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Airport Extreme or Time Capsule

N

neil1980

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 1, 2008
424
19
Just after some advice on what would be best for me :)

To explain my situation I have an Linksys NSLU2 with 2x 500GB hard drives attached to it so I can access my files anywhere via FTP and also acts as a web server and itunes server so things like accessing anywhere via mobileme are irrelevant.

So what I am really interested in though is compatability with time machine... Would an Airport Extreme with a USB hub and a printer and a 500GB USB drive work as well as time capsule?... there's a fair chunk of money difference between the two if you already have a USB hard drive knocking around so other than having an all in one device are there any other benefits?

Also whichever route I took my ADSL is connected to a Netgear DG834N wireless router... id prefer to keep this as it allows me to input my dyndns account details and update with my current ip address... would it just be a case of hooking up the WAN on the Extreme/TC to a free port on the DG834N?
 
For a while there, Apple did not 'officially' support Time Machine through to a USB external HD connected to AEBS. This does work, however, and now has Apple's support.

That being said, I don't know what kind of success you'll have with a USB hub connected to an AEBS and then running both a printer and an external drive (or multiple drives).

This may be the kind of situation where you have to by an AEBS and try it out for yourself. You can always return it if doesn't work, so buy from a place that won't charge a restocking fee.
 
I had an airport extreme linked with a WD 500 GB external drive and printer linked via usb hub. I then used the drive with time machine to back up my macbook pro. No problems what so ever. Just yesterday I upgraded to the new 500 GB time capsule yesterday. I did this because I just bought a new imac and macbook. Hooked up the 500gb external to the imac and use the time capsule for the macbook. Also wanted the ability to use the simultanious n/g for my macs and my iphone. Hope that helps.
 
I have the AEBS hooked up to a hub and 2 USB hard drives. There is no problem with this and I believe Apple even advertises the ability to hook to a USB hub on the web site. I would go with the AEBS over the time capsule because of the expansion availability. if you ever need more than 500GB you can easily swap out a larger USB hard drive. You pay quite a premium to get an 'all in one' package with the time capsule.

As for using 2 routers, that seems a bit excessive and unnecessary. You can set up the AEBS to allow remote access (although I believe only 1 of the multiple drives can be accessed, although I am not sure as it has been a while since I used mine for remote file access). Without mobileme you have to run a free dynamic DNS updater on your computer to keep your external IP updated. I have mine set up with a dynamic DNS so I can remote access my computer, which I do frequently with no problem. If you had 2 routers hooked up trying to share files, you would have to have a much more complex configuration than if you went with a single router.
 
Thanks for all your help guys...

Guessing I will go for the AEBS then :)

Thanks again people

Neil
 
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