How can I make use of TC partitions and ensure the parse bundle file is on the correct partition? I can't see the partitions I made in Finder, but I can drag/drop files into the single 'Data' folder under Finder/Shared/TC.

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How can I make use of TC partitions and ensure the parse bundle file is on the correct partition? I can't see the partitions I made in Finder, but I can drag/drop files into the single 'Data' folder under Finder/Shared/TC.

MacBook Air, OSX 10.10.3, 128GB; 2TB Time Capsule ME177LL/A.

End Goal: Use Time Capsule as Time Machine for my MacBook Air and as a storage solution for large files that I don't want permanently on my MacBook Air.

So far, I've set up the TC and set up Time Machine on the TC. I was able to create 2 partitions on the TC using Disk Utility while TM was performing a backup and the disk was recognizable under the Disk Utility.

Under Finder/Shared, I see the 'Airport TimeCapsule', and when I click it there is one file called 'Data'. I expected to see my two partitions here. Under 'Data' is a 'Zissou31's MacBook Air (3)' Sparse Bundle file, and I can also create folders here and drag/drop files onto the TC here. I can see the partitions in Disk Utility, but how can I see/use the partitions I created in Finder?

I'm concerned this may not be set up correctly and I'm either losing out on an entire partition that I created or these dragged/dropped files may be at risk of being overwritten by TimeMachine. How do I ensure the parse bundle file is on the appropriate partition?

I turned off TimeMachine and turned it back on to see if I could 'point' it to one of the partitions, but the 'Data' folder is the only think TimeMachine sees. How can I point Time Machine to one of the partitions?

Thanks!

Posted on Nov 28, 2015 11:31 PM

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Answer 1

Zissou31 Author

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Nov 28, 2015 11:43 PM in response to Zissou31

Also, in Disk Utility I can see that one of the TC partitions is linked to Time Machine, indicated by the green Time Machine icon in the lower left, but both partitions appear to fall under 'Zissou31's MacBook Air (3).sparsebundle'.

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Answer 2

Nov 30, 2015 2:39 AM in response to Zissou31

So far, I've set up the TC and set up Time Machine on the TC. I was able to create 2 partitions on the TC using Disk Utility while TM was performing a backup and the disk was recognizable under the Disk Utility.

You cannot partition a Time Capsule..

You partitioned the TM sparsebundle which is a virtual disk.. partitioning virtual disks is rather useless.

How can I point Time Machine to one of the partitions?

Your virtual partition is inside the backup.. TM can never use it.

And TM will at some point mess this up.. or you have messed up TM.

Please erase the drive and start over.

TM sparsebundle should be left alone.. it is entirely for TM use.

Create your own sparsebundle for your files.. (or DMG file.. it is the same thing).

See Q3 here.

http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

It is old but still relevant.

One serious issue.. you cannot backup files on a TC using Time Machine. And you will effectively have no backup.

You must have your files backed up on another disk.. and it is basically wrong way to do things. Particularly live files you are using on the Mac should never be stored on the TC.

Plug a USB drive into the Mac and use that for your large files you want off the MBA.

A USB drive can then be backed up to the TC by TM.

The other alternative is to plug a USB drive into the TC. It is not fast but if you are using wireless well file transfer is not fast anyway. A USB drive should be backed up to the TC itself but you will need to use a different backup utility.. eg Carbon Copy Cloner or Chronosync as TM cannot do it.. the backup will be slow because files are copied in both directions from TC to the computer and back again.. over wireless this will give extremely poor speeds.

I strongly recommend buying the Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter.. it is perhaps the only reasonably priced thunderbolt add on and well worth having.

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