How can I limit the amount of space on a Time Capsule used by Time Machine?

[soonerfan237]

I know that you cannot partition a Time Capsule drive. However, I was wondering about other options for limiting the amount of space used by Time Machine so that I can use the rest of the space for other purposes.

I heard something about creating a disk image on the Time Capsule to limit the amount of space used by Time Machine. If I create a disk image, would TM just use all the space that's not part of the disk image? How do I access the disk image part? Can I manually drag and drop files to it from my Mac like any other external drive? Could I set up the disk image part to work with a Windows computer?

I've also heard things about modifying sparsebundles which I don't know anything about. How does this work? What happens to the space that is not part of the TM sparsebundle? How do I access it? Can I manually drag and drop files to it from my Mac like any other external drive? Could I set up the extra space to work with a Windows computer?

 

[Kaveman]

I was wondering about other options for limiting the amount of space used by Time Machine

No, most people don't want to limit the size of backups.

Can I manually drag and drop files to it from my Mac like any other external drive?

yes.

I've also heard things about modifying sparsebundles which I don't know anything about. How does this work? What happens to the space that is not part of the TM sparsebundle? How do I access it?

this will likely break your backup, not recommended.

Can I manually drag and drop files to it from my Mac like any other external drive? Could I set up the extra space to work with a Windows computer?

No, Mac can read Windows drives but not write to them as they are a MicroSoft proprietary format.