Time Capsule vs. Linksys Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WRT310N)?

[mbcollins93]

Which one would have better range and speed? Which one would be better to buy?

 

[avediswolf]

If looking for speed, go w/ the Time Capsule. It is capable of doing the 5MHz band, which the 310 does not.

Draft N in 2.4GHz is slower because of bandwidth in the frequency range.

On the other hand, the 2.4GHz band will give better range if you do not have line of sight. But, both products do Draft N in the 2.4GHz band.

I personally have a Linksys 310. It suits my needs, and I use a networked drive on a linux box for my Time Machine backups.

 

[JoeBIII]

...and I use a networked drive on a linux box for my Time Machine backups.

How do you get Time Machine to recognize the external NAS drive? From what i can tell, short of a hack, the only external networked drive that Time Machine can utilize is a Time Capsule.

 

[ACiB708]

Yes, same question as JoeBIII. I also think that the only NAS drive that Time Machine will recognize is the Time Capsule. Is there anyway to say attach a WD drive to a linksys with storage link and use that drive to make the Time Machine backups?

 

[avediswolf]

How do you get Time Machine to recognize the external NAS drive? From what i can tell, short of a hack, the only external networked drive that Time Machine can utilize is a Time Capsule.

There are a couple things you need to do to get it to work.

First, to allow time machine to use a network drive:
On 1 line:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

Then mount it... You should see it in the time machine preferences.

Then it still puked all over the place creating the image, had to manually create a sparsebundle image:

on 1 line:
hdiutil create -library SPUD -size 450g -fs Journaled HFS+ -type SPARSEBUNDLE -volname MACBOOK_xxxxxx.sparsebundle

Change the 450g to ths amout of free space on your drive, and the MACBOOK_xxxxxx to your computers name underscore mac address without the colons.

example, if your computer name is "Computer" and you ethernet mac address is 00:12:34:56:78:9A then use Computer_00123456789A

( Don't use your wireless mac address, it will see it as a foreign image )

Move the sparse bundle to the network drive, and start backing up.

 

[salvatore]

Then mount it... You should see it in the time machine preferences.

I tried this for a while, but when waking from sleep (MBP) I usually saw the 'mountpoint disconnected' error message. Time Machine never interpreted that correctly and backups were either hanging or failing. Do/Did you experience something similar?

 

[avediswolf]

I tried this for a while, but when waking from sleep (MBP) I usually saw the 'mountpoint disconnected' error message. Time Machine never interpreted that correctly and backups were either hanging or failing. Do/Did you experience something similar?

I haven't noticed anything like the above at all, and I have my MBP go to sleep every time I close the lid.

backups and restores both have been working flawlessly.

 

[alphaod]

Which one would have better range and speed? Which one would be better to buy?

It is a bit old now, but may I recommend the WRT600N. It can do both 2.4GHz and 5GHz at the same time so you can set one to Mixed for your cell phone, iPod, etc., and the other 5GHz to N-only for your computers. Plus the range is butt kickin' and it supports attaching an external HDD and/or printers.

 

[mbcollins93]

i decided to buy the time capsule. thanks for every one who posted.

 

[ninjaelement]

There are a couple things you need to do to get it to work.

First, to allow time machine to use a network drive:
On 1 line:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

Then mount it... You should see it in the time machine preferences.

Then it still puked all over the place creating the image, had to manually create a sparsebundle image:

on 1 line:
hdiutil create -library SPUD -size 450g -fs Journaled HFS+ -type SPARSEBUNDLE -volname MACBOOK_xxxxxx.sparsebundle

Change the 450g to ths amout of free space on your drive, and the MACBOOK_xxxxxx to your computers name underscore mac address without the colons.

example, if your computer name is "Computer" and you ethernet mac address is 00:12:34:56:78:9A then use Computer_00123456789A

( Don't use your wireless mac address, it will see it as a foreign image )

Move the sparse bundle to the network drive, and start backing up.

this sounds like an intriguing response and i would like to try this but can anyone maybe explain these instructions in a little more detail please? thanks