Airport Extreme + HDD vs Nighthawk Router + HDD vs Time Machine?

[brandonb22]

Hi all-

Looking for a simple way have external storage over NAS for a large iPhoto library as it's too large for our MacBook now. Plan to store anything older than a month on the network device and just keep most recent month on the local machine for improved performance. (Tried this with a USB HDD but with 3 boys running around it got pulled out and knocked around way too much) Will also be backing this external HDD up via Crashplan.

Trying to decide if I should just get an AE or Nighthawk router with a LaCie or some other network hard drive or just get the Time Capsule. (I don't want to use Time Machine as I'm using Crashplan). The simpler and better as I want it to be extremely easy for my wife as I travel during the week and am not there to troubleshoot and help fix things.

Thanks!

 

[Altemose]

There are pros to using an external drive which include the ability to take it with you on trips. It would be a little inconvenient to show up to say a WiFi hotspot and whoop out a Time Capsule, an extension cord, and a Ethernet cable . The downsides to going with a nice router and an external is the speed. The Extreme only does about 21 MB/S Write and 12 MB/S Read to a 5,400 RPM USB 2.0 hard drive. That may be a problem with such a large photo library.

 

[luigi408]

Yeah. I'm having a hard time picking from Apple Capsule or Netgear Nighthawk with HHD. What is holding me back from picking Apple is USB3 and slower performance, but the positive is that I am using mostly Apple products now.

 

[wlossw]

I have the nighthawk. The router is awesome. I cannot speak to its effectiveness for timemachine server, however, as I plug my backup drive into my Thunderbolt Display. From what I have read most wifi timemachine solutions are pretty bad anyway.

 

[Altemose]

In all honesty, the Nighthawk has more advanced features. The simplicity of the AirPort is both good and bad in this case, but it natively supports Time Machine to a USB drive. I partitioned mine with two partitions, one for storage and one for Time Machine and it works fine with an AC AirPort Extreme.

 

[PatientWaiter]

I don't mean to hijack, but I too am considering finding a router compatible with a WiFi Time Machine solution. I am probably deciding between the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 and the Asus AC68U (or AC68R as labeled in brick and mortar stores).

I was considering a Time Capsule or Apple Extreme, but did a 180 after speaking with an Apple rep today and having him indicate to me that Apple simply won't support routers beyond 5 years. Thus, I'll be looking elsewhere for a long-term solution despite the cost being about the same after I buy an additional portable HDD. (Upon a new MBP purchase, I discovered I can no longer access my 1st Gen Apple Express with the new Mavericks Airport software. The express was used as strictly a wireless printer access point where speed doesn't matter and I have absolutely no need to upgrade it. I guess dropping support, disallowing software to communicate with an older model, and forcing your loyal fan base to buy a new router every few years is good for business....?? I call foul, but I digress.)

Does anyone have experience doing time machine backups over WiFi to a USB 3.0 HDD connected to either the Asus AC68U/R or Netgear Nighthawk? Both seem to have great reviews and I'm leaning toward the less expensive Nighthawk R7000. I'm curious to hear how the WiFi backups are, or perhaps aren't, working for you.

 

[McGiord]

I have an AirPort Extreme AC with a WD MyCloud 3TB HDD, it is connected via Ethernet and also have USB 3.
A simple drag and drop and or TimeMachine works fine.

 

[Volkan1984]

I was considering a Time Capsule or Apple Extreme, but did a 180 after speaking with an Apple rep today and having him indicate to me that Apple simply won't support routers beyond 5 years. Thus, I'll be looking elsewhere for a long-term solution despite the cost being about the same after I buy an additional portable HDD. (Upon a new MBP purchase, I discovered I can no longer access my 1st Gen Apple Express with the new Mavericks Airport software. The express was used as strictly a wireless printer access point where speed doesn't matter and I have absolutely no need to upgrade it. I guess dropping support, disallowing software to communicate with an older model, and forcing your loyal fan base to buy a new router every few years is good for business....?? I call foul, but I digress.)

Apple stops support for computers and networking equipment after 5 years, which is perfectly normal in my opinion. After 5 years, it does not make much sense to write extra code for older equipment since:
a. Most people probably have replaced theirs before that time;
b. Usually one firmware is written for the whole line of products, old and new. If firmware has to be written for older devices, there is usually a trade-off in terms of performance or functionality.

Just my two cents

 

[PatientWaiter]

Apple stops support for computers and networking equipment after 5 years, which is perfectly normal in my opinion. After 5 years, it does not make much sense to write extra code for older equipment since:
a. Most people probably have replaced theirs before that time;
b. Usually one firmware is written for the whole line of products, old and new. If firmware has to be written for older devices, there is usually a trade-off in terms of performance or functionality.

Just my two cents

I agree that it's fine to drop support, but to re-write the software so that you can't access the hardware? I could be wrong, but I don't think other companies do this. At least, it's the first time it's happened to me in the last 20+ years.

And technically, the code has already been written. No need to write new code.

 

[McGiord]

I agree that it's fine to drop support, but to re-write the software so that you can't access the hardware? I could be wrong, but I don't think other companies do this. At least, it's the first time it's happened to me in the last 20+ years.

And technically, the code has already been written. No need to write new code.

Apple normally drops support due to hardware limitations and upgrades and recently some due to marketing moves to drive sales of iOS devices.
However in the case of a printer it depends on what kind of printer are we talking about, the price of ink and toner is so expensive nowadays in comparison to the price of the printed currently available that it doesn't make any sense to have a non Wi-Fi capable printer.
Another key thing is the speed of the wireless network that you are trying to setup.
The main advantage I found with the recent Airport Extrmees is the dual band capability plus the option to have a guest network set up, however the caveat is the lack of USB3.

 

[blueroom]

Might want to look into a Synology NAS.

 

[BGBUXA]

I have an AirPort Extreme AC with a WD MyCloud 3TB HDD, it is connected via Ethernet and also have USB 3.
A simple drag and drop and or TimeMachine works fine.

that is a great solution I am actually about to do the same set up, the my cloud is awesome and pairing it with nighthawk is a double threat!