How to rescue photos and videos from an old Time Capsule

Published: 2026-10-29 · Capsule Bridge

Short answer: work in small steps. Check how much you have, make room on the new drive, copy the most precious folders first, and verify before you delete or reset anything.

Step by step

1. Take stock. List the folders and their sizes. Photos, home videos and documents come first. A Time Machine backup is one huge item, so plan for it separately.
2. Make room. The new drive needs at least as much free space as you are copying. Add some extra.
3. Use a cable. Ethernet is faster and steadier than Wi-Fi. Large videos can take hours.
4. Copy in order. Start with irreplaceable photos, then videos, then documents, then the rest. If the connection drops, you already have the most important things.
5. Do not let the Mac sleep during a long copy.
6. Verify. Compare the number of files and the total size of each folder with the original. Open a few photos and play a few videos from the copy.
7. Keep two copies. One at home, one somewhere else, before you retire the old disk.

What about a Time Machine backup?

It is stored as one large sparsebundle. Copy it as a single item and check that it opens on a Mac. Read our guide What is a sparsebundle? first.

Where Capsule Bridge helps

On iPhone and iPad, Capsule Bridge shows the photos on your disk as cards, a grid, a list or a slideshow, and you can copy what you want. It is read-only in the free version. It is coming soon.