Can I use the Time Capsule as an external hard drive?

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Level 1

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Can I use the Time Capsule as an external hard drive?

I am out of memory on my 2011/12 macbook pro (8GB) I am considering purchasing a time capsule to archive photos and use as an external hard drive. I have a few questions:

1) Is the time capsule a good option to use as an external hard drive, or is it meant more for carbon copy/back up of my current hard drive?

2) Can I store files ONLY on the time capsule and not have them on my MacBook's hard drive to free up space?

3) I also need to update my internet router, is this a great router? Or are there better options out there when it comes to speed and strength?

4) Will it make my computer run slower due to the constant back ups and connection?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thank you!

Thunderbolt Display-OTHER, iOS 5.0.1

Posted on Apr 1, 2015 10:51 AM

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Answer 1

Niel

Level 10

726,749 points

Apr 1, 2015 10:54 AM in response to JJANDERS

1. It's meant for backups only. Use a regular external drive instead.

2. Yes, but anything you'd like to keep should be on at least two drives; one may fail at any time. In addition, if they're backed up with Time Machine and then deleted from the internal drive, they'll eventually be deleted from the backup.

(125265)

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Answer 2

JJANDERS Author

Level 1

18 points

Apr 1, 2015 11:53 AM in response to Niel

Looking deeper into my memory problem, it seems to be my operating memory. My storage is fine, I have over 4GB free of the 8GB available. Under Activity Monitor my "memory used" seems to be at capacity. Is there any way to upgrade that? Would this be installing a different SSD?

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Answer 3

Niel

Level 10

726,749 points

Apr 1, 2015 11:55 AM in response to JJANDERS

1. Append the last three characters of your Mac's serial number to http://www.everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/?search_keywords= , load the page, and see what its RAM limit is.

2. No. If your computer can accept more RAM(see #1), you need to buy and install RAM modules.

(125271)

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Answer 4

JJANDERS Author

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Apr 1, 2015 2:04 PM in response to JJANDERS

What is the difference between RAM and "storage"?

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Answer 5

Niel

Level 10

726,749 points

Apr 1, 2015 2:07 PM in response to JJANDERS

RAM is high-speed and meant for short-term storage of data; computers generally have less RAM than storage, and it isn't preserved across restarts.

Disk space is slower and meant for longer-term storage. Hard and flash drives fall into this category.

(125277)

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Answer 6

JJANDERS Author

Level 1

18 points

Apr 1, 2015 2:24 PM in response to JJANDERS

With the new operating system is it normal that the computer is always using all of it's active memory up?

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Answer 7

JJANDERS Author

Level 1

18 points

Apr 1, 2015 2:26 PM in response to Niel

Since restarting my computer my activity monitor went way down to 5.14 memory used out of 8. So maybe I don't need to upgrade anything? I am confused.