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When I try to backup to my Time Capsule I get a message that it is full. It is not deleting the old backups to make room for the new. One of the suggestions in this forum is to copy the old backups from the time machine to an external drive and then erase the Time Capsule to use again. Can someone please give me detailed info how to copy the old backups on Time Capsule to an external drive and then erase it? Thanks!
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018), iOS 11.4.1
Connect a USB drive to the USB port on the back up the Time Capsule. The USB drive will need to be at least the same size as the drive on the Time Capsule.
Open AirPort Utility on your Mac........(Finder > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility)
Click on the picture of the Time Capsule
Click Edit in the smaller window that appears
Click the Disks tab at the op of the next window
Click Archive Disk
This will make a complete copy of everything that is on the Time Capsule onto the USB drive
This is a very slow process. Allow a full day or two for the process to complete. You can still use your network during this time if you want.
Once the Archive has completed, it is time to erase the Time Capsule drive.
Open AirPort Utility as above
This time, click on Erase Disk
Choose the Quick Erase option.......since you will be keeping the Time Capsule for your own use
Click Erase
The Quick Erase will only take 5-10 minutes or so to complete. Once done, you can now start a new backup to the Time Capsule.
Since the Time Capsule has been erased, Time Machine will make a new complete copy of your Mac on the Time Capsule, so allow plenty of time for this to occur.
Once the complete backup of your Mac is done, subsequent "incremental" backups should only take a few minutes, since Time Machine is only backing the changes that have occurred on your Mac since the last backup.
Connect a USB drive to the USB port on the back up the Time Capsule. The USB drive will need to be at least the same size as the drive on the Time Capsule.
Open AirPort Utility on your Mac........(Finder > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility)
Click on the picture of the Time Capsule
Click Edit in the smaller window that appears
Click the Disks tab at the op of the next window
Click Archive Disk
This will make a complete copy of everything that is on the Time Capsule onto the USB drive
This is a very slow process. Allow a full day or two for the process to complete. You can still use your network during this time if you want.
Once the Archive has completed, it is time to erase the Time Capsule drive.
Open AirPort Utility as above
This time, click on Erase Disk
Choose the Quick Erase option.......since you will be keeping the Time Capsule for your own use
Click Erase
The Quick Erase will only take 5-10 minutes or so to complete. Once done, you can now start a new backup to the Time Capsule.
Since the Time Capsule has been erased, Time Machine will make a new complete copy of your Mac on the Time Capsule, so allow plenty of time for this to occur.
Once the complete backup of your Mac is done, subsequent "incremental" backups should only take a few minutes, since Time Machine is only backing the changes that have occurred on your Mac since the last backup.
Edit to above.......the information assumes that you will be using a USB drive that has been formatted for Mac. Make sure that the drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).......and it does not say something like.....works with both PC and Mac.
Thanks Bob for the detailed explanation. I’ve ordered a back up drive (already formatted for the Mac) and am looking forward to archiving my data and erasing the time capsule and getting it backing up again. Your response was very helpful.
Time capsule is full
