HD, partitioning it, then putting it back.

Disk Utility will show the HDD in the TC and you will be able make partitions if you just "show" the HDD to DU first. Simply start a Time Machine backup and DU will see the HDD

No, it won't see the disk. It will see a mounted disk image on the disk, but not the actual disk.

If you really think you've partitioned one, please post a screenshot.

I would be really keen to see the bottom of this possibility, because such was my project and I got a lot of different info from Apple tech support on this.

See : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4908694?answerId=21581520022#21581520022

See my response in your other thread.

When I purchased my Time Capsule in 2009 the people I purchased from recommended that I partition it and use part of it as an ext HD for files. So there was a part of the TC labeled "Free Space."

My TC has crashed. I took it to the firm that I bought from to see if the files in Free Space could be retrieved so that I could do a disk repair with Disk Utility. I was told that the person who recommended partitioning the TC was no longer there and that they'd no longer partition a TC.

The Apple tech was unsuccessful in retrieving my Free Space files. ( I use a iOmega 2T Ext HD for most of my Ext HD files. )

Is there any way to recover the Free Space files?

Also, would replacing the Time Capsule be the only way to have a wireless router for my old desktop Mac? I have a laptop that can use any WiFi source.

Here's a screen shot of my AirPort Utility. ( I had internet connectivity for my laptop with only one issue before the guy just looked at it. Now I have three issues. )

According to the Apple store techs this last weekend, partitioning the TC is possible. Perhaps it's a newer unit change? I bought the 2TB TC and a 128G MBPro with the expectation I could partition it and use the remainder as a secondary storage drive, so if I can't, that's sort of a 93% waste of space (until I buy other machines needing backed up). Despite working in the semiconductor industry, formatting hard drives isn't my strong suit, so I've been a little hestitant to make any changes for fear of losing anything, but I was able to get to the following screen on the Disk Utility which seem to have options for partitioning my 2TB TC:

If this isn't an easy walk through process, I'll have to hit up a Mac savvy buddy or go back to the shop and get some more direction, but all signs seem positive at this point. And yes, I do realize that if the TC craps out, I'm still ultimately screwed having everything there.

I lost all of the data that I had stored in the TC. For a steep price I might be able to have it recovered. I heard of a photographer who spent thousands of dollars having his files recovered.

Hmmm... the pic you posted appears to indicate that what Disk Utility is actually seeing is the mounted sparse image file created by Time Machine on the (probably single internal) Time Capsule partition - so, no, Disk Utility isn't seeing the actual 2TB HDD inside the Time Capsule; would be nice though.

Sorry if this is a bit of a late entry for this thread, but I'm currently researching the same concept, as I have a Mac mini server and a MBP, both of which are dual boot OS X to support both 10.9 Mavericks as well as an older release to support older apps (10.7 Lion for FCS3 on the mini, 10.8 Mountain Lion for Logic Studio 2 on the MBP).

Personally, as my own 2TB TC is past the standard warranty period anyway, I'm still tempted to remove the drive, drop it in another machine, partition it, put it back, and see what happens. I would seriously not mind dividing it into four, with the last partition being used for network storage (downloads, PDF files, etc.). The only catch is that it also serves as my router (both wired and wireless), so I'd have to be willing to give up Internet access for the duration. Decisions, decisions,... 😉

The decision was made for me when I was told that recovering the data in the external HD of the TC would cost thousands of dollars. So I just started using my new Comcast modem's wifi for my laptop and desktop. I wish that I'd previously transferred some of the TC data to my iomega HD which I've used with the laptop.

If you discover any cheap way to recover my TC data ( from the partitioned Ext HD in the TC ) please let me know.

I'm currently replacing my worn-out 2004 eMac desktop with a used 2007 iMac, but I have no intentions of using the TM feature for either my MacBook or the iMac.

Data Recovery Programs

Data Recovery – Best

Data Recovery – Disk Drill

Data Recovery – Data Rescue

Data Recovery – File Salvage

Data Recovery – Stellar Phoenix

Data Recovery - uFlysoft

Have you ever tried to retrieve files with Data Recovery on a TC?

The technician, who I took my TC to, said that only a specialized service could do it.