movie princess
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: I have a new modem and want to set up my Apple Airport as a backup drive; how do I do that?

I have a new Verizon modem and want to set up my Apple Airport as a backup drive; how do I do that?  I don't need to extend the network, just find a use for the Airport. 

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Mar 17, 2016 3:20 PM

by Bob Timmons,Apple recommended
Bob Timmons Bob Timmons
Level 10 (105,118 points)
Wireless
A:

If you have confirmed that you have an Ethernet cable connecting from one of the four LAN <--> ports on your router to the WAN "O" port on the AirPort Time Capsule........

 

When you click on Other WiFi Devices , then click on AirPort Time Capsule 108aad, the setup "wizard" will open up and display a screen that looks like this.....except that you will see a Time Capsule pictured. The wizard is smart.....this is the correct setup.

 

Uverse - Fios Setup.png

 

For Network Name........Type in a short, simple name that you want to call a wireless network

Base Station Name.......Type in a short, simple name....like ATC, for example

For Password......Type in a password to be used for both the wireless network and ATC

For Verify......Type in the same password to confirm

Click Next

 

The setup wizard will configure everything for you. After a minute or two, you will see a message on the screen of Setup Complete. Click Done at that time, and you are done.  The Time Capsule should have a nice, bright green light now.

 

Apple wants you to use the Time Capsule wireless, so click on the WiFi icon at the top of the Mac's screen and then select the network you named above. Enter the password if required.

 

You should be all set.

 

Post back if you need help setting up your Mac to back up to the Time Capsule.

Posted on Mar 20, 2016 11:21 AM

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movie princess

Q: I have a new modem and want to set up my Apple Airport as a backup drive; how do I do that?

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  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Mar 20, 2016 7:07 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 10 (105,118 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 20, 2016 7:07 PM in response to Tesserax

    Thanks for the info and the setup that you suggested may indeed "work". The potential issue here......as I've pointed out......is that Apple Support insists (rightly or wrongly) that users should use the Time Capsule wireless to back up......or......backup directly from the Mac to one of the LAN ports on the Time Capsule.

     

    I can't find an official Apple support document that mentions this though. The information comes from phone conversations.

     

    So, the Verizon wireless might indeed work to back up things to the Time Capsule, and as long as it "works", things will be fine.  But, if a user calls Apple to say that they are having problems, and not using the Time Capsule wireless....or another Apple router's wireless to back up.....Apple Support will tell the user that they cannot help them with that type of setup and offer to help them set up things so backups will occur over the Apple wireless network.

     

    My suggestion was to get things working using the Time Capsule wireless first.......because the setup wizard will set things up that way by default anyway.....and then test by turning off the Time Capsule wireless to see if things will "work" using the Verizon wireless.

     

    It is unfortunate that Apple's setup wizard forces a user to set up the Time Capsule to create a wireless network......and if the user does not want the wireless service......the user must then go back in as a separate operation and turn off the wireless function.  In other words, It is not possible to set up the Time Capsule initially with the wireless function turned off.

     

    We all know that the previous 5.x version of AirPort Utility offered a lot more flexibility as far as initial set up. Unfortunately, that flexibility did not carry forward into the 6.x versions of the utility, so you basically have to accept what the setup utility suggests first and then change the setup according to what is desired.

     

    The best result here would be to find out that the Time Capsule wireless can be turned off and the user has no problems backing up over the Verizon wireless. Then, Apple Support won't need to be involved.

  • by movie princess,

    movie princess movie princess Mar 20, 2016 8:24 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 20, 2016 8:24 PM in response to Tesserax

    Thanks...I want to do that.  So I am going to go the Airport Utility, click on the Apple Network I set up, and edit the TC.  I am going to follow the instructions you sent me when you first responded.  Thanks for jumping back in...I'll let you know how it goes.  Right now it is updating, so then I'll see if the Time Machine can "see" the TC. 

  • by movie princess,

    movie princess movie princess Mar 20, 2016 8:46 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 20, 2016 8:46 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Thank you!  I have "turned off" the TC as a router, and I'll let you know if I can indeed connect to the TC over my existing network to use it as a backup.  I really appreciate all of the input; sometimes when updated "things" are done, it really messes up something that users have learned to get to work.  I love my iMac (it's the latest), and my iPad Pro and pencil, and my iPhone.  Love how they all work together and coordinate.  I am a little baffled why the latest iMac has no DVD player, but I did get a superdrive.  I was a long-time PC user for years, but once I moved to Mac I was won over (hubby also has an iMac, iPad Pro, and iPhone). 

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Mar 20, 2016 8:53 PM in response to movie princess
    Level 10 (105,118 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 20, 2016 8:53 PM in response to movie princess
    I have "turned off" the TC as a router, and I'll let you know if I can indeed connect to the TC over my existing network to use it as a backup.

    OK, thanks.  It sounds like you got the basic setup completed correctly, so you could make the change to turn off the wireless function on the Time Capsule.

     

    Sorry for the confusion, but I was trying to make the point that you had to set up the Time Capsule first the way that the setup wizard dictates......before you can make any other changes like turning off the wireless on the TC.  I hope that is clear.

     

    Tesserax and I are are both providing the same instructions in a different way.

     

    Hopefully, once you have the wireless turned off on the TC, you will be able to back up using the Verizon wireless with no further changes.

     

    Please let us know if that is the case.  As I said before, if this works for you.....that is great.  The problem will be getting Apple Support to help if it does not.

  • by movie princess,

    movie princess movie princess Mar 20, 2016 9:16 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 20, 2016 9:16 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Thanks to you both!  Y'all are awesome!  I just have one more quick question...how can I delete the data on the TC so that it will have room to backup my existing files?  I will look for the answer in "Help" just in case y'all are fed up with my ignorance!  I can make the excuse that I'm old (my grandkids could probably do this easily), but...

     

    Thanks again!

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Mar 20, 2016 9:30 PM in response to movie princess
    Level 10 (105,118 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 20, 2016 9:30 PM in response to movie princess

    Do you want to completely erase the Time Capsule hard drive.......or......do you only want to delete the existing backup files of a given Mac......but keep backups of other Macs?

     

    It is simpler to completely erase the hard drive if that would work for you.

     

    We'll provide the step by step when we know what you want to do......since the procedures are different, depending on what you want to do.

  • by movie princess,

    movie princess movie princess Mar 20, 2016 9:32 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 20, 2016 9:32 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    I think I want to completely erase it...right now I'm getting the message that there isn't enough space on it.  It mainly contains files that were on my old iMac...and I backed up the files I wanted to keep to the Cloud.  Thanks!

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Mar 20, 2016 9:37 PM in response to movie princess
    Level 10 (105,118 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 20, 2016 9:37 PM in response to movie princess

    OK, thanks for the clarification.

     

    Open up your old friend.....AirPort Utility

    Click on the picture of the Time Capsule

    Click Edit in the smaller window that appears

    Click the Disks tab at the top of the next window

    Click Erase Disk

     

    Erase Disk 1.png

     

    In the next window that appears, select the Quick Erase option.....if it is not already selected.

    Click Erase

    The procedure will only take a minute or two, then you can start another backup

     

    Erase Disk 2.png

  • by movie princess,

    movie princess movie princess Mar 20, 2016 9:55 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 20, 2016 9:55 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Unfortunately, now when I click on AP Utility, it says "Device Not Found" - Time Machine found it, but I can't do anything with it in TM...sorry I'm such a pest!

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Mar 20, 2016 10:03 PM in response to movie princess
    Level 10 (105,118 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 20, 2016 10:03 PM in response to movie princess

    Did you turn off the wireless on the Time Capsule before you tried to use AirPort Utility to erase the Disk, or is the wireless still "on" at the Time Capsule?

     

    Sorry, but these things are going to happen when you try to do things that Apple does not want you to do.  We'll try to find workarounds, but please be patient.

  • by movie princess,

    movie princess movie princess Mar 20, 2016 10:15 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 20, 2016 10:15 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Ya, I turned it off...I did get to it with Finder, and opened "Data" and am deleting the files in there, but it's taking a while.  I'm hoping that will work; otherwise, I can disconnect it from the network and reconnect it and go through utility to set it up again, right?  Then erase the disk, and change it back again?

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Mar 21, 2016 6:01 AM in response to movie princess
    Level 10 (105,118 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 21, 2016 6:01 AM in response to movie princess

    OK, the files should go away that way, but there is a connection break somewhere if your Mac cannot open up AirPort Utility and "see" the Time Capsule.

     

    When the data on the Time Capsule hard drive is gone, try powering off the Time Capsule, wait a few seconds, then power it back on. Restart the Mac as well. Check to see if the Time Capsule is now visible in AirPort Utility.  If it's not, then we'll need to do some more work.

     

    If the Time Capsule is now visible, it would be good idea to go ahead and do the erase operation that I outlined above. It will only take a minute or two.

     

    Then, it will be time to set up the Time Machine backups to the Time Capsule to see if the backups will work OK over the Verizon wireless.

  • by Boyd Porter,

    Boyd Porter Boyd Porter Mar 21, 2016 6:01 AM in response to movie princess
    Level 4 (1,002 points)
    Mar 21, 2016 6:01 AM in response to movie princess

    To delete Time Machine files on the Time capsule, http://pondini.org/TM/TCQ5.html.  Read the various options. It is very time consuming to delete via the Finder.  I would suggest you connect the Time Capsule to your Mac with an Ethernet cable, and follow Bob Timmons' instructions on deleting the backup file(s) with Airport Utility.

     

    Have a nice day.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Mar 21, 2016 6:25 AM in response to Boyd Porter
    Level 10 (105,118 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 21, 2016 6:25 AM in response to Boyd Porter

    Deleting a sparsebundle file is now much, much faster in Yosemite and El Capitan, and comes close to the speed of a Quick Erase.  Unfortunately, Pondini passed away before Yosemite was introduced, so the faster deletion information does not appear in his excellent support documents.

  • by movie princess,

    movie princess movie princess Mar 21, 2016 7:27 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 21, 2016 7:27 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    I disconnected the power to TC, plugged it back in, and "voila" it was up in Airport Utility, I clicked on "edit" and deleted all the files.  I am now ready to set up the Time Machine.  I'll post a separate question if I can't do that right.  I really thank you all for your support and quickness of responses! 

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