How Can I Use 2 Time Capsules?

[kapalua12]

I have a late 2012 SSD iMac connected via WiFi to a new 3 TB Time Capsule backing up the new iMac. I still have my previous 1 TB 2010 iMac i7 which was connected wirelessly to a slightly older 2 TB Time Capsule which I took off line.
The older iMac is getting it's WiFi signal now from the new 3 TB Time Capsule.

My question is what are my options to make good use of the older Time Capsule and the 3 years of accumulated data with all the older backups of the 2010 iMac it has been making for 3 years?

Options:

1. Setup Time Machine in the older iMac to start also using the new Time Capsule for backups and simply ignore the 3 years of previous data on the older Time Capsule? Thus, the new 3 TB Time Capsule would be backing up 2 iMacs.

2. Connect the older 2 TB Time Capsule directly to the older 2010 iMac i7 via wire and let it continue it's backups but turn the WiFi OFF on the older Time Capsule? If I did that what type of connection would I have to use? The older iMac only has USB 2.0 and Firewire 800 and an Ethernet Port and Mini Display Port.

3. Some better use of the older Time Capsule, after erasing it's data (which I hate to do) "just in case"? Should I simply use the older Time Capsule 2 TB simply as a NAS device? How would I set that up? The house is not wired for Ethernet.. I just have the Cable modem connected via Ethernet to the new 3 TB Time Capsule and am using it's WiFi signal for everything Apple I own...MacBook Pros, MacBook Air, iPhone, iPad, etc.

I'm very open to suggestions. I even thought of having the house wired for Ethernet for more flexibility except I'm already getting Internet speeds of 50 down and 10 up via WiFi so the signal is excellent.

I would like to implement a Synology NAS soon and am using Crash Plan in the background as well as making regular Carbon Copy Cloner backups of both primary iMacs to external SSD's and Firewire Drives.

Suggestions please as to my options?

Thanks.

 

[Volkan1984]

I would go for option 2.

It makes the most sense in this case. You would have double backups (on the Time Capsules AND the external HDDs) of both iMacs. When one Time Capsule breaks down, it would not affect the backup of the other iMac. Plus: why use a Time Capsule as a NAS when you are going to get a real NAS?

Just my two cents!

Oh, connecting the iMac to your Time Capsule would be done using the good old Ethernet. No other (faster) way.

 

[kapalua12]

Thanks Volkan!

 

[Volkan1984]

You're welcome. Btw, you said to backup also on external HDDs. Do you connect those directly to the iMacs? You can also connect them to the Time Capsules' USB ports (depending on the external HDDs' connection ports of course). The latter method saves you to have to connect the drives to the iMacs and having to use ports on the iMacs.

Just a quick tip

 

[kapalua12]

You're welcome. Btw, you said to backup also on external HDDs. Do you connect those directly to the iMacs? You can also connect them to the Time Capsules' USB ports (depending on the external HDDs' connection ports of course). The latter method saves you to have to connect the drives to the iMacs and having to use ports on the iMacs.

Just a quick tip

I do connect them to the iMacs. Yes, I was going use the usb ports on the time capsules also for this purpose. I have learned the hard way you can never have too many backups from which to restore, especially when you have several computers....something is eventually going to go wrong and require access to clones or data Cloud backups. I appreciate the advice about freeing up iMac ports. There are only a limited number of them.

 

[jacbec]

TC & Ext HD Backups

I too use 2 TC's and also USB/Firewire external HD connected directly to my Macs (2006 MBP 17 & 2013 MBP 15 Retina). I like the external HD Backups (weekly) because I can reboot with the external HD which I can't do with the TC backups (b/u nightly settings w/ TimeMachineEditor). So, I have automatic TC backups nightly and weekly backups – best of both worlds for me. May sound anal but I have been the victim of losing my internal drives & priceless data – no more.

 

[Altemose]

If the Time Capsules are spread out and not in the same area why not connect them via Ethernet and create a roaming network? Otherwise you can setup the older 2TB model to wirelessly extend, however that cuts the bandwidth in half. Ethernet is by far the best option. Essentially your network would go like this.

Internet ---> Modem -Ethernet-> New Time Capsule (DHCP and NAT) -Ethernet-> Old Time Capsule (Bridge Mode)

This would increase the wireless range, add more flexibility, and allow you to keep backing up.

Seems to work in my mind.

Altemose

 

[MCAsan]

When I installed our new TC and Extreme, the TC became the main wifi network source and the Extreme was an extender on the other end of the house. This wifi network is compliant to the ac wifi spec.

The TC get internet connection from a Uverse modem; the modem has wifi turned off. I then cabled from a LAN port on the new TC to the WAN port of the old TC and turned off wifi in the old TC. So the old TC is still in use for backups for my rMBP, ethernet ports for printers, USB ports as needed. The wife's rMBP does backup to the new TC.

 

[Altemose]

Either way you look at it, configuring the old Time Capsule in any way will make it do what you want to do, simply back up and use the hard drive. However, I personally cannot see myself using a piece of networking hardware to not offer a benefit to the network. It really depends on placement of the iMac.