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Best airport extreme and external HD set up
- Thread starter abz1981
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If you only have one computer I would say that there are easier options, like a simple external hard disk, for backup. But once you have a few Macs running, like my family has, than the time capsule is very good value. No worrying about my children loosing files important to them, no worrying about the backups of the laptops. I am happy with my time capsule.
i bought a used airport extreme and a new 2tb external hard drive and i saved 350$ vs buying a time capsule
I've heard of many people having hdd failures in their time capsules and needing apple to replace them. if my external hdd is full just plug in another.
I've heard of many people having hdd failures in their time capsules and needing apple to replace them. if my external hdd is full just plug in another.
If you already have a router with an available Ethernet port, you could look into a cheaper option such as the Seagate GoFlex Home for $169. They seem to get mixed reviews however. I have no personal experience with one, and can't offer any first hand experience. But they are a cheaper option to the $299 for a 2TB Time Capsule if you are looking for wireless storage and backup for your MBA.
Edit: Costco sells these for $129 and should be covered at a minimum by their 90 return policy. So you can easily give one a 3 month trial run.
Edit: Costco sells these for $129 and should be covered at a minimum by their 90 return policy. So you can easily give one a 3 month trial run.
A sounds like a good idea. So basically airport extreme can handle any wifi device and from what I read I can connect a USB external hard drive to the airport and use it technically as a wireless backup? Will this work well with time machine? Also would the airport have to be connected to my wireless home Internet router by Ethernet cable or does it no have to be connected to it?
Go Flex seems good too main benefit I see with that is you can seem to access your files away from your house. But yeah mixed reviews
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my setup works great with time machine. you wouldn't need your original router anymore. i have a single ethernet cable from my cable modem to my airport extreme. the benefit to the extreme over your router is the usb input on the back. i did have a net gear router that my macbook pro didn't like. once i swapped it out for the extreme everything was happy.
FYI your first backup is huge, normally with entire contents of your hard drive. i would hardwire to the router for that one and use wireless for the rest of the backups.
FYI your first backup is huge, normally with entire contents of your hard drive. i would hardwire to the router for that one and use wireless for the rest of the backups.
Sounds good your set up. However my current router is a wifi router. Connected to my MBA through wifi. So would I connect via Ethernet cable my current wifi router to airport extreme? And then airport will act is the main wifi router.?
Take a look at this. Very small, bus powered, Firewire. My daughter (college student) has been using one with her MBP for 3 years with no problems. OWC is a good place to buy, very reputable.
option one:does your internet signal come in through a coaxial line? like a cable line? if so you probably have a modem that hooks up to the coaxial line and from there you can plug up 1 ethernet cable.
option 2: does your internet come right into a wifi router? i know verizon fios have all in one modem/router combos.
which option do you have?
if you already have option 2 then you can add a go flex network drive. staples black fray deal is 129.99 for that. just hook that up and your done. this hdd you can hook up a ethernet cable to it instead of the normal usb.
its getting late so i hope this helps and doesn't confuse. ill be back tomorrow.
I have loved mine. I had a dsl modem/router then switch to a cable ISP and had to buy a new router anyways so I picked up a brand new Apple Time Capsule 2TB for $275 shipped. Which is close to what I would have spent for a nice router and backup drive. Wifi range has been great, haven't had to restart it for any reason. Set up is super easy with airport. I like that it's all one package and I don't have to attach another drive. I have enough attachments and clutter as it is. That's why I liked my combo dsl setup. I had to restore my MBP just last week and it worked like a charm.
Dustin
Dustin
Any suggestions on pogoplug?
I have the same question in my mind. I have one MBP which I care about though I have two other macs but no backup is needed.
I was thinking of the pogoplug device.
http://www.amazon.com/Pogoplug-POGO-E02-Multimedia-Sharing-Device/dp/B0033WSDR4
The idea is that I can connect two cheap USB drives, so if one fails I still have a good backup.
Any suggestions of this?
I have the same question in my mind. I have one MBP which I care about though I have two other macs but no backup is needed.
I was thinking of the pogoplug device.
http://www.amazon.com/Pogoplug-POGO-E02-Multimedia-Sharing-Device/dp/B0033WSDR4
The idea is that I can connect two cheap USB drives, so if one fails I still have a good backup.
Any suggestions of this?
"Is time capsule actually worth the money it is? Or do people recommend any good alternatives at a decent price?"
If you're just going to back up one or two computers, my opinion is NO, it's not a good choice.
My suggestion for an alternative backup (and other usage) scenario:
1. Spend about $20, and get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, all work the same, just pick one you like that's cheap)
2. Then, get one (or more) "bare" hard drives from the vendor of your choice (you may even have one laying around)
3. Download the FREE "CarbonCopyCloner" from:
http://bombich.com
Connect the dock to the Mac, put the bare drive in, turn it on, use Disk Utility to initialize it, and use CCC to clone your internal to the docked drive.
Quick 'n' easy backup solution. You can even boot from the docked drive and run maintenance on your internal.
The USB/SATA dock will become one of the most useful peripherals you have around....
If you're just going to back up one or two computers, my opinion is NO, it's not a good choice.
My suggestion for an alternative backup (and other usage) scenario:
1. Spend about $20, and get one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=usb+sata+dock&x=0&y=0
(many items shown, all work the same, just pick one you like that's cheap)
2. Then, get one (or more) "bare" hard drives from the vendor of your choice (you may even have one laying around)
3. Download the FREE "CarbonCopyCloner" from:
http://bombich.com
Connect the dock to the Mac, put the bare drive in, turn it on, use Disk Utility to initialize it, and use CCC to clone your internal to the docked drive.
Quick 'n' easy backup solution. You can even boot from the docked drive and run maintenance on your internal.
The USB/SATA dock will become one of the most useful peripherals you have around....
no. its not worth it.
theres so many ways to get the same result without spending what a TC costs. TC is great for wireless backups. youre 123 setup wouldnt be wireless since your docking it to your mac.
i saved atleast $300 by buying a used airport extreme and hooking up an external hdd to it throught the usb connection. but now they have external hdd that you can hook right up to a router through an ethernet connection. the TC is all in one but its very expensive.
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that thing hurt my eyes to look at it. too pink for me. it should work.
Hey all
Thanks for all your replies.
I went to Apple store today, as main reason why I wanted an external HD is that my MBA went into kernal mode. However didn't have a back up of all my information. So therefore managed to get everything back.
As I am the only user who will be using an external HD. I guess time capsule is not worth it. However as chuffman said, I guess airport extreme would be the best option, with a plug in USB external HD, and then using my home wifi router, in a bridging type set up, to connect to the wifi on my airport extreme then using airport extreme as a sort of wifi hub, handling my HP Wifi printer, MBA and external HD.
Chuffman I have an option 2 set up for internet btw.
I guess the reason why I want a external HD connected to a wifi device like airport extreme, is that I hate having to connect the external HD via usb to my MBA. I like to keep things wireless.
As at least this, way I won't have to every week or so often, connect my USB to my MBA just to do a back up.
Now this leaves me with the following options:
1. to obtain a decent priced external USB HD. Capacity I would say 500MB is enough but 1TB is a bonus.
2. to obtain an airport extreme, at a reasonable good price.
I think this way I would be fine. Now any idea's on how to get the above 2 at a reasonable price.
SO this is how I imagine my new set up would be.
My current ISP wifi enabled router, which is downstairs, next to the phone socket, connected to my airport extreme which will be upstairs in my room, through wifi.
Then my external HD connected via usb to the airport extreme, and also my HP Printer which is wifi enabled, some how connected to my airport extreme.
I am hoping the above will then be an easy set up?
edit: I have looked at the UK apple refurb store and I see the following two:
Refurbished AirPort Extreme Base Station
Originally released October 2009
The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station with simultaneous dual-band support is the perfect wireless access point for home, school or small business. It offers fast, 802.11n Wi-Fi access for Mac computers, PCs and Wi-Fi devices such as iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. which is £99
and
Refurbished AirPort Extreme Base Station
Originally released June 2011
The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station with simultaneous dual-band support is the perfect wireless access point for home, school or small business. It offers fast, 802.11n Wi-Fi access for Mac computers, PCs and Wi-Fi devices such as iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV which is £119
Apart from the year it was made, the above 2, any advantages the 2011 model have over the 2009 model? Or should i not notice any difference or major difference?
ahhh can't make up my mind lol. sorry need to add to this post, this was mentioned earlier on to: seagate go flex
http://www.johnlewis.com/231297523/Product.aspx
which comes with 2 year warranty. Which will basically do what I am asking above too yeah?
Thanks for all your replies.
I went to Apple store today, as main reason why I wanted an external HD is that my MBA went into kernal mode. However didn't have a back up of all my information. So therefore managed to get everything back.
As I am the only user who will be using an external HD. I guess time capsule is not worth it. However as chuffman said, I guess airport extreme would be the best option, with a plug in USB external HD, and then using my home wifi router, in a bridging type set up, to connect to the wifi on my airport extreme then using airport extreme as a sort of wifi hub, handling my HP Wifi printer, MBA and external HD.
Chuffman I have an option 2 set up for internet btw.
I guess the reason why I want a external HD connected to a wifi device like airport extreme, is that I hate having to connect the external HD via usb to my MBA. I like to keep things wireless.
As at least this, way I won't have to every week or so often, connect my USB to my MBA just to do a back up.
Now this leaves me with the following options:
1. to obtain a decent priced external USB HD. Capacity I would say 500MB is enough but 1TB is a bonus.
2. to obtain an airport extreme, at a reasonable good price.
I think this way I would be fine. Now any idea's on how to get the above 2 at a reasonable price.
SO this is how I imagine my new set up would be.
My current ISP wifi enabled router, which is downstairs, next to the phone socket, connected to my airport extreme which will be upstairs in my room, through wifi.
Then my external HD connected via usb to the airport extreme, and also my HP Printer which is wifi enabled, some how connected to my airport extreme.
I am hoping the above will then be an easy set up?
edit: I have looked at the UK apple refurb store and I see the following two:
Refurbished AirPort Extreme Base Station
Originally released October 2009
The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station with simultaneous dual-band support is the perfect wireless access point for home, school or small business. It offers fast, 802.11n Wi-Fi access for Mac computers, PCs and Wi-Fi devices such as iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. which is £99
and
Refurbished AirPort Extreme Base Station
Originally released June 2011
The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station with simultaneous dual-band support is the perfect wireless access point for home, school or small business. It offers fast, 802.11n Wi-Fi access for Mac computers, PCs and Wi-Fi devices such as iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV which is £119
Apart from the year it was made, the above 2, any advantages the 2011 model have over the 2009 model? Or should i not notice any difference or major difference?
ahhh can't make up my mind lol. sorry need to add to this post, this was mentioned earlier on to: seagate go flex
http://www.johnlewis.com/231297523/Product.aspx
which comes with 2 year warranty. Which will basically do what I am asking above too yeah?
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dont know about across the pond but here in the states today id black friday and everybody has external hdd for cheap. costco has a 2tb externall hdd for $69. doesnt help you. i got my 2009 airport extreme off of craigslist for $80. as long as its wireless "N". as for your printer youll be able to wireless sync with your computer. i have a lexmark wifi printer and i dont need to connect any cables to it. just need to set up the wifi to your airport id.
good luck
you might also want to look at network drives. seagate go flex? somthing like that.
good luck
you might also want to look at network drives. seagate go flex? somthing like that.
Hey in the UK no black Friday sale here. It seems to be an American and Canadian thing. So chuffman are network drives basically the same thing what I am trying to set up. Sorry am a bit of a n00b coming to this. The reason why all the questions lol.
yes. the airport/usb external hdd is one way of having a network drive
and the newer external hdd with the ethernet is the other way.
being that you already have the modem/router stuff done i would go the ethernet external hdd route. just make sure you have an open port on your wifi router for it.
and the newer external hdd with the ethernet is the other way.
being that you already have the modem/router stuff done i would go the ethernet external hdd route. just make sure you have an open port on your wifi router for it.