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Access "Data" on old Time Capsule

Haven't been able to find an answer to this. Still using my old Apple (tall) time capsule as a redundant time machine for my multi-computer mac home network. I can find the TC on finder w/o problem, click on it and see "Data," but when I click on "Data" I get an endless "loading" and after a minute or 5 "force quit" says "finder not responding" (and I have to relaunch finder). I have 2 sparsebundles from 2 machines that still backup to this TC just fine, and I know that there is an ancient backup from another machine that I was hoping to delete to clear space (this problem started after I deleted a different 3-year old back up from another computer). Of course, have already tried sequentially turning off and on my TC and the computer. MacOS 13.6.6 (and have tried unsuccessfully to access the data from other computers on the network as well). The TC is connected by ethernet, connects using DHCP, Config IPv6=link-local only, wireless=off, network router in bridge mode.


Thanks all!

Posted on Apr 29, 2024 9:57 AM

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13 replies

Apr 30, 2024 8:14 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for your reply, but I don't think that it is helpful.

Until fairly recently, I could click on the icon for my TC from Finder's side bar, and then "data" would appear in Finder (see attached), however, I could then click on "data" and after a short period of time the contents of "data" would also appear in my finder window (i.e., the various sparsebundles for each computer being backed up) and I could view the contents or delete. Now when I click on data I either get the spinning pinwheel or "loading" endlessly, and eventually the error on "force close" that finder has stopped responding, and I need to relaunch. Using the Airport Utility allows me to see the existence of "data," and I could erase or archive the ENTIRE disk, but not an individual (and in this case obsolete and ancient) sparsebundle, nor will it allow me to see the contents of "data".



Apr 30, 2024 11:58 AM in response to BDAqua

A little < than 1/2 of the HD available, >200 GB free.


Safe Boot had no effect (see below)


And with a new, admin acc't, it tried loading for perhaps a longer period of time, but ultimately same, unsuccessful time-out.


Like I said earlier, 1) 2 of my computers can still back up to this TC w/o difficulty (but I can't access the contents of "data" on the TC even from those machines w/o the same time-out, and 2) I was able to do so until recently, after deleting one of the old (2021) sparsebundles that was no longer in use (and even then, it was starting to take longer to access "data," with a few unsuccessful/time-out attempts before it would finally mount).


Thanks for your ideas.


Apr 30, 2024 8:56 AM in response to Frank Friedman

OK, how much Free space on your Hard Drive?


Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes or more.


Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.


To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...


Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.


Does it work in the new account?

Access "Data" on old Time Capsule

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