Time Capsule Troubleshooting. Help!

You are using join a wireless network.. That turns off the ethernet and makes the TC highly variable as it has to link to the main router and then back to the mac..

Reset the TC ie hold in the reset button for 10sec.. until the fron LED flashes rapidly.. and plug it into the Mac with ethernet to a LAN port. Do not use wireless.

You should be able to use it without too much hassle now. But if the internet is not working.. shuffle airport to the top of the list in the network list or set a static IP on the ethernet of say 10.0.1.10 with 255.255.255.0 subnet.. no gateway (router) no dns.

If the main router is an apple with the same IP address you will have to change the IP of the TC to say 192.168.1.1 just to prevent the clash.

You must have a lot more on the Mac than you thought. TM also needs about 20% more space than what it is going to backup.. so it is going to cause issues with the 500GB TC.. you are not just under.. you are a lot under.

I am not 100% what this means.

I would like just my pictures in iPhoto and iMovies to be updated as well as my Microsoft Word documents.

Why are you updating them? Aren't you backing them up?

In the options you can deselect parts of the disk you do not want backed up.. but it sounds like you already have attempted that.

My inclination would be to save the folders as a straight copy and paste to the TC. So you have everything you want.. be very careful with itunes or iphoto libraries as they are not easy to copy or recover.

I would also spend the money and buy a 1TB or 2TB USB external drive and use that for TM so you can do a proper full backup.

You can also use another backup utility like superduper and do a disk image to the USB drive. That can be very useful as it tends to be easier to restore a whole image than using TM.

I would clean install your new OS.. not upgrade.. a lot of issues people post here have to do with issues created by update installs .. since you are doing multiple updates.. imho just do a clean install of the new OS. It is painful to do but the result is often hugely better.

Clean install is possible by loading the dmg file to a usb stick and booting from it.. there are instructions all over the place how to do a clean install from the downloaded file..

http://eggfreckles.net/notes/installing-mountain-lion-clean/

I just love doing google searches for people.. !! This was near the top of the list.. please try your very own google search.. use clean install lion or mountain lion.

Now for your backup speed.. hmm it is a bit slow.. sometimes the estimate is way out.. how fast is it actually going.. open the activity monitor and check.. a Gen 1 TC with ethernet should peak at around 28-30MB/s .. if it is going much slower than that turn off wireless.. ensure the one and only connection to the TC is ethernet.

I am rather a new comer to Macs actually so what is going to be necessary and do you save some of the libraries or do you need to, I am not sure.. but Apple don't seem to have saved things as neatly as Windows did finally manage to do.. ie everything should be in a users profile.. no user files should be anywhere else. That is why a full system backup if you get caught out is important.

A 1TB USB disk is less than $100 and you can probably get a 2TB for that price or close to. Don't cry if you lose stuff, when you don't spend the money and backup. That is my opinion.. Never start upgrades or new installs until you have a full backup stored somewhere. and somewhere else.. plus the particular files as direct copies. Slightly paranoid.. yeah maybe.. wipe a computer and discover the backup is corrupt.. then you also will join counseling classes and therapy sessions.