I've been reading about these drives. Is there something specific about them that makes them better than the others? If not specifics then what? mojo?
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Is the Apple Time Capsule worth it?
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I've been reading about these drives. Is there something specific about them that makes them better than the others? If not specifics then what? mojo?
They are well constructed, aluminum (to transfer heat and for strength), seem to stay cool without a fan running 24/7, and its easy to replace drives in the housings (most drives are sealed in the housings and some have non-standard interfaces so you can't replace the drives). I look at it this way -- if an external drive costs the same as a bare drive, the drive housing can't be very good!
You are also buying from a company that sells to Mac users only, so you know it will be compatible.
sold! do they have the power block on the outside too?
I can't put it off any longer. My current is a WD so I have to unplug it just in case. In order to fix it I need to do a firmware update. but in order to do so I need to back up the data but have nowhere to put it. And the final straw I go to do stuff on it this morning and realize it's read only because it's windows format. in which case I still need somewhere to put it in order to really fix the formate (no app fixing).
The nice thing about the TC is that it doesn't have to be physically connected to your iMac or other computers. It could be "hidden". Having backup drives in different locations is also a good idea if you take your equipment with you. You could also consider an offsite cloud back up. I am currently using CrashPlan. I don't have any idea how good it will be if I actually need it but it seems to have gotten some good reviews. I would also highly recommend some recovery software for your computers in case stolen. I recommend UnderCover. I've never had to use it but I am thoroughly impressed with it. I feel very confident my computers could be recovered if stolen.
I was on the fence, when I happened to look on ebay. NewEgg had the 2TB TC on sale for $249 with free shipping and no tax. Normally I don't care for ebay, but I do trust NewEgg.
Bruce
Bruce
Called Other world Computing. They said that the OWC Mercury Elite Pro will auto eject when the computer sleeps or restarts and auto mount when it awakes or starts. I will confirm when mine comes.
The icybox and 3Tb Toshiba combination in my sig was £130 and didn't need more than a screwdriver and disk utility. It's rapid over Firewire 800 (80+ Mb/d read/write), the enclosure supports all HDD capacities and it has USB 3.0, eSATA and dual Firewire 800 so it's rapid no matter what Mac you use it with. I'm sure for the price of a time capsule, you could find a RAID 1 equivalent and 2 x 4Tb drives if need be.
All those "Backup" drives are plagued with un-mounting issues, only have 5400rpm drives that are likely of the Green variety and are priced WAY higher than the sum of their components.
All those "Backup" drives are plagued with un-mounting issues, only have 5400rpm drives that are likely of the Green variety and are priced WAY higher than the sum of their components.
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Recommendations
I like the OWC drives myself, but as others have said any one would do. Here is a link:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
I like the OWC drives myself, but as others have said any one would do. Here is a link:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
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I can confirm OWC mercury elite pro does in deed stay mounted. It does seem to run pretty loud though. WD makes zero sound. The owc one hums pretty loud. Mine at least.
I think you may have a bad drive. I've got four of them spinning away, albeit about 10 feet from my desk, but I never hear them or the mini they are attached to. I have owned external drives that were loud. One good thing about these is that they are easy to open and replace the bare drive if it fails or becomes outdated (all 7 were bought as 1TB drives or empty housings and now all but 2 have 2, 3 or 4 TB drives in them).
The light wasn't working so I returned it. They will send me a new one in a could days. I hope it was defective. I have a wooden desk. I put the drive in a cupord. The cupboard was like a base woofer for it. I will report back.
I don't think the "Airport Time Capsules" are worth it because you can't access/change the disk (at least not easily). I have an Airport Extreme with 3 disks attached to it, 2 for backup of my iMac and MBP, one for filez. One disk is an OWC that has basically been on for over 3 years straight and never failed (knocks on wood). I'm still creating "Time Capsule" backups, but I'm using the Airport Extreme to do it. And you can keep adding disks to it. I also had my printer on it for a while until it broke. It only has one USB port, you just need to pick up a decent powered USB hub, it is supposed to support up to 99 devices.
I can also access the disks from anywhere because the Airport Extreme is connected to my iCloud account.
I can also access the disks from anywhere because the Airport Extreme is connected to my iCloud account.
Good point. The Time Capsules at least early on even had a reputation for disk failure (from heat?). The Airport Extreme gives the same WIFI capabilities but lets you run external, cooler, easy to replace drives.
That said, I've got an Airport Extreme but have never attached any drives since I also have a Mac mini server. If all I wanted was file sharing from the server, this does look like a good way to go.
I have a TC and its great. except the fact that it has a relatively slow LAN throughput speed. While this won't make much of a difference for time machine backup (as it runs in the background) it does make a difference when transferring files. most HDDs will do 100MB/s but the AE/TC will only do 30-40.
So i wouldn't use the AE/TC as a ethernet link between computers (although its quite good for wifi). OP, keep this in mind when making decisions. also you can check out smallnetbuilder website (google it) for some good info about home networking.
Good luck.
I had a 1st gen TC that was fantastic. It was dead silent and ran TM perfectly on my MBP up until it died, about 18-24 months ago. When I did some research and corresponded with a few techs who repair them, I discovered my TC had a surprisingly long life compared to its brethren. The original design did cause the drives to overheat.
However, I understand the new design has addressed this and it is no longer an issue. Apple does learn from its mistakes and almost always fixes old problems in newer generations.
I was considering replacing my TC this year but I must use my Internet provider's wireless router, which makes the TC over-priced for my needs. I also decided I really need additional media storage and a bootable backup of my system (which I've been keeping on a portable drive). Localizing everything in one place, as well as finding a better media server, has led me in the direction of building a NAS. I've never built anything like that before, so I still haven't sorted exactly how I'm going to do it.
That being said, if you want a wireless external drive, need a WiFi router, and plan to use TM, the TC is an excellent solution. It runs seamlessly with TM, couldn't be easier to set up, and I've been told this generation is just as silent as the original. Once my TC was setup I never even thought about it unless I needed to access accidentally deleted or earlier versions of files. I loved and was heartbroken when it died.
In addition, the TC is supposed to have "server grade" hard drive, so essentially it should spin on the slower side (5400 RPM vs 7200, for example) and have firmware settings that address issues such as how frequently they park/unpark, etc.
There are different schools of thought, but in theory these settings and the design of the drive should make it more stable, to eliminate data loss/corruption, and extend its life. Remember, this drive I'd on 24/7 and working most of the time. A typical desktop drive, which is most likely what you'll find in most external hard drives, does not work nearly that much and the desire is generally for speed and performance. Different needs, different drives. According to those who subscribe to this idea, one would expect less stability, shorter drive life, and a higher failure rate from a desktop drive hooked up to the AE and using TM.
Then again, unless someone opens their TC, there's no way to know for sure if it really has a NAS/server hard drive or a regular old desktop drive.