How To Add An External Hard Drive To Time Capsule

Written by: Nicholas • Edited by: Rebecca Scudder
Published Sep 11, 2009 • Related Guides: File Sharing | External Hard Drives | Apple

Apple Time Capsule is much more than just a backup device. You can also connect a printer as well as an external hard drive to Time Capsule to make it the ultimate all-in-one device. Many Time Capsule users have a hard time getting everything working with Time Capsule. Here is a definitive method.

Time Capsule Capabilities

Apple has built some extra capabilities into Time Capsule. The two most useful being external hard drive compatibility and printer capability.

Why would you want to connect an external hard drive to Time Capsule? By connecting an external hard drive to Time Capsule you are creating a networked shared drive. Time Capsule is good for backing up data, but not designed to be an external hard drive for storing data. However, by adding an external hard drive, Time Capsule becomes not only a backup server, but also a wireless external hard drive as well.

Why would you want to connect a printer to Time Capsule? By connecting a printer to Time Capsule, you gain the ability to print wirelessly. Also, you can share the printer on your wireless network, allowing multiple computers to use the printer.

Note that the following hard drive and printer tutorial is designed for people that already have their Time Capsule setup and running on their network. If you need to setup your Apple Time Capsule, please refer to this page.

Connecting An External Hard Drive To Time Capsule

click to enlarge

Connecting and using an external hard drive with Time Capsule is a very simple process, and only takes a couple of minutes to complete. To start, connect your external hard drive to the back of Time Capsule via the USB port. If your external hard drive requires power other then USB, be sure that it is connected and the device is powered on.

Next, you need to open up the Apple Airport Utility. To do this, navigate Finder - Applications - Utilities - Airport Utility. After Airport Utility is opened, it will automatically find and recognize your Time Capsule. Select your Time Capsule along the lefthand side and click manual setup. You should now see five icons located toward the top of the window: Airport, Internet, Printers, Disks, and Advanced. Select the tab labeled Disks. Now, you should see a pane that shows your Time Capsule disk as well as your external hard drive. Next, click the File Sharing option located right above the Airport Disks pane. Be sure that Enable File Sharing has a checkmark next to it. Also, make sure that the option for Secure Shared Disks is set to With Time Capsule password.

Now, you will need to restart your Time Capsule. To do this, left click on the big picture of your Time Capsule located along the left hand side, then click restart. Your Time Capsule will restart and your external hard drive will be completely synced. You can now close out of the Airport Utility.

You now need to learn how to add and delete files off of your newly added external hard drive. Click the Finder icon to open the Finder. Along the left hand side, you will see the heading "Shared". You should see your Time Capsule under it. Click once on your Time Capsule to connect to it. It may ask you to enter the password for your Time Capsule. If so, enter it. After this window has opened, you will see one folder with the label Data. This is your Time Capsule backups folder. Do not mess with it or attempt to modify it. You should also see a folder with the name of your external hard drive. Double click on it to open it up. You have now successfully accessed your external hard drive. All you have to do in order to store files on it is drag an item into this window. The same goes for deleting a file off of your external hard drive. If you want to remove a file, simply drag it out of this window, into the trash.

Adding A Printer

Be sure to read part 2 of the series to find out more about your Apple Time Capsule's capabilities as well as view a tutorial on printer setup.

Anon Feb 3, 2012 1:57 AM

RE: How To Add An External Hard Drive To Time Capsule

While functional, this process is tedious, time consuming and completely redundant in the context of connecting a hard drive to a computer.<br>It's absurd that it takes less than 5 seconds for me to interface with the external drive when mounted to the computer directly, and upwards of 5 minutes when mounted via the timecapsule.<br>The ONLY thing that keeps me using the TC is that it's 2Tb, and cost my company a pretty penny - otherwise it would have been trashcanned, after the first day of horrified revelation.<br>

Rayneman Aug 4, 2011 3:58 PM

You may have to format your external HD first

It didn't work for me at first so I did the following and I saw my external HD:

Attached the hard disk directly to your Mac. Then:

Procedure
Launch Disk Utility.
It will appear twice in the pane on the left. (Make sure you recognize that it is different from the 2 icons that represent your Macs' internal drive.) The upper entry represent the device as a whole, including the controller inside. The lower entry represents the hard disk contained within the device.
Click on the upper icon of the external hard disk.
Select the "Partition" tab.
For "Volume Scheme" choose "1 partition".
Name the disk.
Format should be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)".
Click "Options".
Select either GUID or Apple Partition Map.
Click "OK".
Click "Apply".
Now chose the level of secure erase you desire. (More passes means more time)

I"m assuming you won't be using this external disk for Time Machine backups as you already have a Time Capsule.

Marcus Croskell Apr 30, 2011 2:20 PM

Set-up through an external router to TC to HD

I have recently obtained a new router and my TC works well off it via the ethernet cable. However, I also previously had an external HD off the TC when it was my sole router. The directions above worked when it was just the TC, but no longer can see or access the HD. Any help?

trego Mar 16, 2011 9:08 PM

adding printer easy peasy

thanks worked first time - very happy

Bill Jan 12, 2011 6:02 AM

Does anyone know if I have to eject the usb drive from time capsule if I want to remove it?

Richard Jan 6, 2011 11:30 PM

Adding external HD to Time Capsule

I followed the instructions and it didn't work. The HD does not show up. Any further suggestions?

Cory Friedman Jan 3, 2011 3:14 PM

Still Not Working

I have done everything listed above but when I log on to my Time Capsule there is no disc to drag files into. My new hard drive (free agent goflex 2 TB) shows up in the setup and sharing tabs but won't show up when I log on to my TC

Mannan Jehma Jan 1, 2011 2:01 AM

USB HDD

I done all Time capsule setup. I did everything that I have to do. But my USB HDD didnt work. When I attach to my Macbook it work just fine. I already got some files in there. Please someone help me.

chris Nov 25, 2010 6:47 AM

TC+EHD

doesn'twork with NTFS...

Guillaume Aug 18, 2010 6:33 AM

back up hard drive files

Great! But will the files on the hard drive be backed up with TimeMachine on my Time capsule folder "data"?

David Aug 11, 2010 10:48 AM

Adding extra HD with firewire?

Can I add the printer with USB port and a external WD harddisk (PassBook) via firewire?

Four3 Jul 27, 2010 8:23 PM

problem with external showing up

Hi there,

I followed the instructions at the top of this thread and can't seem to get my USB OWC harddrive to work with Time Capsule. It doesn't show up. I didn't use the set up assistant but got it up using the Airport Utility. Does that make a difference.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Mike Jun 14, 2010 4:23 PM

HD and Printer

Gustavo, I have a USB hub connected to my time capsule's USB port with a printed and external hard drive connected to the hub. All works just fine.

Gustavo Castillo Jun 1, 2010 11:58 PM

can you use both an extar hard drive and a printer on the same time capsule at the same time?

Hajab Matra Feb 28, 2010 6:14 PM

Formatting

No, I have a HD formatted with 2 partitions- NTFS and FAT they work fine...

Nicholas Feb 20, 2010 1:56 PM

@Brandon

Yep. I believe that you can encrypt it (password protect it)... From there, only accounts that know the password could access the external hard drive. But all users could back up to Time Capsule.

Brandon Feb 19, 2010 11:54 PM

Accounts on External Drive

Is there any way to restrict access to an external hard-drive using accounts through Time Capsule?

Nicholas Dec 26, 2009 12:43 AM

@Neil

thanks. good point,.. it should be formatted as mac os x extended journaled.

Neil Borg Dec 26, 2009 12:24 AM

Connecting an EHD to TC

This was helpful but the drive also needs to be formattted to Mac OSX Extended (Journaled) or HSF so that it is detectable.

Nicholas Nov 21, 2009 4:09 PM

@ Matt

nope you just need to make sure that the hard drive connects via USB cable as Time Capsule uses USB to read external hard drives and printers. The size of the hard drive just depends on how much space you need for external storage. 500GB would give you 500GB of extra storage other than the time capsule for backups and your computers hard drive.

Matt Nov 20, 2009 10:54 PM

any particular type of HD needed?

Hi, do I need to buy any particular size or type of HD? I see some advertised as Windows and some MAC specific? thanks

Matt Nov 20, 2009 10:45 PM

Any particular external hard drive required?

Hi, Do I need to have the same size or bigger ext. HD as the Time Capsule (ie. will a 500GB ext HD be OK with a 500GB TC)? Also, do I need any particular type of ext. HD or will anything do? Thanks

Nicholas Oct 1, 2009 10:23 AM

@Scott - I don't think that Time Capsule is capable of backing up an external hard drive that is connected directly to it. There might be a way to do it by partitioning the Time Capsule disk and using another automated backup program?? But, I think for Time Capsule to work best, the hard drive has to be connected to a computer that is running time machine software.

Scott Sep 29, 2009 10:01 AM

Backup the External Drive

Are there any automated solutions to backing up the hard drive connected to the Time Capsule?

How To Add An External Hard Drive To Time Capsule

Time Capsule Capabilities

Connecting An External Hard Drive To Time Capsule

Adding A Printer

Comments