Hi,
I 've previously upgraded my 2nd generation Time Capsule (A1302) with a 2TB hard drive. I'd like to make a second upgrade with a bigger hard drive but I don't know if this model is able to accept a 3TB or bigger hard drive.
I'm also wondering if ti's worth it to get a WD Caviar Black or WD NAS Red or with a WD Caviar Green is enough?
Thanks in advance.
As long as you use 7.6.1 firmware it seems to be fine with 3TB although the drive may have spin down issues.
I'm also wondering if ti's worth it to get a WD Caviar Black or WD NAS Red or with a WD Caviar Green is enough?
Don't put in faster drives.. there is no speed advantage.. the TC is processor bound. An SSD will go no faster than a WD green.
The RED is designed for NAS with multiple drives. Again it has no advantage for the TC which is single drive, except it may have longer warranty.
You can plug the drive in via USB you know.. but the USB is much slower.
Thanks for your reply.
My TC uses 7.6.3 firmware. Is 3TB its real limit or will it accept a 4TB hard drive?
The original TC hard drives have a custom firmware or is it the same firmware the manufacturer put in other units not mac branded? I ask this because in order to buy the same hard drive Apple put in the brand new TCs in order to avoid spin down issues.
Apple may well use a firmware setup that is different to the norm.. Apple drives always have apple logo on them.
Spin down even with Apple drive may not work on gen2.. I tested it and found issues..
ie I removed a 3TB drive from a Gen4 and installed it in a Gen2. The drive had spin down issues.
I installed an off the shelf 3TB drive in the Gen4 and it had no issues spinning down.
Spin down issues vary with brand of drive and other more esoteric issues.
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Time_Capsule
We used to find hitachi drives spin down ok.. WD did not.
But firmware on drives is constantly being updated. Take your best shot when you want to be a modder of products.. expect life to get hard.
It should work with 4TB drive.. they have even higher current demands.. the Gen2 power supply will not work.. or work for long.
Hi,
As a confirmation for the 3TB, I just installed a WD Red 3TB into a revived (as in power supply upgraded with your help) A1302 and it works perfectly, i.e. seems to spin down too.
Great news.. the external power supply will have no issues with the larger drive and the cooler operation cf the original 7200rpm drives will be better without any loss of actual network speed. Good to hear the unit even manages to spin down. As mentioned you can get variable results with this.. and sometimes after a few weeks it will start having issues where it was ok to start with.
2nd gen Time Capsule max capacity
