Looking to buy a new router that will let me have a network hard drive and printing

[TheGarrett]

Hello there! I'm currently using a Linksys WRT160n wireless router which I have so far been very pleased with except the fact that it lacks the ability to host a hard drive and a printer for access on both my PC and my new MacBook.
I have been researching and seem to find that Apple's routing products are the most affordable for my needs.
I am debating on the following combination's:

1) Apple TimeCapsule 1 TB $299

2) Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station $179 + Fantom G-Force II 1 TB External HDD $99.99

3) Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station $179 + Custom Built HDD using: WD 640GB AALS $74.99 & Rosewill Enclosure $39.99

I'm more concerned about performance more than anything. I would want to partition out the hard drive for my MacBook to have about half the space for Time Machine backups (not sure how much I actually need for a 250GB hard drive in my macbook). Then I'd want around 100GB to stream music and video to the systems on the network (My MacBook, my Windows 7 machine, and my xbox 360 if possible). I'd also like to be able to have a partition to back up select parts of my Windows PC such as financial databases and virtual receipts (which I would use batch scripting to do vs. a third-party app). I'd want to be able to connect my color printer to the network as well so I can print papers and reports directly from my macbook instead of having to turn on my desktop and print through it.

I'm on a limited budget but I want to buy the right setup the first time around instead of getting something that will work sort-of-kind-of and save money.

I hope this makes sense and I hope you all can help me make the right choice. Thank you!

Garrett

 

[stridemat]

As you are on a limited budget you are better off going with the AEBS with an external hard drive, however for pure simplicity I would spend that little bit more and get the TC as its a much simpler setup and is guaranteed not to be broken by future updates.

 

[rfrankl]

As you are on a limited budget you are better off going with the AEBS with an external hard drive, however for pure simplicity I would spend that little bit more and get the TC as its a much simpler setup and is guaranteed not to be broken by future updates.

+1

 

[tbayrgs]

As you are on a limited budget you are better off going with the AEBS with an external hard drive, however for pure simplicity I would spend that little bit more and get the TC as its a much simpler setup and is guaranteed not to be broken by future updates.

+1 for TC. I have 500 GB TC with both a 1 TB external attached via USB and my printer networked via ethernet--has worked perfectly. The TC only has one USB but I believe I saw in a thread here that with Snow Leopard you can now attach both an external HD and printer via a USB hub.

 

[TheGarrett]

Thank you all for your responses!
With the TC, can you partition the internal drive?
I have a few USB hubs laying around that I could use if I needed one, so that isn't an issue.
Thanks again!
Garrett

 

[Andrew Henry]

+1 for TC. I have 500 GB TC with both a 1 TB external attached via USB and my printer networked via ethernet--has worked perfectly. The TC only has one USB but I believe I saw in a thread here that with Snow Leopard you can now attach both an external HD and printer via a USB hub.

You've always been able to do that, I've had 3 harddrives and 1 printer attached via USB hub for awhile now!

Andrew

And no you can't partition the TC drive, unless I'm missing it somewhere!?

 

[TheGarrett]

How could I organize the 1TB TC if that's what I got since it cannot be partitioned? I'm not sure how Time Machine works as far as where it puts the backups and how they're structured on the file system of the drive.
Also, I found a refurb 500GB TC in the Apple store, would it be a better idea to get that, use the internal for Time Machine, and buy an external for sharing files in the LAN? Is there any performance differences between the reurb 500GB TC and the new 1TB TC? Also, what features would the 500GB lack?