Airport Time Capsule A1470 Hard Drive Replacement (2024)

Warning Risk of Electric Shock: Unplug the Time Capsule and disconnect the power cable and all other cables before you begin. Be aware that internal capacitors can retain a dangerous charge.

Tools used: Metal and plastic spudgers, Torx T8 screwdriver and tweezers (optional). The thin wooden chopstick shown on the right is for poking around inside the far end of the device, so it needs to be longer than the height of the Time Capsule.

You'll also need a scalpel, or small sharp craft knife, And a Airport time capsule

The base is held in place by eleven plastic retention lugs evenly spaced around the inside perimeter; three sides have three lugs and the side nearest the accessory ports has two lugs.

Slide a thin strong spudger between the base and the body (not too far in) to gently prise the edge of the base up, while trying not to mark or dent the soft plastic.

There are cables routed "too close for comfort" to the lugs at the front and back of the unit - so starting at the left or right side seems a safer bet.

Once one side is unclipped, things get a touch easier - work gradually around the perimeter gently levering with the spudger until the base eventually pops off with a sound like a warranty vaporising.

Careful, as the white plastic casing may flex alarmingly, and the black plastic is quite thin in places - you can see a damaged loop here.

A top metal plate, power cable, and three delicate looking cables guard the entrance to the cave hard drive bay.

The power cable with socket attached lifts away easily.

Removing four T8 Torx screws releases the plate. Use a T8 screwdriver, as it is difficult to gain purchase on the screws with an L-key and risks rounding them.

Once the four screws are removed, the metal plate simply lifts away.

Disconnect three thin delicate cables from the PCB. The largest cable ① comes away without too much trouble. There are small clips on either side of the connector. Use a small flathead screwdriver or flathead plastic spudger to push in the clips on the sides of the connector and slide it gently in a same plane as the PCB.

The two smaller connectors ② & ③ do not disconnect like the first - despite appearances, they pull directly away from the PCB (credit Feanor - thank you - see references in conclusion).

Place a small plastic spudger at the top of the two connectors, behind the wires and, pull gently forwards - click, off pops each connector.

A rubber pad lifts grudgingly to reveal the hard drive beneath. Still can't extract it though - there's the combined drive SATA & power connector to ease off first.

The SATA connector has a couple of lugs at either end - ease each up gently with the corner of a plastic spudger or tweezers and move the connector clear of the drive.

Pull the drive out - it's a fairly tight fit. At the bottom of the hole are two rubber segments where the drive is usually seated. Unfortunately these are custom shaped to match the original hard drive shape exactly - and won't seat the new replacement drive going in which has a chunkier profile.

The two rubber segments have to come out for trimming, and then placed back inside which is all quite fiddly but doable using a long thin wooden implement, such as a chopstick, to fish them out, and then prod them back into place.

Confirm that the trimmed segments are both located back in the correct position at the bottom of the drive bay before proceeding.

Slide the new drive into place, making sure no cables get caught up on the way in. Ensure the drive is seated properly in the newly trimmed rubber segments, and not sitting proud of the enclosure.

Reattach the drive SATA/Power connector.

The top rubber pad also requires trimming bits off to accommodate the 6TB replacement drive.

Replace rubber pad.

The two delicate cable connectors are reconnected to the PCB by offering them into place then gently pressing them back onto their respective connections with the aforementioned wooden implement. To avoid the lower cable getting in the way, re-attach the upper connector first & then the lower connector.

The largest of the three connectors slides back into its socket without trouble.

Offer the power cable and socket back into its holder on the inside of the case.

Reattach the metal plate using the four screws removed earlier with the Torx T8 screwdriver.

Finally, clip the black plastic base back on to close the unit up - and it's time to test...

Launch Airport Utility to check the disk is recognised OK, and erase it if necessary.