Any 2011 alternatives to time capsule?

[xrayspecs]

I have had a quick search around the web and the forums but there isn't much recent info on any good quality wireless hard drives. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Apologise if this has been posted to death before.

 

[r0k]

I have had a quick search around the web and the forums but there isn't much recent info on any good quality wireless hard drives. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Apologise if this has been posted to death before.

I just picked up a LaCie unit. To avoid disappointment, I would stick to higher quality models from LaCie or even Drobo.

For instance, I tried a Seagate model that cost around $99. I set it up and was about to set up an ftp server so my network scanner could send files. It asked me for a credit card for a "subscription" so I could use the ftp server feature! I returned it the same evening. Another example: I have an older Buffalo Linkstation and every time we have a power failure I have to trudge downstairs to the hard drive cabinet and turn the darn thing back on. Then there is the Iomega storcenter which also has to be switched back on but which also suffers from the loudest fan I've heard anywhere but an airport tarmac. Low end models from companies like Iomega, Buffalo, Segate and Western Digital all suffer from some level of this sort of gimpness. Avoid them if you can.

Drobo are ridiculously expensive with the empty cabinet going for $700 or you can get one with two drives in it from Costco for $900. I like the quality of LaCie for a price that is a lot less than Drobo. When I called Buffalo support to inquire about whether the drives power on after a power failure, I spent 15 of my cell phone minutes "on hold" and gave up. When I called LaCie support I had my answer in under 11 minutes, including the time it took for the tech to power cycle one of their units so he could explain to me what it would do after a loss of power. BTW, I do NOT recommend Time Capsule after 100% loss of my data due to a power supply problem in my 1st gen Time Capsule. Apple replaced it for free but my data was still gone. As an extensive user of NAS, I recommend going for the LaCie NAS drives.

 

[Hellhammer]

There are plenty of NAS drives. Here is one. Not cheap but has two bays so if you have lots of data, it can take up to 4TB. There are cheaper ones too with one HD but most of them have fairly bad reviews, e.g. this.

 

[xrayspecs]

Thanks r0k for your comprehensive reply

 

[w00d]

BTW, I do NOT recommend Time Capsule after 100% loss of my data due to a power supply problem in my 1st gen Time Capsule. Apple replaced it for free but my data was still gone.

...which is why multiple backups are key in any backup strategy!

In order for backups to be successful, a few things to happen:

• Easy enough that you don't put it off (time machine solves this problem, time capsule in particular for my laptop since i hate hooking it up to anything (I am lazy))
• Redundant (i have a time capsule on my network, as well as multiple external drives that get swapped out and stored offsite (If I do a backup once a month from laptop to external, I am happy with that))
• Easy to restore, and test the restore process to prove that it works and the backups are good

I looked at a lot of alternatives but could not beat the convenience and price of a time capsule combined with multiple external USB drives. It seems like there is a lot of junk out there.

 

[r0k]

...which is why multiple backups are key in any backup strategy!

In order for backups to be successful, a few things to happen:

• Easy enough that you don't put it off (time machine solves this problem, time capsule in particular for my laptop since i hate hooking it up to anything (I am lazy))
• Redundant (i have a time capsule on my network, as well as multiple external drives that get swapped out and stored offsite (If I do a backup once a month from laptop to external, I am happy with that))
• Easy to restore, and test the restore process to prove that it works and the backups are good

I looked at a lot of alternatives but could not beat the convenience and price of a time capsule combined with multiple external USB drives. It seems like there is a lot of junk out there.

I agree. I have multiple backups of my stuff but never bothered with multiple backups of the kids' stuff until the Time Capsule went belly up. My daughter's Mini needed belt sanding right around the same time so she lost several months of files as I had to roll back to a manual backup sitting on a crummy old NAS drive.

For now I'm looking at paying for CrashPlan's family plan so I can back up everybody's home folder to CP in case the house is hit by an asteroid or something. I've got my documents folder up there but not much else. It takes days to get tens of gigs "seeded" and I'm not willing to fork over $125 to use their seeding service by mail when I already spend so much on internet I'll just wait for the uploads and do one machine a week or so.

BTW I finally found the time to set up our LaCie unit. It went pretty smooth. Now I'm gonna copy the files off the pathetic Linkstations and Storcenter so I can wipe those and put them on ebay. At that point we'll be down to a 3 tier backup: Time Machine/Time Capsule, Manual copy to LaCie and CrashPlan. I think that's enough. Well maybe I'll dump the contents of the LaCie to a usb drive every month or so and drop it off at a friend's house for safekeeping. Did I mention I'm pretty paranoid when it comes to backup?

 

[w00d]

I agree. I have multiple backups of my stuff but never bothered with multiple backups of the kids' stuff until the Time Capsule went belly up. My daughter's Mini needed belt sanding right around the same time so she lost several months of files as I had to roll back to a manual backup sitting on a crummy old NAS drive.

For now I'm looking at paying for CrashPlan's family plan so I can back up everybody's home folder to CP in case the house is hit by an asteroid or something. I've got my documents folder up there but not much else. It takes days to get tens of gigs "seeded" and I'm not willing to fork over $125 to use their seeding service by mail when I already spend so much on internet I'll just wait for the uploads and do one machine a week or so.

BTW I finally found the time to set up our LaCie unit. It went pretty smooth. Now I'm gonna copy the files off the pathetic Linkstations and Storcenter so I can wipe those and put them on ebay. At that point we'll be down to a 3 tier backup: Time Machine/Time Capsule, Manual copy to LaCie and CrashPlan. I think that's enough. Well maybe I'll dump the contents of the LaCie to a usb drive every month or so and drop it off at a friend's house for safekeeping. Did I mention I'm pretty paranoid when it comes to backup?

Oh yeah - I forgot to mention - I also use Backblaze for an additional offsite backup. I'm really happy with this service too: $50 / year for offsite storage.

Anyways I don't mean to tell anyone what is best for them, just sharing what works for me. It takes some effort to design a backup strategy, but once you do it, you can mostly stop thinking (and worrying) about it. Well worth the peace of mind!