WD Book can not be read when connected to Apple Time Capsule

PJHD8 · October 15, 2015, 1:29am

Dear all,

I use an Apple Time Capsule 1st generation (router and backup system). I have attached a WD Book external drive to the TC which works as a separate “server” for the family documents and photo’s. This set-up worked perfectly until I this week formatted the WD and re-installed it. Now the files on the WD are not available through the TC.

Done:

I have connected the WD Book directly to my Windows 7 machine: WD Book visible including a station ID (:E) and name. Files all available. Check.

I have connected the WD Book directly to my MacBook: WD Book visible including a station ID (:E) and name. Files all available. Check.

In the Airport configuration program to configure the TC, the WD Book is visible as an external disk, but there appears no name or station ID (:E). Instead it shows the specs of the WD Book. (298 GB WD 3200 JB external…). No access to folders. This is the main problem in my opinion? Something goes wrong when connected to the TC.

In the Airport configuration program I furthermore have clicked the box for file sharing, with password, plus sharing via WAN. So theoretically this is set up as it should be.

I hope someone can help me.

Thanks,

Paul

HDKnows · October 15, 2015, 2:57am

Hello,

Please try formatting the drive again on you Mac computer.

See if this link will help.

How to partition and format a WD drive on Windows (8, 7, Vista, XP) and Mac OSX

PJHD8 · October 15, 2015, 2:57am

Hi HDKnows,

Thank you for the advice. I re-formatted the drive to HFS+ from my Mac. Now indeed the documents on the disk, when attached to my Time Capsule, can be seen and accessed. Disadvantage now is that when I connect the external drive to my PC it is not recognized anymore.

So, some good news and some bad news.

Before this whole problem occurred I was always able to see all documents when the drive was connected to the TC plus I could connect the drive directly to Macbook or PC and all files would be available. Now, I can only see them when connected to Macbook or TC.

Any suggestions left?

Thanks again,

Paul

JStaff · October 15, 2015, 2:57am

PJHD8,

If the unit was working before on both Windows and Mac OS, then perhaps the unit was previously using a file system with uniserval properties such as FAT32, however, such a file system is quite limited for automatic backups.