Back-up Solution & Time Capsule/Machine Questions

Hi Guys,

This is my first post here, unfortunately not a happy one. I’ve had my macbook for 11 months and the hard drive just died, although it’s covered by applecare - unfortunately the data recovery, if even possible, is going to cost me £140.

I’ve always thought backing up is a great idea, although I’ve never been that great at actually doing it. Now, when my mac arrives back with it’s new hard drive I plan on coming up with some kind of fool proof back-up routine that I cant forget to do or have no excuse to put off.

I am aware of Time Machine but have never used it, and I was thinking about getting hold of a Time Capsule. Basically I’m one of those people that always puts backing up off until tomorrow, and now it’s too late. So I’ve got a couple of questions about the time capsule and time machine.

1. Can the time capsule operate wirelessly without being connected to the web? I.e. can I plug it in, turn it on, and back up my files without worrying about internet access?

2. Can I plug a secondary drive into the time capsule and get it to copy the backup files to it, so that I can take it home at the end of the day (in case of fire, etc…)

3.Does time machine backup files periodically or in real time, as and when they are edited?

I apologise if these have been answered before, I tried searching but couldnt find anything - or maybe I was searching the wrong keywords. Thanks for any help though, much appreciated!

Matt

 

Ok, thanks for that, it sounds cool.

Does it slow your system down much, or can it run in the background without much resource hogging?

I read somewhere online that you can archive the time capsule drive to another disk inserted into the USB port on the TC? Is that what you meant about the offsite backup?

Does anyone use any online backup services? What are they like, can they be automated too, so there's no hassle involved?