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How to set up two time capsules on two different computers on same network?

Hi All,


I need help figuring out how to set up two time capsules to back up two different computers.


1. My wife and me both have 2010 iMacs running Yosemite.

2. My wife wants to use her time capsule to back up her computer, and I want to use my time capsule to my computer. We both have the older TC versions.

3. We also have an airport extreme upstairs in the house to use as a wireless extender.

4. They are all in bridge mode.


My problem is that our wireless connections on our computers are nearly useless, and I believe its because our set up is wrong. How can we both back up to our own time capsules wirelessly without putting a drain on our wireless connection. Should they be hard-wired instead?

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iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010), OS X Yosemite (10.10.5), null

Posted on Aug 30, 2015 10:11 AM

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Posted on Aug 30, 2015 2:13 PM

Backups will always cause slow down of the wireless when it is used for other purposes.. wireless has limited bandwidth and apple included no QoS to give priority to say internet connection over backups.. which was pretty stupid really.


Use ethernet.. honestly with iMac you are not in a situation where wireless is gaining you freedom .. you are not going to lug the iMac around the house with you.


Let me then add one more comment.. USB hard drive plugged into the Mac.. Even a 2010 model will work faster and be more reliable to USB local drive than using a TC.


And once you have a USB drive plugged in you can do a clone backup.. as well as time machine.. Carbon Copy Cloner.. can make a bootable clone on USB drive.. that is significant as 2010 Mac can die pretty suddenly if the hard disk goes. You can also do TM backups to the same disk.. well worth considering. (and even copy the backup between the two USB drives.. to backup the backup).


Anyhow.. to use what you have is not hard.


Assuming the first Mac is close enough to Morgan's Time Capsule that you can run ethernet to it.. and turn off the wireless..


Then setup the second TC as extend wireless.. and plug it by ethernet into your more remote Mac by ethernet. Again turn off wireless.


You can also plug the AE into the TC.. bridge it and run it in roaming network mode.


Much will depend on the distance and speed of the link you thus generate..

The big advantage is by ethernet there is no slow down.. backups will be fast no matter what the wireless link speed and the internet should be just as fast as normal.


If you need more details.. give me a bit more info about the current link speeds and setup of your broadband.. what role does the Morgan TC play.. router or bridged.

5 replies
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Aug 30, 2015 2:13 PM in response to Chynola

Backups will always cause slow down of the wireless when it is used for other purposes.. wireless has limited bandwidth and apple included no QoS to give priority to say internet connection over backups.. which was pretty stupid really.


Use ethernet.. honestly with iMac you are not in a situation where wireless is gaining you freedom .. you are not going to lug the iMac around the house with you.


Let me then add one more comment.. USB hard drive plugged into the Mac.. Even a 2010 model will work faster and be more reliable to USB local drive than using a TC.


And once you have a USB drive plugged in you can do a clone backup.. as well as time machine.. Carbon Copy Cloner.. can make a bootable clone on USB drive.. that is significant as 2010 Mac can die pretty suddenly if the hard disk goes. You can also do TM backups to the same disk.. well worth considering. (and even copy the backup between the two USB drives.. to backup the backup).


Anyhow.. to use what you have is not hard.


Assuming the first Mac is close enough to Morgan's Time Capsule that you can run ethernet to it.. and turn off the wireless..


Then setup the second TC as extend wireless.. and plug it by ethernet into your more remote Mac by ethernet. Again turn off wireless.


You can also plug the AE into the TC.. bridge it and run it in roaming network mode.


Much will depend on the distance and speed of the link you thus generate..

The big advantage is by ethernet there is no slow down.. backups will be fast no matter what the wireless link speed and the internet should be just as fast as normal.


If you need more details.. give me a bit more info about the current link speeds and setup of your broadband.. what role does the Morgan TC play.. router or bridged.

Aug 30, 2015 5:38 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for the detailed reply, LaPastenague. I think I've wrapped my head around what you are saying, and here's what I think the gist is:


1. I don't need to make either of these TCs wireless, but rather go directly through ethernet.

2. Or forget the TC altogether and go with external USB hard drive.


I hear what you're saying about the hard drive, but we're not ready to buy a couple in the near future, but I see your point. Here's answers to your questions and our ideal set up.


1. My wife and I share an office space, and our Macs are about 10 feet a part with the TCs sitting right next to each computer.

2. I was hoping I could leave Morgan's TC on her desk connected by ethernet, and use Paul's (mine) TC both as a wireless backup and extender in another part of the first floor of the house. Or the vice versa. Or is that overkill?

3. One detail that I forgot to mention is that Morgan also has a Macbook for work and wirelessly backs that up to her TC as well. Does that negate connecting Morgan's TC via ethernet?

4. I'm not quite sure what you mean by the current link speeds and setup of my broadband.

5. I believe Morgan's is also set up as router, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't need to be the case, and is probably the main reason for such a bog down on the wi-fi.


Sorry, this got messy in a hurry. Thanks for your input so far.

Aug 30, 2015 6:18 PM in response to Chynola

Ok.. I get the picture and it is rather more complicated.. but is still not hard.


2. I was hoping I could leave Morgan's TC on her desk connected by ethernet, and use Paul's (mine) TC both as a wireless backup and extender in another part of the first floor of the house. Or the vice versa. Or is that overkill?

You can certainly do this..


I would encourage you to still use ethernet. And turn off wireless in the iMac.


Setup the Paul's TC as extend wireless and place it in another area of the house..


Test the speed of the backups.. because this is still going to be using wireless which is what you wanted to avoid.


Unless you both use the one TC to backup.. ie Morgan if it has enough space.. and use the other TC perhaps to do wireless backups.


Give me some facts.. how much space is already used on each TC and what sizes are they.. what gen TC.. ???


The more facts the better.


3. One detail that I forgot to mention is that Morgan also has a Macbook for work and wirelessly backs that up to her TC as well. Does that negate connecting Morgan's TC via ethernet?


Not really relevant.. they can both work fine.. one by ethernet and the other by wireless.


4. I'm not quite sure what you mean by the current link speeds and setup of my broadband.

How well the setup works depends on the link speed. This is the link speed between two airports with the second one in extend wireless.


Wireless is of limited speed.. here is how you find out the link speed.. in the airport utility roll your cursor over the connection .. in my case where it says good in the summary page.. you click on the airport to get the summary.


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A popup box gives you the info.. data rate is 90Mb/s .. this is pretty slow.. because wireless will only ever manage half that speed.. so that is 45Mbits/s and in terms of file transfer speed that is 4.5MBytes/s give or take.. In other words to do a backup over a slow wireless link is not a good idea.. it will take ages. So find out the speed of the link.


Even better run ethernet to the new location.. then there will be no slow down.



Let me suggest a completely new configuration.... and the reality is you are in kissing distance.. !!


Morgan's TC is fine.. whatever its setup is kind of irrelevant.. and with wife it is usually better to leave their stuff alone.. I speak from deep experience in the matter.


Plug WAN port of Paul's Time Capsule to LAN port of Morgan's Time Capsule. Do this in whatever location makes sense .. if it is far away.. well run ethernet there.


Setup Paul as follows..

Network tab.. bridge.


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wireless.. use the exact same name for wireless as you have setup with Morgan TC.


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There is no point running wireless on both TC. when they are 10feet apart so this is only when you make a significant placement change..


Internet tab will have dhcp as usual.


Plug both Mac's into TC morgan.. with ethernet there is no difference in performance.. this is gigabit ethernet.. and far exceeds the speed a TC can go. So the Paul TC can be anywhere in the house.


Wireless connection should be off in the two iMacs.. that just messes things up. BUT.. as a warning.. keep wireless turned on until you complete the setup.. because the airport utility is dumb as blazes and expects wireless..


When you finish remember to switch the airport utility over to ethernet.. yet another dumb thing apple did .. ethernet selection is under

Other Wi-Fi Devices, which is so obvious anyone would look there.. !! (Note sarcasm).


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Make sure in the Macs, you turn on IPv6 to link local only.


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There are many variations on this .. post if you run into trouble or need more details.

Aug 30, 2015 7:03 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks again, LaPastenague.


I have a 4th generation (A1409) 3 TB and Morgan has a 3rd generation(A1355) 1TB version. We were at one time using her TC as both of our backup, but adding her MacBook and my many photos and videos filled up the TC. I bought my TC to alleviate that problem.


When I roll over both TCs, Morgan’s doesn’t show a connection, but Paul’s is at “excellent” at 195mbs. Morgan’s TC is already hard wired to the router. (new can of worms?)


I’m understanding your thinking thus far, but I do have a clarifying question or two before I venture into your setup directions that may change your thinking or not:


  1. While we are indeed kissing distance away..hubba hubba, the layout of the space would make running an ethernet from my Mac to her TC closer to 20 feet of cord as there are door and shelving obstacles. It’s hard to explain, and I don’t have 20 feet of cable to boot. Can I avoid this?
  2. You mention turning off wireless on my mac…is this just for testing purposes? Don’t I need to have wireless on?


I feel like I keep opening Pandora's box with each reply. I should have been more specific in my original post.

Aug 30, 2015 11:25 PM in response to Chynola

While we are indeed kissing distance away..hubba hubba, the layout of the space would make running an ethernet from my Mac to her TC closer to 20 feet of cord as there are door and shelving obstacles. It’s hard to explain, and I don’t have 20 feet of cable to boot. Can I avoid this?

Clearly if you don't want to use ethernet then you can use wireless.


Not having a 20' ethernet cable is not a very good excuse.. ie it would cost $10 to buy one. And it will work 10x better than wireless.


Going back to your very first post.


My problem is that our wireless connections on our computers are nearly useless, and I believe its because our set up is wrong. How can we both back up to our own time capsules wirelessly without putting a drain on our wireless connection. Should they be hard-wired instead?

The answer was clearly.. the more wireless the worse the connection.. the slower it will go.. if you want fast connections use wired connections.


If we go back to wireless.. then rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.. the speed improvement can be expected to be remarkable.. only straight down.. !!


You mention turning off wireless on my mac…is this just for testing purposes? Don’t I need to have wireless on?

Only need wireless if you don't run a cord.. take your pick.. !!


Now let me start over.. again!!


The connections are going to work better by changing over to your newer Paul TC.


So plug Paul into the modem and redo the setup.. run new backups from Morgan iMac and Morgan Macbook .. you will have tons of space on that hard disk also for Paul iMac.


Wireless is much faster on 5ghz. BUT your iMac is not making use of it. It is too old.


So lets improve that situation by using Morgan TC as extend wireless. and do this with this specific setup.. Do all of this exactly.


Setup Paul TC as the main Network TC.


I am not sure if it is bridged or router mode.. whatever the current one is the replacement will also be.


Factory reset it as that is necessary when you change devices in their network setup.


Factory reset universal

Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.

N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.


Setup the TC again.


Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite.

1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.

eg TCgen4 for basestation

Use TC24ghz and TC5ghz for wireless.


2. Use all passwords that also comply with 1. but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.


3. If the TC is main router you can skip this point. This is only an issue when the TC is bridged.

Ensure the TC always takes the same IP address.. you will need to do this on the main router using dhcp reservation.. or a bit more complex setup using static IP in the TC. But this is important.. having IP drift all over the place when Yosemite cannot remember its own name for 5 min after a reboot makes for poor networking.


4. Check your share name on the computer is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. but this change will mess up your TM backup.. so be prepared to do a new full backup. Sorry.. keep this one for second round if you want to avoid a new backup.


5. Mount the TC disk in the computer manually.


In Finder, Go, Connect to server from the top menu,

Type in SMB://10.0.1.1 (or whatever the TC ip is which you have now made static. As a router by default it is 10.0.1.1 and I encourage people to stick with that unless you know what you are doing).


You can use name.. SMB://TCgen4.local where you replace TCgen4 with your TC name.. local is the default domain of the TC and doesn't change.

However names are not so easy as IP address.. nor as reliable. At least not in Yosemite they aren't. The domain can also be an issue if you are not plugged or wireless directly to the TC.


6. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only. Do the same for ethernet if you use it.




Now you will plug Morgan iMac into this TC.. and you will have completed the setup and turn off the wireless.


Do a TM backup.. this will take a while as it is the first one on this TC. After a few weeks or months you can delete the old backups on the Gen3 TC.


Do a TM backup of the Macbook.. I recommend you plug in by ethernet to do this first backup also .. but subsequent backups can be done by wireless.


Take the current Morgan TC now..


Do the same as above.. only it should be named.. TCgen3

When you do the setup do not plug it into anything except your iMac.. apple airport utility setup wizard will choose extend wireless.. accept that .. but make sure it extends on 5ghz. It will pretty much then complete the setup without any other configuration.


Once completed your iMac can have its wireless turned off.. you will be connected by ethernet to the TC.. with a short patch cord.. the TC is connected to the TCgen4 by wireless.. and you can then pick whichever you want for the backup.. but TCgen3 will be much faster.


Extend wireless on the Extreme in the upstairs setup.. should also work fine.. but choose 5ghz signal and test.. if it is poor.. then use 2.4ghz.


This will give you everything you want with the best compromises..

How to set up two time capsules on two different computers on same network?

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