Are the refurb Time Capsule's "safe"

[Sky Blue]

and by safe I mean, are they going to crap out in 18 months? Was looking at a new Airport Extreme, but might just go for a refurb time capsule.

Edit: Apologies for horrendous grammatical error in the title

 

[OllyW]

From The Time Capsule Memorial Register...

What causes their sudden death?

In one word: heat. Contrary to what Apple suggests by their magical “affected serial numbers list”, the serial numbers in the Time Capsule Memorial Register show that the problem that causes the Time Capsules to prematurely die is not limited to certain production batches. Experts on the subject, like LaPastenague, have confirmed that it is the flawed thermal design that causes Time Capsules to stop functioning, not the quality of the components used. All components, including the power supply, are squeezed together in a very small package with hardly any ventilation to cool them down (in fact, that rubber foot works as an insulator). There is a fan inside the Time Capsule, but it is totally inadequate (it will start only at extremely high temperatures, and will only circulate hot air). The first components that die from the prolongued exposure to high temperature are the capacitors in the power supply unit.

Will my replacement Time Capsule last?

Well, only time will tell… As you can read in the preceding item, the heat buildup is what kills the Time Capsules. The newer Time Capsule models have almost the exact same design, but they do feature a “green” hard drive that produces significantly less heat. This hard disk may be the saviour of newer Time Capsules (in fact, at the Time Capsule Memorial Register, we exchanged the hard disk of our refurbished replacement Time Capsule for such a disk), but it’s too early to tell. Unfortunately, replacement Time Capsules are not likely to feature these “green” hard drives.

 

[Sky Blue]

Thanks chap, might just go with the Extreme then

 

[Apple OC]

I recommend using an external HD like WD My Passport for Mac ... Time Capsule seems like a waste ... just my opinion

 

[mmomega]

The time capsule transfer speeds for me were ridiculously slow, sold it and picked up an AEBS and a FW800 2TB WD MyBook, wayyyyyy faster. I did want the smaller form factor but speed was higher on my list being that I share it between 5 computers. As well as less stress thinking your entire wireless network and storage could crap out at the same time.