MacBook Air and Time Capsule

[teerexx52]

I have posted my experiences with Time Capsule and my MacBook Air. Give it a read if you can. I think I've been able to make it a happy marriage of the two.

http://thinkmacbookair.com/index.php/topic,66.0.html

 

[mctheriot]

Nice post! I put a Time Capsule on my home network and can certainly see how this would be a workable solution.

Mark

 

[Clix Pix]

Thank you for this!!!! I had been mulling over whether or not to get a Time Capsule and whether or not it would be feasible to do something like this....I've got several Macs on the network and now I've got my sweet little SSD MacBook Air with its limited HD space. This will be a perfect solution for me so that when I'm using the Air I can still enjoy iTunes or review some of my digital images. Thanks!!!

 

[alpinadvl]

I have posted my experiences with Time Capsule and my MacBook Air. Give it a read if you can. I think I've been able to make it a happy marriage of the two.

http://thinkmacbookair.com/index.php/topic,66.0.html

3 things :
1. Nice review and also it touches on some things I was curious about
2. Do you use Time Capsule for backingup (via Time Machine) and as a server for your itunes and iphoto libraries at the same time? Does it need to be partitioned to do this?
3. I understand that you "solved" the problem by needing to "connect to servers" or "show servers on desktop" or whatever - every morning... this does not seem like a reasonable "solution" to me. The whole point is to have all this working in the background as you do your routine business (I am sure you feel the same way) - could some sort of script solve this problem and be run on login?

-alf

 

[Adokimus]

I have posted my experiences with Time Capsule and my MacBook Air. Give it a read if you can. I think I've been able to make it a happy marriage of the two.

http://thinkmacbookair.com/index.php/topic,66.0.html

I think you said your problem was that your iTunes would forget which folder you put your music in via Time Machine/Time Capsule. I'm not sure, but my guess is that Time Machine doesn't work the same as simply copying your data once onto an external hard drive. I believe that every time Time Machine updates itself (probably daily or every time you change a folder), then it probably creates a new location for the last folder that your iTunes was linked to. I could be way off or have misread your problem, but you might want to consider trying to use time machine for your backups, but partition a second part of the hard drive (or the connected WD passport) and make that an unchanging folder of your music, then link iTunes to that unchanging folder. See if that works as a solution. Again, just a guess.

 

[teek]

Nice post

Goodie, I´ll be getting mine soon. As for the problem with the disk not showing up and so on I suppose it´s just a software bug.. If it´s a general bug in 10.5.2 then I guess  will provide a fix pretty soon.

 

[teerexx52]

Thank you for this!!!! I had been mulling over whether or not to get a Time Capsule and whether or not it would be feasible to do something like this....I've got several Macs on the network and now I've got my sweet little SSD MacBook Air with its limited HD space. This will be a perfect solution for me so that when I'm using the Air I can still enjoy iTunes or review some of my digital images. Thanks!!!

You are very welcome

3 things :
1. Nice review and also it touches on some things I was curious about
2. Do you use Time Capsule for backingup (via Time Machine) and as a server for your itunes and iphoto libraries at the same time? Does it need to be partitioned to do this?
3. I understand that you "solved" the problem by needing to "connect to servers" or "show servers on desktop" or whatever - every morning... this does not seem like a reasonable "solution" to me. The whole point is to have all this working in the background as you do your routine business (I am sure you feel the same way) - could some sort of script solve this problem and be run on login?

-alf

I do use time capsule for my backups to 3 machines and I am using it for itunes and iphoto libraries at the same time.

Not sure about a script to solve the problem. Not something I'm familiar with but it would be interesting to know

I think you said your problem was that your iTunes would forget which folder you put your music in via Time Machine/Time Capsule. I'm not sure, but my guess is that Time Machine doesn't work the same as simply copying your data once onto an external hard drive. I believe that every time Time Machine updates itself (probably daily or every time you change a folder), then it probably creates a new location for the last folder that your iTunes was linked to. I could be way off or have misread your problem, but you might want to consider trying to use time machine for your backups, but partition a second part of the hard drive (or the connected WD passport) and make that an unchanging folder of your music, then link iTunes to that unchanging folder. See if that works as a solution. Again, just a guess.

The itunes library is in a folder on time capsule called "data". Apparently time capsule created this folder. My Time machine backups ate in the same folder but they are separate. Each machine having its own Time Machine backup. My Macbook Air is called MacBook Air_001ec2b60f82.sparasebundle

That doesn't seem to change on update. Also, my itunes library location seems to stay the same. At least it is when it comes up in itunes preferences. That folder was created by me on TC and I can drag and drop files or anything to it.

I never had this problem when I used my portable HD but it always appeared on my desktop where as the "data" folder of time capsule does not until I do as I explained in my earlier post.

I would appreciate anyone's further input if they have any suggestions or anything they'd like me to try.

Honestly this works for me and I'm over all pleased with it

I hope I am clarifying some what here? I hope?

Anyways feel free to post on the site where I originally posted as well.

 

[Cybergypsy]

Nice write up.......

 

[ks-man]

Thanks for the write up as I was also wondering about how Time Capsule would work for Itunes and Iphoto.

I agree that the workaround isn't terrible but I'm guessing that it isn't intended that the user would have to do this. Probably we will find that it is either a bug with Time Capsule and hopefully will be fixed through a firmware upgrade, or else that creating a second partition separate from Time Machine will solve the problem.

Has anybody had success yet with doing either 2 or 3 partitions on Time Capsule? Are there instructions anywhere for doing this?

 

[teerexx52]

Thanks for the write up as I was also wondering about how Time Capsule would work for Itunes and Iphoto.

I agree that the workaround isn't terrible but I'm guessing that it isn't intended that the user would have to do this. Probably we will find that it is either a bug with Time Capsule and hopefully will be fixed through a firmware upgrade, or else that creating a second partition separate from Time Machine will solve the problem.

Has anybody had success yet with doing either 2 or 3 partitions on Time Capsule? Are there instructions anywhere for doing this?

The TC disk does not appear in Disk Utility so I'm not sure how to partition it if I wanted to. Any ideas?

 

[ks-man]

The TC disk does not appear in Disk Utility so I'm not sure how to partition it if I wanted to. Any ideas?

According to the discussions going on at Apple Support's site it seems that Time Capsule can't be partitioned which really stinks.

I'd consider the Airport Extreme + WD Passport External drive, but supposedly you can't use an external + Extreme to do Time Machine (though someone said that you can use Time Capsule + external and do Time Machine on the external which makes no sense at all).

 

[Mactagonist]

According to the discussions going on at Apple Support's site it seems that Time Capsule can't be partitioned which really stinks.

I'd consider the Airport Extreme + WD Passport External drive, but supposedly you can't use an external + Extreme to do Time Machine (though someone said that you can use Time Capsule + external and do Time Machine on the external which makes no sense at all).

It makes 'encorage people to buy Time Capsule' sense though!

 

[sidharth80]

Folks..
Can anyone tell me if i can access my time capsule setup at my home through internet.. say from my office or some where else

 

[Pine-Tree]

Folks..
Can anyone tell me if i can access my time capsule setup at my home through internet.. say from my office or some where else

As someone who's interested in buying an MBA and Time Capsule soon, I'd like to know this as well.

 

[applestew]

Wait!

I know only Time Capsule can, at this point in time, do Time Machine backups.

But if you are just going to locate your itunes and iphoto librarys on a network drive. You can pretty much do with most network drives?

I have a DLink DNS-323, running 2 x 500GB SATA drives within. My MBA always connects to it on startup and I just run my itunes and iphoto library off it without a hitch? Am I missing something in the article?

So does this mean that if u use time capsule for such a purpose of locating ur data libraries, you need to do SOMETHING everytime you boot up ur MBA for the libraries to connect?

 

[Jayrod]

Have you played with Automator at all to see you can create a workflow to open your data folder, and then just have that workflow run at startup?

 

[teerexx52]

Have you played with Automator at all to see you can create a workflow to open your data folder, and then just have that workflow run at startup?

I haven't done that but I'm not familiar with the automator.

 

[Terwal]

As someone who's interested in buying an MBA and Time Capsule soon, I'd like to know this as well.

Would love to know that as well... Be able to access my TC from the road using my MBA... (better than iDisk, since has more capacity)... ?

Thanks...

 

[teerexx52]

Would love to know that as well... Be able to access my TC from the road using my MBA... (better than iDisk, since has more capacity)... ?

Thanks...

As of right now I don't see any way to do this. I've read the manual that comes with it and it mentions nothing about that. I'll keep playing with it and see what I can find out.

 

[Mactagonist]

As of right now I don't see any way to do this. I've read the manual that comes with it and it mentions nothing about that. I'll keep playing with it and see what I can find out.

If you have a local mac running I dont see why you couldnt use back to my mac or a similar program to remotely connect your air to the local mac and view your files on the TC that way.

Without a local mac running, no you will not be able to access TC.

 

[teerexx52]

Folks..
Can anyone tell me if i can access my time capsule setup at my home through internet.. say from my office or some where else

Ok. My answer would be no you can't. I did a test with my MacBook Air and My MacBook Pro. I got onto the internet using my Verizon USB720 modem with my MacBook Air. I was on my home network with my MacBook Pro. I used Back to My Mac to see if I could access my MacBook Pro from my MacBook Air over the internet. Yes, I could do that but could not access the Time Capsule. It did not show up under that arrangement. Hope this helps

Goodie, I´ll be getting mine soon. As for the problem with the disk not showing up and so on I suppose it´s just a software bug.. If it´s a general bug in 10.5.2 then I guess  will provide a fix pretty soon.

I called Apple and spoke to them about the fact that the Time Capsule Disk did not mount when my computer booted. I also found out that my first scheduled back up did not take place at the designated time when the TC was not mounted. I brought that up to them and they were quite surprised. So, they kicked it upstairs to another tech and eventually got back to me saying that " Time Capsule is working normally" Hmmmmmmmm????????

Going to play with this more today and see if any scheduled backups work without the disk mounted. If they did not what would be the point of the TC???

 

[Chad H]

Thank-you for this post! I was wondering how it would work since I am getting mine today. Let me know if you fix this mounting problem.

 

[teerexx52]

Thank-you for this post! I was wondering how it would work since I am getting mine today. Let me know if you fix this mounting problem.

Your welcome. If they could get this worked out it would be perfect for what i want it for using it with my MacBook Air. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[aristobrat]

Ok. My answer would be no you can't. I did a test with my MacBook Air and My MacBook Pro. I got onto the internet using my Verizon USB720 modem with my MacBook Air. I was on my home network with my MacBook Pro. I used Back to My Mac to see if I could access my MacBook Pro from my MacBook Air over the internet. Yes, I could do that but could not access the Time Capsule. It did not show up under that arrangement. Hope this helps

The way it worked with the AEBS, you'd remotely access a shared USB drive by going to Finder > Go > Connect to Server, and using afp://yourExternalIpAddress/NameOfYourDrive

I called Apple and spoke to them about the fact that the Time Capsule Disk did not mount when my computer booted. I also found out that my first scheduled back up did not take place at the designated time when the TC was not mounted.

Same results here using an AEBS. It came with a tool called AirPort Disk Utility that would automatically connect your Mac to a drive shared by an AEBS, but it stopped working when I upgraded to Leopard. I had hoped that TC would ship with a newer version of this.

 

[Terwal]

The way it worked with the AEBS, you'd remotely access a shared USB drive by going to Finder > Go > Connect to Server, and using afp://yourExternalIpAddress/NameOfYourDrive

QUOTE]

A couple of clarifications for the newbie I am (sorry if some of them really simple):

1. how do you get your external IP address ?

2. what is AEBS (told you, some realy simple !) ?

Thanks...