Using Airport Time Capsule with an external usb hard drive - how to connect

Question

Level 1

44 points

Using Airport Time Capsule with an external usb hard drive - how to connect

I have 2TB Airport Time capsule which is connected to my iMac by an ethernet cable and which I use for T.Machine backups - No problems here.

I have an old MacBook Pro running 10.6.8 and which is also connected to my T/C via wi-fi - again no problems.

But I understand I can use an external hard drive via usb cable connected via a powered hub, to the T/Capsule and which I wish to do certain backups from my MBP (I have no wish to update the MBP as it runs certain apps no longer available on the iMac (10.9.2)

Now the problem I have is trying to set it up, the MBP has Airport Utility 5.6.1 and I can’t continue as it says I need a newer version. As I see it, the newer version doesn’t work on the MBP only the iMac.

A catch 22 situation. If I continue and and go to “manual setup” then try update, all I get is “correct the problem before updating” (Allow setup over the internet using Bonjour).

Anyone have any ideas or images that I can view to try and get things going?

I should add that I wish to use my external hard drive not as a time machine backup but only for certain items using say, Super Duper, but am unable to get the disk to mount on the MBP

Alan

Airport Time Capsule-OTHER

Posted on Mar 17, 2014 11:49 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Mar 18, 2014 4:04 AM in response to ribbo39

You do not need to use the airport utility at all from the MBP.. there is no need.

As soon as you plug in a USB drive if it is recognised by the TC it will be displayed in Finder.

Anything you need to do to the USB drive you need to do before you plug it in.. ie format it.. which is most important that it is formatted correctly Mac OS extend Journaled.

If you cannot get the disk to mount in the MBP that may be caused by a number of things.. but the airport utility has nought to do with it.

Reply

Answer 2

ribbo39 Author

Level 1

44 points

Mar 18, 2014 5:30 AM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for your help.

Unfortunately, whilst it does show up in the finder as a Shared (under airport time capsule) I still can't use it the way I was hoping because it then becomes a T/M back-up disk and not a normal usb/firewire disc.

It is formatted as a Mac OSX journaled extended disk.

As soon as its plugged into the MBP via usb it then shows up as a Device.

Presumably I can't use it as hoped.

Alan

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 18, 2014 8:09 AM in response to ribbo39

I still can't use it the way I was hoping because it then becomes a T/M back-up disk and not a normal usb/firewire disc.

You are first mounting the drive on the desktop, correct?

Not sure what you mean here.

You can drag/drop files normally or copy/paste files to the drive icon on the desktop, just as you would a normal drive that is displayed on the desktop.

Or, double click the drive icon on the desktop and drag/drop files into the open window there.

Tell us the steps that you are using to mount the drive on the desktop. What happens after each step?

Reply

Answer 4

ribbo39 Author

Level 1

44 points

Mar 18, 2014 3:21 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Hi Bob,

My MBP is connected to the internet via wi-fi and A/P time capsule.

I connect my external h/drive to the usb socket on the airport time capsule (via a powered usb hub) and it will not mount on the desktop in the usual way other usb drives do. But appears as a blue wi-fi icon.

However, under Devices (name, new MBP) it shows up in a pale blue colour as a wi-fi hard drive.

If I try to use SuperDuper, this app is not able to find the external h/d.

The h/d is formatted as a Mac OSX journaled externded disk.

If I double click the ext. h/d icon it will open up and presumably I could then drag & drop files to it that way.

But I was hoping I could use an app to automatically do restricted back-ups.

I thinkthese are all the steps I've taken.

Alan

Reply

Answer 5

Mar 18, 2014 3:45 PM in response to ribbo39

Check Carbon Copy Cloner to see if it will do what you want.

Carbon Copy Cloner: Mac Backup Software

I use this application to automatically copy files from a USB drive attached to the Time Capsule to another destination on the network.....but I am still not sure on exactly what you want to do.

SuperDuper claims to also have this capability, but I have not tested that application.

Reply

Answer 6

ribbo39 Author

Level 1

44 points

Mar 19, 2014 3:12 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Hi Bob,

Well I checked out CCC but it takes so long to transfer from the MBP to the external drive.

So long in fact that after about 1/2 hour it had only started on the progress bar.

I've now decided to abandon the whole idea and just drag & drop with the drive connected via usb direct to the MBP - much faster and easier.

Alan

Reply

Answer 7

Mar 19, 2014 9:00 AM in response to ribbo39

No matter whether you have the drive connected to the Time Capsule or your mac, you only have to make the CCC transfer one time. After that, CCC will only back up the changes that have taken place since the last backup, so incremental backups will only take a few minutes each day.

If you drag and drop files, you have to replace the entire file each time. This will take much longer than making one "master" copy and then only backing up the changes that have taken place since the last backup.

Reply