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I am trying to format an external drive for backup that will be connected via USB and I don't know how can I do that, I have tried APFS, exFAT, HFS+, MAC journaled, can anyone help, please? Thank you.
The USB port on the Time Capsule is failing. If it is simply a matter of the Time Capsule power supply heading downhill, try using a powered USB hub with the external......even if the external drive has its own power supply.
If still no luck, not much else to try.
I am not a hundred percent sure but it was possible to erase it too.
Not possible.
In the example below, you can see that I have a Time Capsule with an internal drive that has been renamed "Backups". There is another 1 TB USB drive named 1 TB Drive connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule.
When the Time Capsule drive is selected, note that both Erase and Archive appear as options for the Time Capsule's internal drive.
If I select the external USB drive.......see example below.......note that neither Erase or Archive is available. If you want to erase the external drive, you have to connect it directly to your Mac for that operation.
The USB port on the Time Capsule is failing. If it is simply a matter of the Time Capsule power supply heading downhill, try using a powered USB hub with the external......even if the external drive has its own power supply.
If still no luck, not much else to try.
I am not a hundred percent sure but it was possible to erase it too.
Not possible.
In the example below, you can see that I have a Time Capsule with an internal drive that has been renamed "Backups". There is another 1 TB USB drive named 1 TB Drive connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule.
When the Time Capsule drive is selected, note that both Erase and Archive appear as options for the Time Capsule's internal drive.
If I select the external USB drive.......see example below.......note that neither Erase or Archive is available. If you want to erase the external drive, you have to connect it directly to your Mac for that operation.
An A1254 version of the Time Capsule is at least 13+ years old and likely older. Frankly, it is nothing short of a miracle that this device is still operating. A USB drive connected to the Time Capsule is going to place even more stress on the power supply assuming that it can supply enough power for the USB drive, which would be an open question.
The correct format for a drive connected to the USB port on a Time Capsule is Mac OS Extended (Journaled), which is also known as HFS+.
If you are sure that your USB hard drive has been formatted this way, and you cannot "see" the drive when you open AirPort Utility and check the Disks tab, the Time Capsule likely cannot supply enough power for the drive, or the USB port on the Time Capsule may have failed.
Please be aware that Time Machine backups to a USB drive connected to the A1254 Time Capsule are not officially supported by Apple, so even if the Time Capsule recognizes the drive and can supply the power that the drive needs, Time Machine is likely not going to work in this type of setup, if this might be how you were planning to use the USB drive.
I have had an external drive of 1T connected to the Time Capsule and it worked then something happened and I thought that doing a fresh format will be helpful. But this time I can't figure out how to format the drive. When it's APSF, the time capsule is able to see the drive but it is not possible to use it such as erase it or archive data.
I can't figure out how to format the drive.
Sorry, we are confused. In your last post, you said that........ "I have tried APFS, exFAT, HFS+, MAC journaled....." You could not have already tried these different formats if you did not know how to format the external drive, correct?
Can you please provide some step by step details on how you formatted the drive in Mac OS Extended (Journaled)? This is the correct format to use with the Time Capsule if you are trying to back up to the external drive using Time Machine or store other files on the external drive.
If you connect the external drive directly to a USB port on your Mac......as a quick test......the drive icon should appear on the Mac's desktop.
Right-Click on the external drive
Select Get Info
Another window will appear with information about the drive
What is the listing under Format?
If you connect the drive to the USB port on the Time Capsule, does the external drive appear when you open AirPort Utility and click on the Disks tab? When you do this, you should see the Time Capsule drive........named "Data", unless you have changed the name of the drive.......and the name of the external drive if it has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
What I meant by - "I can't figure out how to format the drive." - is that I have tried all formats and still it's not working therefore I do not know what format can be used therefore I don't know how to format the drive so it would work.
I have used disk utility in macOS and used all available formats except MS-DOS and APFS (encrypted).
S you say that it should be Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and Scheme GUID or Apple Partition Map?
I tried now Mac OS Extended (Journaled) on GUID and Apple Partition Map and Time Capsule started to blink with orange saying that the disk needs to be repaired.
Only when it is formatted with APSF, there is no orange light and it appears in the Airport utility but it cannot be erased or used.
My external drive is 2TB which I suppose might be the problem?
You won't be able to use the APFS format if you connect the external drive to the Time Capsule.
You should be able to use APFS if you have a newer Mac and you connect the drive directly to the Mac.
If the external drive is connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule........AirPort Utility cannot be used to Erase or Format the external drive. The external can only be erased or formatted if you connect it directly to your Mac and use Disk Utility for the operation.
The external should be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID Partitoning. That is what Apple recommends and what I have used for years on an external drive that is still connected to a Time Capsule at this time.
The question now is why Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID Partitioning is not working?
The previous format was possible to use for the archive. I am not a hundred percent sure but it was possible to erase it too.
I suspect that the USB port on the old Time Capsule is having problems.
If you can connect the external drive as a test to a USB port on your Mac and you are able to copy a few sample files to the drive, then you know that the external is working. So, it is the Time Capsule that is having problems.
I am amazed that an A1254 Time Capsule will even power up at all. It should have failed years ago, so you have had unbelievably good luck with the product. If you have any data on the internal Time Capsule drive that you cannot afford to lose, I would recommend that you copy the data over to another hard drive as soon as possible.
That's unexpected, previously it worked and since I decided to format drive once again, it is not working, even when I tried two different external drives. USB socket is not the one that tends to stop working and I can't confirm whether Time Capsule has some problem.
One more question, is PPPoE working with vDSL 2?
Ok - Thank you.
If you decide to try a powered USB hub, let us know if that helps. Good luck!
But seriously, the Time Capsule is way past its time. It won't go much longer.
Format of external drive for Time Capsule A1254 500GB
