Failing Time Capsules

You're gonna love the Mac!

Well, my belief is that newer Time Capsules are not subject to the overheated power supply capacitors that a bunch of the 1st gen. TCs had, but who am I to know? I personally haven't seen reports of newer TCs dying, just the original ones. People will say "the design hasn't changed," but still the components might have changed to tolerate the heat better. I personally LIKE the integrated power supply design.

I've got a 1st gen TC (serial # within the "problem" range) that has worked flawlessly from day one, for two and a half years so far. I have just replaced its internal 500GB drive with a new 2TB WD Caviar Green (WD20EARS) and it was easy (just to let you know they are "upgradeable").

So, I recommend the TC as a hassle-free backup solution. I like having less clutter, fewer devices. I expect you'll hear different opinions, however!

It's not clear to me what you are thinking of as an alternative: an Airport Express and connecting an external drive to the Mac Mini for backups, or do you mean Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS) with a USB external drive connected to it for Time Machine backups? This last configuration is not recommended or supported by Apple, to my understanding. I'd recommend a supported configuration for something as important as system backups, but that's just me.

Brian33.

Just to put my two cents in, I too am an owner of an original Time Capsule. Unfortunately, mine was one of the ones that did die, but Apple was kind enough to replace it. I have noticed that the internals are not exactly the same as the very first one I had. This leads me to believe that Apple has probably replaced the PSU with one more resistant to the heat inside.

Granted, if you are willing to modify it as Brian33 and I have done, the WD Green series are great in that they tend to produce less heat than other drives. I also keep mine elevated to increase air circulation underneath.

Lastly, make sure you have more than one backup option in place. If you have any data worth backing up, it's worth backing up twice. Backups fail and having the TC (or any backup device) as the only line of defense against data loss may not be a good idea.

I also have an original TC that has worked fine--but I don't think I would replace it. I liked the convenience of getting a router and a backup device all at once in one package but after using it for almost three years, I think in the future I would like to keep those two functions separate and get an Airport Extreme and a USB drive to use with Time Machine. In retrospect, that just seems a more reliable solution to these two different tasks. I certainly have no problem recommending the Time Capsule if you think that would fit your needs the best.

There's a rumor they're going to rename it to "Time Bomb".