Is the Time Capsule for me?

[rkdiddy]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a Mac Newbie, only had my MBP for 2-months now.

Unfortunately, my harddrive crashed last night and I lost about 20 hours of work. I do back-up my system to an external but only about every two weeks or so.

Here is my question - I have a Dell PC, a Dell Laptop and a MBP. I need an external harddrive to back-up my graphic/web design files from my MBP and I want to be able to save files from the PC/Laptop on the harddrive.

Is the TC right for me?

If not, can anyone recommend any other options. I currently have a Linksys Wireless G router - so I'm open to upgrade my router if need be.

What do you think?

Thanks in advance.

R

 

[Batt]

TC is for you. No-brain, simple backups. Easy restores. Pick a size and order one.

 

[Knolly]

Got my a TC about a month ago and have never been happier. I'd certainly recommend it.

 

[gwsat]

I have had my TC for not quite a month and love it. My only warning is to not get in too much of a hurry with large backups, especially the first backup. I decided to do mine wirelessly and backing up 80 gig took 20 hours. But it all went on in the background and the backup was perfect. Because of how much time large backups take, many users have been overcome by anxiety neurosis and concluded that something was amiss. Usually it isn’t.

 

[mike12806]

If the OP already has an external drive, if it's USB, why not just get an Airport Extreme? I know it's not "officially sanctioned", but I've been doing AEBS backups for months now with no problems, even with restores.

 

[Batt]

I have had my TC for not quite a month and love it. My only warning is to not get in too much of a hurry with large backups, especially the first backup. I decided to do mine wirelessly and backing up 80 gig took 20 hours. But it all went on in the background and the backup was perfect. Because of how much time large backups take, many users have been overcome by anxiety neurosis and concluded that something was amiss. Usually it isn’t.

I did my initial backup (40GB) via ethernet cable, took about 2 hours.

 

[akm3]

I think a TC is wrong for you.

Maybe I misunderstood your post, but you said you had a Dell laptop and desktop that you also want to be able to backup with. The Time Capsule is formatted in FAT32, and to use Time Machine with your Mac requires HFS+

Therefore, it would only be able to backup your Mac.

Basically, your Dell backups and Time Machine will not reside on the same drive.

I think you should look for another backup solution, or possibly a Time Capsule for your Mac, and a different external hard drive (or NAS) for your Dells.

 

[gwsat]

I did my initial backup (40GB) via ethernet cable, took about 2 hours.

I was aware that an Ethernet backup would be faster than wireless, even 802.11n, but decided to go wireless anyway. I wanted to see how it would work and was not terribly concerned about the extra time it would take. As noted in my first post, the backup was perfect.

 

[larry22]

My wife and I were thinking about Time Capsule. One of my questions is can we use it as both a backup and as an external HD? For example, is it mounted on the Finder?

 

[gwsat]

My wife and I were thinking about Time Capsule. One of my questions is can we use it as both a backup and as an external HD? For example, is it mounted on the Finder?

Yes, it should show up as a Shared drive in the Finder. In addition to backups from Time Machine, I use my Time Capsule to store the .MP4 movie files that I watch in iTunes and on my Apple TV. Based on what I have seen the TC will do just about anything any external drive will do.

 

[larry22]

Okay, thanks. So, why not just get a 1TB external? Is it because of the wireless syncing? Also, how will this work with my Motorola router that I use for Vonage? Sorry if these are elementary questions but thanks for the answers!