Apple Time Capsule Demise - New Backup Drive?

[Keith (M)]

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Well, it seems that Big Sur has decided not to play with my (admittedly elderly) 2Tb Apple Time Capsule.  No matter what I try (including deleting the backup and resetting completely to factory settings etc), even though the drive is recognised and the set-up procedure completes without any error messages, Time Machine reports that "backup disc image could not be created". Ditto when I try it on my Mac Book.  

The iMac is a Nov 2017 21.5" with 1Tb SSD and aside from the Time Capsule I also backup to a 3Tb La Cie Thunderbolt that is partitioned into 2Tb & 1Tb.  Am now looking for a USB C external drive to take the place of the Time Capsule and given M10M file sizes, I will probably go for at least 3Tb capacity-wise.  Recommendations welcomed!

Edited March 26, 2021 by Keith (M)
Whoops - 2Tb!

[Dennis]

22 minutes ago, Keith (M) said:

Well, it seems that Big Sur has decided not to play with my (admittedly elderly) 2Tb Apple Time Capsule.  No matter what I try (including deleting the backup and resetting completely to factory settings etc), even though the drive is recognised and the set-up procedure completes without any error messages, Time Machine reports that "backup disc image could not be created". Ditto when I try it on my Mac Book.  

The iMac is a Nov 2017 21.5" with 1Tb SSD and aside from the Time Capsule I also backup to a 3Tb La Cie Thunderbolt that is partitioned into 2Tb & 1Tb.  Am now looking for a USB C external drive to take the place of the Time Capsule and given M10M file sizes, I will probably go for at least 3Tb capacity-wise.  Recommendations welcomed!

It could be a compatibility problem between your "old" Time Capsule and the way it was formatted in the first place. With Big Sur, things are different.

Check this out: https://www.macworld.com/article/3600278/macos-big-sur-supports-time-machine-on-apfs-formatted-drives-but-there-are-a-few-catches.html

Last month after my iMac 27" 5k (2017) expired the Apple care, I decide to change the original 512GB with a new SSD 2TB. I search a lot to know which was, nowadays, the best way to format the time machine external HD. I opted for 

I finally bought this for time machine: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1595686-REG/adata_technology_ahd710p_2tu31_cbl_durable_hd710_2tb_blue.html

Cheap but very good and known HD. 

Everything works fine

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