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Format Time Capsule Hard drive

Hi, I have a Pizza Box Time Capsule (TC) A1409 2TB

It was working fine then went a bit wonky on me, not sure why but anyway... When I plug it in it displays a green light and then It displays the Amber light - Always on.

I cannot reset it, soft or hard, even when I pull the power plug, press the reset button and then plug the power plug back in it still will not reset.

On my router the ethernet cable light that goes from my router to the TC doesn't light up, indicating no signal from the TC as far as I can tell.

I removed the Hard drive and it tested fine and I could see the folders like Data.

Because I cannot access the TC from Airport utility I cannot format it, so my question is can I format it externally and then put it back in and the TC will see it?

If yes, would the formatting be Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)?

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12), Mid 2011

Posted on Mar 15, 2018 6:33 AM

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Posted on Mar 15, 2018 1:35 PM

Formatting the hard disk outside the TC is now somewhat tricky because Apple includes hidden partition for recovery.

Anyway it seems your hard disk is fine.

I removed the Hard drive and it tested fine and I could see the folders like Data.

If you can see and read the Data partition then you have a different problem.

It is simple to test. With the hard disk removed.. power on the TC. The disk does not have to be present for the TC to boot. It you still get solid amber the fault is still there.

When I plug it in it displays a green light and then It displays the Amber light - Always on

Although solid amber is usually caused by a faulty hard disk in the TC.. it can also be a faulty board. This is fairly common on the Gen4. They suffer poor soldering. Mostly the fault leaves the main LED off.. but in your case the TC is partly working.

I would still give it an oven bake. It may not be successful as your fault could be slightly different.. but since you have the TC open.. it is not difficult to go the rest of the way.

See

Gen4 A1409 issues - LaPastenague

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Format Time Capsule Hard drive

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