Another Time Capsule Grinding to an Early Death

[Capt. Morgan]

Title says it all. After three years, my Time Capsule is making awful grinding sounds.

In doing some searching it would seem the TC has a checkered history and does not really live up to Apple's normal standards, plus they have stopped developing the product. So it seems reasonable to expect whatever causes these things to die early is still unresolved.

I could be pragmatic and say "it's only $300, just buy another". But it seems to me it's time to look elsewhere for a wifi/backup solution.

Question (finally!): What are the options?

 

[Phil in ocala]

Mine puts out wifi signal but fails at backups.....

 

[Fishrrman]

"Question (finally!): What are the options?"

There's nothing complicated about this:
1. Get a new router (the new "mesh systems" look pretty good)
2. Get a "standalone drive" for backups. It may not be "over the network", but that's not a problem. Just plug it into the Mac, backup, disconnect. Repeat when necessary.

I WOULD NOT buy a new TC.
Old tech and they are prone to problems (as you've discovered).

 

[bingeciren]

Easy to replace the drive. I’ve done it to both of my time capsules to increase the drive size from 1tb to 3tb.

 

[Unami]

There are lots of routers or NAS-systems that support TM-Backup over Wifi. Or just replace the defect HD in the TC with a new one or a SSD.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Grinding is likely the drive, as others have noted, which is common to spinners. Definitely look in to replacing the drive vs the entire router.

Only other big issue is the 4th gens' boards dying, you can bake em to get them going again.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Mines still working fine since I bought it in 2012. Guess it's the luck of the draw.

 

[RicD]

"Question (finally!): What are the options?"

There's nothing complicated about this:
1. Get a new router (the new "mesh systems" look pretty good)
2. Get a "standalone drive" for backups. It may not be "over the network", but that's not a problem. Just plug it into the Mac, backup, disconnect. Repeat when necessary.

I WOULD NOT buy a new TC.
Old tech and they are prone to problems (as you've discovered).

Yes, Mesh looks very good, a few friends move to Google WiFi, Mesh, and are very pleased with that system. Apple, either 2016 or 2017, stopped production of their routers and TC. Though Apple continues to sell and support them it could be they are clearing inventory. Mesh appears a much better system.

 

[Le Big Mac]

Easy to replace the drive. I’ve done it to both of my time capsules to increase the drive size from 1tb to 3tb.

Or buy an external and plug it into the USB port.

 

[bernuli]

Easy to replace the drive. I’ve done it to both of my time capsules to increase the drive size from 1tb to 3tb.

The only drive failures I have had recently have been with 3TB drives (though I think all from Seagate). Anyway I have been keeping it even and either buying 2TB or 4TB. This superstition for me has worked pretty well.

 

[bingeciren]

Or buy an external and plug it into the USB port.

Works but slower than the internal drive because it is usb2. If you connect to the TC using the gigabit Ethernet, internal drive will be faster. Won’t make a huge difference for WiFi connection however. My desktop Mac is connected to the TC via Ethernet for instance.

Slightly off the topic but I hate the Time Machine backups. Now and then it gets corrupt and backups stop. The only remedy is either to erase the entire backup and start fresh or, if you are lucky, erase the “in progress” file to save the backups. As a result, I switched to Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC). It is still possible to use the TC’s disk because CCC can backup to a sparse bundle just like the Time Machine.
[doublepost=1518851460][/doublepost]I

The only drive failures I have had recently have been with 3TB drives (though I think all from Seagate). Anyway I have been keeping it even and either buying 2TB or 4TB. This superstition for me has worked pretty well.

I’ve had two 2tb drives failed within the same year. One was WD, the other was Samsung. 7200 rpm drives have higher failure rates I believe and most manufacturers are no longer making them. Mind you both of my failed drives were 4200 rpm.