Apple time capsule or any other brand 2TB hard drive?

[ansabakhan]

i am new to Apple computers, i needa 2TB external Harddrive for backing up music and picture to go with my Imac ...

time capsule 2Tb is $400 and other brand hard drivers for same capacity is almost half the price.

my question is what are the benefits of time capsule over any other brand .. why would i want time capsule? please help me out here

thanks

[Pressure]

The Time Capsule is in essence a 802.11n Wi-Fi base station with simultaneous dual-band support (just like the AirPort Extreme Base Station) but with an added 2TB harddrive.

It's not just a fancy harddrive (that happens to be server certified for increased durability).

[ansabakhan]

The Time Capsule is in essence a 802.11n Wi-Fi base station with simultaneous dual-band support (just like the AirPort Extreme Base Station) but with an added 2TB harddrive.

It's not just a fancy harddrive (that happens to be server certified for increased durability).


so that means i can share pictures and music over my home network ? is that what it is ?

and if i only need some thing to back my music and pictures ...what should i look for in a hard drive ?

[Kalison]

its also a print server.

[numbersyx]

so that means i can share pictures and music over my home network ? is that what it is ?

and if i only need some thing to back my music and pictures ...what should i look for in a hard drive ?

Yes, you can but it's primarily to be used as a backup - wirelessly for Time Machine..

[spcdust]

Another interesting feature of Apple's Time Capsule is it's shortened life span - I personally know three people whose Time Capsule has failed with 18 - 22 months. It was/is such an issue this rather witty web-site was set up:

http://timecapsuledead.org/

One thing worth knowing is if you have AppleCare on your Mac it also covers your Time capsule even if you don't buy it at the same time as the computer.

[ansabakhan]

so i can use any extrenal hard drive if i really just want to have a wired backup device ? are there any suggestions or tread where i can get an idea on what to buy?

[dmm219]

Another interesting feature of Apple's Time Capsule is it's shortened life span - I personally know three people whose Time Capsule has failed with 18 - 22 months. It was/is such an issue this rather witty web-site was set up:

http://timecapsuledead.org/

One thing worth knowing is if you have AppleCare on your Mac it also covers your Time capsule even if you don't buy it at the same time as the computer.

That's the one reason I got Apple Care on my new Mac Mini (HTPC), my TC is well over a year old and will probably go an any moment...but it will be covered under apple care.

Also, I believe most apple stores have been pretty lenient about the TC issues, and are providing replacements free of charge for most of the 1G TCs that are failing...

[ansabakhan]

That's the one reason I got Apple Care on my new Mac Mini (HTPC), my TC is well over a year old and will probably go an any moment...but it will be covered under apple care.

Also, I believe most apple stores have been pretty lenient about the TC issues, and are providing replacements free of charge for most of the 1G TCs that are failing...


your TC goes bad = you lose all your data ?

[Kalison]

Eh not worth it. Bad experience with a failed TC myself.

[Bryan Bowler]

your TC goes bad = you lose all your data ?

No, not unless the hard drive in your computer and the Time Capsule fail at the same time.

Besides having a back-up on a separate drive (like the Time Capsule or a stand-alone hard drive), it's also a good idea to have an off-site back-up too. For example, Time Machine makes regular back-ups to a stand-alone hard drive here at home. But I also own a third stand-alone hard drive that I store at my office. Every two or three months, I'll bring it home and run a complete back-up on it and then take it back to work the next day. This protects me from fire and theft, and gives me a third hard drive just in case the unthinkable happens and I have two drives fail at once.

I have irreplaceable data and I try to minimize my risk as much as possible...

Bryan

[drummerlondonw3]

the main problem people have with backing up is that they donot do it or they forget to do it. A TC (I have upgraded mine to 2TB) takes that away and I simply just let it do its thing.

Having said that its not perfect and does use up wireless bandwith, even running on 'N'

I personally move around a lot so TC is perfect for me as it keeps me up t date

[ouimetnick]

The Time Capsule is in essence a 802.11n Wi-Fi base station with simultaneous dual-band support (just like the AirPort Extreme Base Station) but with an added 2TB harddrive.

It's not just a fancy harddrive (that happens to be server certified for increased durability).

Sadly, Steve lied about the Server rade hard drive. It has a Deskstar drive in it. Its a consumer drive, not a pro drive.

[mtnDewFTW]

Well, the Time Capsule is definitely one of a kind. It does wireless backups, without ever disturbing you. And you can put it anywhere in the house, and it'll still do backups, no wires required. So that's all pretty nice, but the thing that I like most is the Airport Extreme that it has, built in.

So you can basically use it as a router, printer sharing, file sharing, backups, and tons of other stuff.

There's that, or you could get a ordinary HDD, which would basically sit at your desk next to your computer, which is fine with most people. So it really depends what you're looking for. JUST backups, go with a external 2TB HDD, which you can get for around $200. Or if you're looking for file/printer sharing and happen to need a new router, go with the Time Capsule.