iFixit - Answers With Device "AirPort Time Capsule A1470"

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Time Capsule is overheating w/yellow flashing light

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 23:44:56 -0700

Has anyone successfully repaired a Time Capsule that's overheating all the time? The yellow light is always flashing and when I pull up AirPort Utility it says "this device may be overheating." The device does feel warm to the touch (not hot). I've called Apple and they say they can't fix it and won't replace it since it's not under warranty any longer. I'm considering cracking it open to see if cleaning out dust and whatnot might improve air circulation and fix the problem, but I'm curious if anyone else has done this before?

⟐ Answered July 10, 2025 at 23:44 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: How do I Upgrade the new AirPort A1470 to SSD?

Sat, 01 Mar 2025 20:03:29 -0700

I don't care for 2TB of storage and would like a reliable SSD in there instead. Can I upgrade the new airport to SSD?

Thanks!

⟐ Commented March 01, 2025 at 20:03 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: My apple time capsule has a yellow flashing light

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:21:27 -0700

my apple time capsule is not connecting to internet.

⟐ Commented January 30, 2024 at 0:21 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Blinking Amber light - overheating warning in utility

Fri, 10 Dec 2021 08:18:55 -0700

I have had this problem for over a year now, but have tried the 'ignore it and it will go away' approach with no success. Older versions of the time capsule have bad overheating issues, but mine is just warm to the touch - not iron your clothes hot. I can't hear the fan, but I don't know if that is by design or not - plus I figured it would get a lot hotter if that was the problem. The only solution I have found is to reset the device with the hard reset button in back. That does turn the light green again, but as soon as my my wife tries to print a recipe from online, the light turns blinking amber again. The other problem with the overheating warning state is that it limits multiplayer minecraft games with my son. Still able to stream video to multiple devices without a problem though. I thought about modding the top of the brick with air holes to increase airflow, but wanted to check in with the community before I destroy my device. Thanks.

⟐ Commented December 10, 2021 at 8:18 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Max Hard Drive size

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 15:11:08 -0700

Hello. I’m going to replace the internal hard drive on my Time Capsule A1470. I’m wondering if one 10 TB or 12 TB WD RED PLUS would fit. Does anyone know what’s the maximun drive size supported by the AirPort Time Capsule A1470?

Thanks.

⟐ Commented October 28, 2024 at 15:11 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Time Capsule HDD replacement

Sat, 26 Aug 2023 21:22:21 -0700

Hi there,

Is it possibel to replace HDD in 5th gen Time Capsule without loosing any data?

Will the cloned HDD work properly?

Thanks

⟐ Commented August 26, 2023 at 21:22 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Detailed Removal 2TB HD Plus Install 4TB HD + Formating

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 08:05:04 -0700

I'm wondering if you might show details of step by step removal of the stock 2TB Seagate and the step by step insertion and connection of a 4TB HGST drive plus formatting instructions. ie: do we need to format the 4TB drive before installing it in the Time Capsule or can we do that after it's installed?

Please forgive me if this is a stupid request. But the way you show the step by step so far makes a lot of leaps between steps and isn't really very detailed. I'm very nervous I'm gonna make a mistake because I can't see every gory detail you have skipped over. You take an aweful lot for granted in your explanation skipping an aweful lot between photographs. One photo shows the hard drive exposed followed by it being out with no way to tell how you got it out and how you got the 4TB drive in. You write how easy it is without showing us how you did it.

⟐ Commented June 06, 2025 at 8:05 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Buy the Sata mini cable

Sun, 04 Apr 2021 07:35:24 -0700

Lost the SATA cable's super-thin profile allows the hard drive to be plugged in, as well as allowing it to be clamped securely into the enclosure via the rubber cover (and metal clamp).

Where do I find that cable?

I fixit doesn't have it for sale?

Please help me!!

Yours truly

Armando Areias

⟐ Commented April 04, 2021 at 7:35 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: I need to change fan, how do I remove the old one?

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 12:46:14 -0700

Hey guys

I read all your great responses and guides, I thought it was the hard drive in my A1470 2tb Time Capsule that was making an awful noise but I removed it but it seems it was a faulty fan. I ordered a new one from Aliexpress but I tried to remove the "mother board" that has the fan fitted on it, but its quite stuck and my question is:

How do I remove the mother board and the fan, are there any screws or cables I should worry about or should i just pry it out?

Best wishes from Linus in Sweden

⟐ Commented October 24, 2019 at 12:46 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Randomly Powering Off - Not sure of cause

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 13:53:34 -0700

I've been using this particular 3TB Time Capsule to host my wireless network as well as a good deal of content for access from different computers (date of purchase Early 2013 - Apple Store). Recently, it seems to randomly power off without warning. It doesn't happen more than once a week, and afterward a simple power cycle gets everything up and running again.

I was doing some research and it seems like older models have had problems with the power supply - but nothing seems to current. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

⟐ Commented December 16, 2023 at 13:53 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Permanent overheated TC last 4 month

Sat, 13 Jun 2020 06:37:51 -0700

Hi!

My TC is permanent overheated las 4 months. I tried to clean it with service engineer, but overheat issue appears still as usual. Cooler works very loud, but engineer said it's ok.

I heard it is a bug of most TC devices and some people knows a tricks how fix it.

Can you give me advice what to do?

⟐ Commented June 13, 2020 at 6:37 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Time Capsule not powering on

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 13:05:58 -0700

I've been using this device for about 1 year until one day I found the light blinking amber. The Airport app was reporting the device was overheated. I pulled the plug and waited for it to cool down and when I plugged it back in there was no light at all. All I could hear was the noise of HDD spin up and nothing seemed to work.

It's out of warranty so can't take it to apple.

I cracked it open and found out that the PSU seemed to be functional. I checked the output voltage and it was a solid 12 Volts. But the fan doesn't run at all. I even tried to apply voltage to the fan to see if it runs but it didn't.

I checked the fan socket on the mainboard and 12 Volts appeared on the multi-meter.

Can I be sure that the fan is faulty? Because I don't want waste money on a PSU to find out it was not necessary.

BTW can someone verify that a working TC acts like mine when no fan is connected.

Thank you

⟐ Answer accepted September 02, 2021 at 13:05 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Access Time Capsule files from Linux

Mon, 20 Feb 2023 05:27:30 -0700

Hi iFixers 👋

I've been looking into this for years and still can't find a solution: has anyone maybe finally managed to access TimeCapsule files from Linux?

I've been all over the internet many times and tried over AFP and SMB - it still shows some weird error and nothing happens 🤷

⟐ Commented February 20, 2023 at 5:27 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: My SATA Port got destroyed. Can I replace it?

Mon, 27 Mar 2017 04:55:41 -0700

Just as the title says.

I bought the Time Capsule A1470 on ebay with the description "Hard drive defect" and now I discovered that the SATA-Port is broken. Is there any replacement-option?

⟐ Answered March 27, 2017 at 4:55 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: What is the maximum capacity HDD supported?

Thu, 28 Apr 2016 17:15:41 -0700

I would like to replace the HDD in my time capsule with one of the new 6tb or 8tb drives. Does anyone know if it will support anything larger than the 3 tab drive?

⟐ Answer accepted April 28, 2016 at 17:15 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: New 8TB ,HDD installed: continuing error "internal disk needs repair"

Sat, 02 Mar 2019 14:08:01 -0700

I've replaced the failed 3TB HDD(SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache ) with a model number (ST3000DM001) in my TC (A1470) with a 8TB HDD (from HGST model no HUH728080ALN600). I've used the Airport Utility to try and set it up but keep getting the error "internal disk needs repair". I've tried soft, hard and factory default resets, but neither Finder or Disk Utility 'sees' the TC.The OS on my iMac is 10.10.4.

The Wireless connection works fine .

The speeds are the same for both the HDD's.

The detailed specifications of the HGST drive is as below:

DRIVE PERFORMANCE :

INTERFACE TRANSFER RATE : 600 MBPS

SUSTAINED TRANSFER RATE : 205 MBPS

SEEK TIME (READ, TYPICAL) : 8.5 MS

AVERAGE LATENCY : 4.16 MS

BUFFER : 128 MB

ROTATIONAL SPEED : 7200 RPM

here is the link to other detailed specs http://www.hgst.com/hard-drives/enterpri...

Please need suggestions and advice. thanks

⟐ Commented March 02, 2019 at 14:08 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: How do you get it apart in the first place?

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 17:37:49 -0700

Just got mine and I can't understand how you got the black base to separate from the white tower. I'm stumped at step one!

⟐ Answer deleted June 30, 2019 at 17:37 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Airport Time Capsule Wireless 5G stopped working, can it be fixed?

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 12:08:55 -0700

I’ve tried rebooting, resetting, and disconnecting power for 3 minutes and reconnecting, downgrading the firmware and upgrading back to current: nothing brings back the wireless 5G. Is this something that can be repaired?

⟐ Answer accepted July 13, 2021 at 12:08 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Can I use a Hard drive other thats not a seagate green

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 09:11:40 -0700

Can i use a hard drive thats not a seagate green?

Also can i have a 2.5 drive inside?

Thanks!
:D

I mean like a 500gb drive,

⟐ Edited by author October 12, 2021 at 9:11 MST

AirPort Time Capsule A1470: Overheating, hard drive error in airport utillty

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 18:32:56 -0700

When shaken theres something shaking around,

Yellow light flashing every time its powered on,
Can’t backup to it,
Need help!
Thanks,
:)

⟐ Answer edited October 05, 2021 at 18:32 MST