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Is it worth it... (Time Capsule)

acearchie

acearchie

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 15, 2006
3,264
104
My dad is traveling to NY this weekend and I was going to ask him to pick up a time capsule for me as I can save £50 on the 500gb and £70 on the 1TB version. However I have read very many disappointing reviews on the US apple store?

Should I be concerned, the majority of them say its a floored product and I should wait for an update (which I doubt will come!)

I just wanted to know your suggestions from owners/potential owners like me!

Thanks
 
I keep hearing good things. Many of the problems were before the latest Airport update. Since then I've heard narry a whisper.

TEG
 
I love it!

I got it to replace my airport extreme that only had 100meg ports. So far it has been fantastic. My wife got a MB and that same day her G5 iMac died (out of warranty as of 30 days prior) and I was able to do a migration from the backup on the time capsule onto her new MB and she was ready to go with no data loss.

I'm an IT guy with a technical background, but anything that makes it where I don't have to worry about "is the data backed up?" is golden in my book. Combine that with the 11n airport functionality and it is definitely worth it. On a pricing perspective I'd get the 500gig and hold off on the 1TB version. Removing system files and applications from the backup I've been able to squeeze 3 mac's on there with 100gig still free.
 
Ill mostly be using it in my room at school where I will move around with my laptop so are things like editing on the move something I could do... What about watching films etc... on the move I.e. from the room above?

Also what are the specs of the HDD? Is it 7200rpm?

And whats the range like to a:

1. N compatible computer?
2. G compatible computer?

Oh and does the disk that comes with it unlock unlimited computers to the N compatibilty or only say 5?

Thanks for all these odd questions but I just really want to make sure it's something I want to buy!
 
I'm getting an Airport Extreme with an external USB drive attached. Not quite sure why I'm doing that over the Time Capsule though :p
 
I am right in thinking that the time capsule is an airport extreme with an inbuilt hard drive? There specs. are the same?

Thanks
 
acearchie said:
I am right in thinking that the time capsule is an airport extreme with an inbuilt hard drive? There specs. are the same?

Thanks
Click to expand...

that's exactly what it is..
it also takes up less room than AEBS + External HDD

I've had my Time Capsule for about 2 weeks now and it's really cool!

I've not had a real need to actually go into Time Machine and receover any files yet, but IF that time ever comes, I'll know that whatever I am looking for will be there :)

I'd go for the 500GB as it's more bang for the buck (so to speak).
 
Abstract said:
It's smarter to get them separately, since the AEBS and harddisk now work with Time Machine.
Click to expand...
Personally, I wouldn't recommend that until Apple officially lists it as a supported configuration and the ratio of "I can't get it to work" to "It works great" posts drops.
 
It's hard to quantify whether or not it's worth it until your hard disk craps out on you and you have to recover the past few years of work you've saved. Fortunately, that hasn't been the case with me

Aside from the initial backup - which it's best to let run overnight plus about a half-day, backing up is essentially invisible. It's unobtrusive and doesn't seem to slow things down when it happens.

It's also small. Smaller than a base station and an external hard drive.

So yeah - I think it's worth it.
 
Thanks guys I think there are a few questions still unanswered in the 4th post and if anyone could answer them I would be most appreciative!

But thanks for all the help! I am almost definitely going to get one...

Just still wondering on a few things...

For instance I think the time capsule is gigabit ethernet and my powerbook is the one below (what ever you call that) what sort of transfer speeds could I expect? (can i even connect to the hard drive via ethernet?)

Thanks
 
I know I know, I dont lie bumping but my dad leaves tommorow, and as a student £150 is alot of money considering I have no pocket money and the summer job is still a fair few months away!

I would really appreciate my unanswered questions being answered!

Thanks!
 
I was mostly pleased with mine for 2 weeks. I got none of the problems I was reading about (dropped connections, disk not mounting, no internet, etc.), but I did get 2 total lockups in the first week, which worried me about the overall reliability of the device. Then I woke up one morning and it was asking for a username and password (should have only asked for password), and I was locked out of disk functions. I didn't feel like resetting it and starting over, so I erased the disk and took it back for a refund. Now I'm back to my trusty Linksys that hasn't given me any problems in years of use. Perhaps I'll give it another try when v2 comes out, or get an AEBS.
 
Time Capsule is Gigabit. My Powerbook G4 is also Gigabit, so I did my first backup with a wired Ethernet connection. Since then, all the backups have been over wireless.

I have 4 Macs backing up to a 1TB TC with no problems. As stated before, it runs transparently in the background. It's a simple, non-intrusive insurance plan for your data.
 
Thanks these two, although contrasting, points have been very helpful!

I think Ill go ahead with the purchase! But once again I wasnt to thank everyone who helped!

Im glad to know there is someone else out there who has used it with a Powerbook, although compatibility was not an issue it's always more reassuring when someone else has tried out your set up!

Thanks!
 
I have an Airport extreme and have just bought a Time Capsule, is it possible to use them together and if so would there be any advantage or disadvantage in doing so?? or should I just try and sale the airport extreme and only use the Time Capsule??
Thanks
 
ndwgolf said:
I have an Airport extreme and have just bought a Time Capsule, is it possible to use them together and if so would there be any advantage or disadvantage in doing so?? or should I just try and sale the airport extreme and only use the Time Capsule??
Thanks
Click to expand...
The only advantages to using both would be to either extended your n network for better coverage if you needed to or to run two separate netowrks, one n only and one b/g/n. If you don't need to do either of those two things, then sell the AEBS.
 
flopticalcube said:
The only advantages to using both would be to either extended your n network for better coverage if you needed to or to run two separate netowrks, one n only and one b/g/n. If you don't need to do either of those two things, then sell the AEBS.
Click to expand...

Apparently your Time Capsule performance will be substantially reduced if it's not set up as the primary router.

An excellent and thorough review:

http://www.macintouch.com/reviews/timecapsule/
 
acearchie said:
My dad is traveling to NY this weekend and I was going to ask him to pick up a time capsule for me as I can save £50 on the 500gb and £70 on the 1TB version. However I have read very many disappointing reviews on the US apple store?

Should I be concerned, the majority of them say its a floored product and I should wait for an update (which I doubt will come!)

I just wanted to know your suggestions from owners/potential owners like me!

Thanks
Click to expand...

I don't think there is anything wrong with it as a product. It does what it is supposed to do. The very first backup will take ages (if you have a computer with 200 GB of data or so), but who cares? From then on you should not notice it at all, until you lost a file or your computer's hard drive crashes (hope it doesn't).

You can get the same functionality much cheaper if you don't want it wireless: Just buy a cheap external hard drive; you get 500 GB for £70, and plug it into your computer every evening or so. The difference is that Time Capsule will backup your computer, whether you remember it or not.
 
gnasher729 said:
You can get the same functionality much cheaper if you don't want it wireless: Just buy a cheap external hard drive; you get 500 GB for £70, and plug it into your computer every evening or so. The difference is that Time Capsule will backup your computer, whether you remember it or not.
Click to expand...

Yes but Im also looking for seamless wireless integration and am eager to stick to the apple brand (then there is no excuse for it not to work!)

I want to be able to access the files from a friends room upstairs and save space on my desk!
 
Time Capsule, especially the 500 GB model, appears to be a bargain, especially if you don't already have a wireless-n router. The article I linked recommends backing up the first time with an Ethernet connection and using wireless after that. The review also talks about connecting an external USB drive to Time Capsule to make redundant backups.
 
Yes this is good, a few people suggested buying an airport extreme and an external hard drive but they forget that although the time capsule has the inbuilt hard drive it can also accomplish this task aswell with an external hard drive making the possibilities endless!
 
I bought one and tried it out but was not impressed. I took it back. I was backing up over 130GB and it took forever and often would not complete. I did get the first update for the airport utility but it still didn't work well. For my Imac I already had a 500GB drive dedicated for backup so the Airport was kind of a wash because I already had a backup drive. For my MBA it wold be awesome but I also had an external drive dedicated for it. Now that the Airport Extreme works with Time Capsule, this is a much better solution for me. For those that don't already have dedicated drives, go for it. Anything that backups up without user interaction is worth it. It is your data, what is it worth to you.
 
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