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I have a 3TB Time Capsule that I have pulled out of service and replaced with a Synology NAS.
The drive is still spinning and I have another application to use it as NAS via the Ethernet connection and leaving the wi-fi disabled. I've already wiped the drive twice to get rid of all my data.
-- Is it possible to reformat it to FAT32 so that Windows machines can access it?
-- Can I do this with AirPort Utility or should I use Disk Utility?
Thx in advance.
One thing to keep in mind is that if your goal is to use your repurposed Time Capsule (TC) as a NAS, especially for Windows devices, is that it only support SMB v1.0 for file sharing. Windows 10 disables v1.0 by default for security reasons and you would have to re-enable it to work successfully.
Since the TC's internal drive can be shared out with SMB, it doesn't matter if it is formatted as FAT32 and it was designed to work best formatted in HFS+.
The other thing to keep in mind is that the TC was not designed to be anything other than a destination for Time Machine backups. Its limited CPU makes for a poor file server, let alone a full-featured NAS ... which it can never be.
If you still want to repurpose your TC, you really don't need to do any reformatting of the internal drive; other than fully erasing it, you should be good to go.
FWIW, I use my last TC as a simple file server pretty much since I got my Synology NAS about three years ago. When the TC finally reaches EOL, I have a Raspberry Pi w/attached USB drive to replace it.
One thing to keep in mind is that if your goal is to use your repurposed Time Capsule (TC) as a NAS, especially for Windows devices, is that it only support SMB v1.0 for file sharing. Windows 10 disables v1.0 by default for security reasons and you would have to re-enable it to work successfully.
Since the TC's internal drive can be shared out with SMB, it doesn't matter if it is formatted as FAT32 and it was designed to work best formatted in HFS+.
The other thing to keep in mind is that the TC was not designed to be anything other than a destination for Time Machine backups. Its limited CPU makes for a poor file server, let alone a full-featured NAS ... which it can never be.
If you still want to repurpose your TC, you really don't need to do any reformatting of the internal drive; other than fully erasing it, you should be good to go.
FWIW, I use my last TC as a simple file server pretty much since I got my Synology NAS about three years ago. When the TC finally reaches EOL, I have a Raspberry Pi w/attached USB drive to replace it.
- Is it possible to reformat it to FAT32 so that Windows machines can access it?
Not possible to format the Time Capsule in anything other than Mac OS Extended (Journaled) aka HFS+. But......a PC will see the HFS+ format on the Time Capsule as a FAT 32 volume.
Now, if you pull the drive out of the Time Capsule and install it in a caddy or enclosure, you might be able to reformat it that way.
Windows 10.....if that is what you are using......will have problems seeing the drive though, since Apple uses older SMB1 communication protocols and Microsoft disabled SMB1 in Windows 10 for security reasons. I'm not sure if Microsoft will still allow users to temporarily enable SMB1 in Windows 10.
Can I do this with AirPort Utility or should I use Disk Utility?
Disk Utility cannot be used to format the "Data" Time Capsule hard drive unless you pull the drive out and try things that way. No guarantees that this will work.
Time Capsule disk reformatting
