9to5Mac is reporting that many AirPort Time Capsules are beginning to experience hard drive failures.
This might push me to finally replace my AirPort Extreme and buy an Eero router like everybody on Mac Power Users has been suggesting. Those old hard drives were bound to start failing anyway!
Nice article, and thanks for sharing.
Though this should not be news seeing that they are already EoL and have been for some time?
If I had one that I bought in 2018, I wouldn’t expect the drive to fail for another couple of years. About 5 years from purchase. Ifixit has a HD replacement guide, and the connectors sound super annoying to work with.
Actually getting the bottom off the damn thing is the hardest part but yes the wiring is short and the connectors are PITA.
I did this last year: https://youtu.be/yUKBhE82BTM
Be careful with the wires and connectors!
Took the Seagate out and replaced it with a WD 10TB drive. Wire connected to my router and switched WiFi off. Now used for time machine for 3 Macs and works rock solid. Think it will have a few more years life in it.
@simonsmark, did you have to alter any of the mounting brackets or isolators to fit the bigger drive?
I would like to ask a probably-stupid question: I know the Time Capsule is not a always-on appliance. The only viable replacement I have seen mentioned is a Synology NAS - are they always-on?
It’s a good question. It’s up to you whether to leave a NAS always on. I’d say most people do and it’s common for them to last for years running like that. But they (Synology, anyway) do have power buttons.
I’ve run mine almost 24/7 for nine years now (DS412+). Apart from drives failing naturally throughout the years (the only time when I powered down the unit until I got the replacement), it’s always been working perfectly fine. I just set a reboot routine once or twice per week years ago (can’t even remember) to keep things fresh. These things are rock solid.
My question wasn’t clear enough. I wouldn’t go to the trouble of turning a NAS off and on manually.
The Time Capsule is, of course, always on, but the disc only spins up when it’s time to start a backup. Does a Synology work that way?
Ah, you can configure disks to sleep after a period of inactivity. It’s not the default, though, or at least wasn’t.
There are all kinds of hard disk hiberation cofiguration features in Synology; and, as it has much more capability than a Time Capsule, odds are the disks will have to work longer hours. See https://global.download.synology.com/download/Document/Software/UserGuide/Firmware/DSM/6.2/enu/Syno_UsersGuide_NAServer_enu.pdf
I did indeed. I had to cut the 2 top rubber brackets to fit the new drive. A bit of 3d thinking was needed, but all worked well in the end