ejetmonorail
Level 1 (8 points)
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Q: Can you store items other than backups on AirPort Time Capsules?

Hi, the title is pretty self explanatory. I don't exactly know what the AirPort Time Capsule is for, but I'm wondering if it can store my regular files, not just my Time Machine backups.

 

Thanks!

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), Mid 2011 iMac

Posted on Jun 25, 2016 2:46 PM

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ejetmonorail

Q: Can you store items other than backups on AirPort Time Capsules?

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  • by Niel,

    Niel Niel Jun 25, 2016 2:50 PM in response to ejetmonorail
    Level 10 (311,492 points)
    Jun 25, 2016 2:50 PM in response to ejetmonorail

    Yes, but you shouldn't. A drive can fail at any time; working data and backups should be on different ones.

     

    (143116)

  • by ejetmonorail,

    ejetmonorail ejetmonorail Jun 25, 2016 2:52 PM in response to Niel
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 25, 2016 2:52 PM in response to Niel

    Well, I wouldn't be holding anything important on that drive. So it would be wireless, and it would show up in my Finder and I could just drag files to it?

  • by Niel,

    Niel Niel Jun 25, 2016 2:55 PM in response to ejetmonorail
    Level 10 (311,492 points)
    Jun 25, 2016 2:55 PM in response to ejetmonorail

    1. It depends on how the computers connect to the Time Capsule; this can be either wirelessly or through Ethernet.

    2. Yes. It'll be treated as a network server.

     

    (143117)

  • by ejetmonorail,

    ejetmonorail ejetmonorail Jun 25, 2016 2:56 PM in response to Niel
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apple Watch
    Jun 25, 2016 2:56 PM in response to Niel

    Would I have to do anything special to set it up to be able to drag files to it?

  • by Niel,

    Niel Niel Jun 26, 2016 6:07 AM in response to ejetmonorail
    Level 10 (311,492 points)
    Jun 26, 2016 6:07 AM in response to ejetmonorail

    If it isn't available in the Finder, choose Connect to Server from the Finder's Go menu and put its IP address in.

     

    (143133)

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jun 26, 2016 9:02 AM in response to ejetmonorail
    Level 9 (53,908 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 26, 2016 9:02 AM in response to ejetmonorail

    To add to Neil's comments, you may want to consider the following as a guideline:

     

    1. What the Time Capsule (TÇ) is best at: Time Machine backups
    2. What the TC is ok at: File Storage, iTunes Media Library storage
    3. What the TC is poor at: Streaming from that iTunes Media Library storage, iPhoto/Photos Library storage

     

    On the second item, the TC is NOT a true NAS device. It can be used to store files, but those files must compete with the space used by Time Machine backups. Read/write Data transfer rates are just shy of dismal. You would get much better performance with a USB or Firewire HDD directly attached to your Mac. If you only need to access files occasionally this may not be an issue.

     

    On the third item, the TC is NOT an iTunes server. You cannot stream directly from the TC. It will still require a media server, like iTunes running on a Mac or PC to access the media files on the TC. This may be "ok" for audio, but not so much for HD video streaming.

     

    You also have one additional option, not mentioned. That is, if you want your files to be secure, you could create an encrypted disk image on the TC's drive, and then, copy files to it. One drawback of this method is that these files would not be accessible from Windows PCs. You can then mount this image to your Mac's desktop for access to the files.