Time Capsule issues

I have a Time Capsule (model A1409 - 2TB) that is just old enough to be outside of Apple Care. It suffered from a power outage and I no longer seem to be able to talk to it. It was attached to a surge protector so I have no reason to believe that it is actually "fried" and, fortunately, I have the data backed up, so this is more of an "I don't want to have to buy another network drive" problem rather than one of those "Oh my gosh, what am I going to do" problems. Still, I would like to be able to use it and save the $150 or so for a new NAS (or more for a new TC). I use it as a network drive, but not for Time Machine.

My home network was set up with the main router being an Airport Extreme and the TC just serving as a network drive (the AE is capable of ac while the TC is not).

I have tried a soft reset, a hard reset and a factory reset on the TC but I never get the flashing light that the instructions say I should get if the reset has actually reset the device. The led light on the front is yellow and I have no idea what that means so I thought I would post a couple of questions here. First, is there any thing I can do to try to get the TC to work properly again? Second, what does the yellow light mean? Third, I have hooked up the ethernet connections on the TC (both the input and output) to my MBP but don't see the device. Does that mean anything? Or are those connectors not for hooking up to a Mac computer. I have also tried the usb connector (without success) but I assume that is only for chaining TCs for more storage.

Thanks. If I can not get this thing to work my backup plan is to buy a NAS enclosure, open the TC and try to use the disc as one of the drives. Is there any reason that would not work (assuming of course that the disc is not actually bad)?

Final answer

Just to put this to rest - I took the TC to the Apple Store and asked the folks at the Genius Bar to test it. Result is that it is dead as a door nail, although I think the drive inside is probably OKd and it is only the electronics that make up the interface that died.

I hope the folks at the Apple Store informed you that Apple has discontinued its line of Time Capsules and routers. (Just in case you're in the market for a new one.)

Ha! No they did not.

Not only did they not inform me of that, they tried to sell me what I assume was a rebuilt Time Capsule since it was the same version as the one I had (A1409, 2TB). They did offer me a "special price" but I had already decided to remove the disk from this dead TC and see if it is still working (and it is). I bought a network enclosure and have mounted the disk in it.

The NAS enclosure I bought only handles exFAT disks, but that is OK since I want to share it between both Macs and Windows but it did cause me some trouble since I had to copy all of the data from the disk to a backup, format the disk again and then copy it all back. Still, it is all done now and up and working.

Thanks for telling me about Apple and the TCs as I did not know.

Apple are going out of Time Capules and Airport Base Station and Extreme cards. Just too much opposition I guess at a much cheaper price.

For what it is worth Mike, if you are in an area where there is unreliable 'brown' power or high thunderstorm activity, the best protection is an uninterrupted power supply. I use an Eaton 3S 700V UPS and run computer, modem, TC, printer and phone through that. They come with six AC ports.

harryb2448 said:

For what it is worth Mike, if you are in an area where there is unreliable 'brown' power or high thunderstorm activity, the best protection is an uninterrupted power supply. I use an Eaton 3S 700V UPS and run computer, modem, TC, printer and phone through that. They come with six AC ports.

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Generally there are no power problems here. In the last year we have had, perhaps. 2 power interruptions and in the previous 2 years we had, again perhaps, 1. Our internet is usually rock solid and even the power interruptions, when they occur, generally only require at most a restart of the equipment. The loss of the TC surprised me but it was 3 1/2 years old and it seems it was the electronics rather than the disk itself that failed. The 2TB drive is humming along happily enough for now although I have been thinking about buying another one since this one is no longer new and there are some really good buys on 2TB drives. $65 seems pretty cheap for a WD 3.5 inch 2 TB drive.

A UPS is always a good idea but all of my stuff is backed up onto usb drives and none of it is business related. However I have gotten in the habit of disconnecting our TVs and computers when we will be out of the house for more than a day or two. The power is reliable, but still ...