Partitioning Time Capsule

Use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to create a disk image of the required size. Conventional partitioning of a network drive is only possible with an utility specifically designed for that device, and none exists for the Time Capsule.

Having your backups on the same drive as the original data won't help when that drive fails.

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Another option is to reduce the maximim size of the sparse bundle disk image that contains your backups, per #A8 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

But as Neil says, a larger consideration is, if you move your music to the Time Capsule, how are you going to back it up?

jennigje wrote:

Hi Neil,

Do I understand correctly that you are saying that for Time Capsule, no conventional partitioning is available? Sorry for aksing again, I a getting a lot of conflicting info on the topic 🙂

That is correct.

The only way to do it is to phyiscally remove the drive from the Time Capsule (which voids the warranty), install it in an encosure to make it a normal external HD, partition it with Disk Utility, then reinstall it in the TC.

See #Q3 in Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule for some possible workarounds.

You CAN partition the external hd you use for time machine. I did it using disk utility. i gave time machine most of the space and all my media the rest of the space, since i don't have enough room on my MB for everything. It is super easy to do. Granted, if my external HD crashes, there's an issue. But I've been doing this for 2 years now & no problems. :-)

eviekpz wrote:

You CAN partition the external hd you use for time machine. I did it using disk utility.

Yes, an external HD can be partitioned. But a Time Capsule's internal HD cannot, since Disk Utility doesn't see the TC's internal HD.

What you can do, as specified in the link provided, is:

• Create a disk image of a certain size, to "reserve" a fixed amount of space; or,

• Limit the maximum size of the sparse bundle containing the backups.

Message was edited by: Pondini

Somehow without removing the drive in my Time Capsole, I managed to partition it (even though it can't be done without removing the drive). I was trying to format the drive and start over with my new laptop (after archiving my Time Machine backup to another drive). Since disk utility wouldn't let me format it, I tried to partition it. Which worked, but now I'm stumped on how to repartition it into a single drive again. Any thought? How hard is it to remove the drive and put it into an enclsure?

Alte Weisen wrote:

. . .

Since disk utility wouldn't let me format it,

Airport Utility will let you erase it.

I tried to partition it. Which worked,

What makes you think it's partitioned?

How hard is it to remove the drive and put it into an enclsure?

You don't need to. Just erase it with Airport Utility. See the green box in #Q5 of Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule.

Disk Utilities shows two partitions: "Untitled and Untitled 2". My TC is the old 500GB (Disk Utilities shows the first partition at 249.62GB and the second partition at 5.68GB).

Could you post a screenshot?

That's not your Time Capsule. It's your internal HD. The OSX partition is named "Macintosh HD" by default, but you can (and clearly have) changed it.

Note the first display for Untitled says "This is the startup partition. You can't erase it."

Also note the internal disk icon, and at the lower left, where it says Connection Bus: SATA and Connection Type: Internal.

Wow, thanks, I just had a duh moment!

I don't know why I just assumed it was my TC. What is your recommendation for putting my internal drive back to a single partition? I have a bootable flash drive with 10.8 on it to install Mountain Lion. It works as for as installing the operating system, but will it allow me to repartition my drive?

Again thanks for correcting me on this.

Untitled 2 is not mounted (it's shown in gray). Select it and the Mount icon in the toolbar will be enabled -- click it.

With Untitled 2 mounted and selected, the small plus and minus signs in the lower left should be enabled. Click the minus sign and confirm, and that partition will be removed.

Then drag the lower right corner of Untitled all the way to the bottom of the diagram, click Apply and confirm. Note that will take a few minutes, as Disk Utility will verify the OSX partition.

See #4 in Using Disk Utility for details.

You might want to rename Untitled to Macintosh HD. You can't do that from Disk Utility, since you'd have to erase it, but if you right-click it in a Finder sidebar you should be able to rename it. That won't cause a problem for Time Machine or otherwise.

Thanks! All back up and running. I really appreciate your help.

Bill