macOS 27 Golden Gate ends Time Capsule backups as AFP/SMB1 support is dropped

This GitHub project saves your AirPort Time Capsule from the grave

Macworld I have an old AirPort Time Capsule, and while its usefulness as a Wi-Fi hotspot is outdated, it still works perfectly well for Time Machine backups on my secondary Mac at home. But then Apple announced that macOS 27 Golden Gate won’t include support for AirPort Disk or other Time Capsule disks, and suddenly the AirPort’s usefulness will soon expire, even though it continues to work without a hitch. But James Chang has come to the rescue with a project that gives “all Time Capsules” new life. His TimeCapsuleSMB project is a “modern Samba setup” for the AirPort Time Capsule that essentially lets the device run as a Samba 4.24.3 server. This allows for Time Capsule to be seen by macOS 27 on networks via Bonjour. You can then use the Time Capsule on the network for Time Machine backups. TimeCapsuleSMB is free and offers in-depth documentation on how to install it and troubleshooting on its GitHub repository. It does have some quirks. For example, if you have a 4th-generation AirPort or older, you must manually activate the Samba installation any time the device reboots. On 5th-generation and later devices, Samba restarts automatically. But for the most part, it should do the trick if you’ve been fretting about needing a new backup drive this fall. Apple discontinued the AirPort in 2018, 10 years after it introduced the first Time Capsule and 20 years after the very first AirPort Base Station, which arrived in 1999. The devices use Apple Filing Protocol (AFP), a network file-sharing protocol that Apple stopped supporting in macOS 15.5, and Server Message Block (SMB) version 1. TimeCapsuleSMB uses a fork of Samba 4 that is modified to work with Time Capsules.

13 hours ago

macOS 27 Golden Gate Kills Time Capsule Support

macOS 27 Golden Gate removes AFP support, ending Time Machine compatibility with Time Capsule after nearly two decades, but a community project from a Microsoft engineer offers a potential workaround for owners not yet ready to move on. Apple's Time Capsule was introduced at Macworld Expo in January 2008, combining a Wi-Fi router with NAS-style network storage designed to work in tandem with the Time Machine backup software. Apple officially ended development on the entire AirPort line in April 2018, with the AirPort Express at $99, the AirPort Extreme at $199, and the AirPort Time Capsule at $299, available only while supplies lasted. The lineup sold out entirely by November 2018. Prior to that, Apple had not updated its AirPort products since 2013. AFP dates back to 1988, when Apple designed a native file-sharing protocol for the Macintosh as part of the AppleTalk networking suite. SMB became the primary file-sharing protocol in OS X 10.9 Mavericks in 2013, and the ability to run an AFP server was removed in macOS 11 Big Sur in 2020. Apple formally deprecated the AFP client in macOS Sequoia 15.5, and, when macOS 26 Tahoe launched, a warning in System Settings confirmed that AFP support and Time Capsule compatibility would end with macOS 27. As expected, the first developer beta of macOS 27 Golden Gate contains no AFP client at all, ending a protocol with more than 40 years of history in the Apple ecosystem. All Time Capsule models rely on AFP and SMBv1, the original Server Message Block version from 1987. From macOS 27 onwards, Time Machine requires SMBv2 or SMBv3, which covers modern NAS hardware but rules out every Time Capsule model in its stock form. macOS 27 also enforces stricter network security requirements, including TLS 1.2 as a minimum, which is a bar that Time Capsule hardware cannot meet. The community response is a GitHub project called TimeCapsuleSMB, created by James Chang, an engineer at Microsoft. Rather than replacing Apple's firmware, it installs a modern Samba build directly onto the Time Capsule. The device runs a Samba 4.24.3 server, advertises itself over Bonjour, and accepts authenticated SMB3 connections, so users can connect via a standard SMB URL in Finder rather than relying on Apple's legacy stack. Only the fifth-generation Time Capsule tower model from 2013 auto-restarts the Samba server after a reboot. Earlier models require a manual activate command every time the device loses power, meaning backups may silently stop after an outage. It is also worth noting that switching to SMB via TimeCapsuleSMB begins a new Time Machine backup chain, with the new destination treated as a fresh start. There is no published long-term restore testing for the project, so a second backup destination is advisable. macOS 27 Golden Gate is currently in developer beta, with a public beta due in July and a general release set for September. It is compatible only with Apple silicon Macs, meaning Intel Mac users who stay on macOS 26 can continue using Time Capsule for the foreseeable future. Apple silicon owners who want to upgrade will need a compliant backup target in place first, whether that is a modern NAS, an external drive, or a patched Time Capsule running TimeCapsuleSMB.Related Roundup: macOS Golden GateTag: AirPort Time CapsuleThis article, "macOS 27 Golden Gate Kills Time Capsule Support" first appeared on MacRumors.comDiscuss this article in our forums

16 hours ago