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Network setup question--Time Capsule or Airport Extreme

D

dbd7

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 26, 2009
5
0
To date I've used an airport express as a wireless router for my macbook and macbook pro. Both have been manually backed up routinely on external hard drives. I use the macbook as my main media center/media storage and the hard drive is starting is nearly full. I'd like to set up a system where I move my media to an external hard drive and also automate the backup of the mb, mbp, and external hard drive. Would time capsule be the best approach for this and will it backup an external hard drive tied to its usb port. Alternatively, could I tie 2 external hard drives through a usb hub into airport extreme, using one for backing up the laptops and the other external drive?
 
OK - I'm no expert on this but as on-one else has come in yet I'll try and help as best I can.

I don't think you can use time machine to backup to an external disk attached to an AEBS via its usb port - you need a time capsule to do that.

So - you could get a time capsule for time machine for backup of the macs and attach an external usb disk to it for storing your media files - which will be accessible to all the macs on the network.

I'm not sure if time capsule will also back up the external disk attached to it, but I think it may well do.

Hope that helps a little.


EDIT: cancel the above - further reading suggests that since March last year, you can now tie 2 external hard drives through a usb hub into airport extreme, using one for backing up the laptops and the other external drive?.
 
spiritlevel said:
OK - I'm no expert on this but as on-one else has come in yet I'll try and help as best I can.

I don't think you can use time machine to backup to an external disk attached to an AEBS via its usb port - you need a time capsule to do that.

So - you could get a time capsule for time machine for backup of the macs and attach an external usb disk to it for storing your media files - which will be accessible to all the macs on the network.

I'm not sure if time capsule will also back up the external disk attached to it, but I think it may well do.

Hope that helps a little.


EDIT: cancel the above - further reading suggests that since March last year, you can now tie 2 external hard drives through a usb hub into airport extreme, using one for backing up the laptops and the other external drive?.
Click to expand...

Thanks..this is very helpful. I like the idea of TC but not the price. If your edit is correct, this would be the best bet for me as I already have one external hard drive suitable for my media. The combination of airport extreme and a 1tb drive for backups would be much less than comparable TC
 
dbd7 said:
Thanks..this is very helpful. I like the idea of TC but not the price. If your edit is correct, this would be the best bet for me as I already have one external hard drive suitable for my media. The combination of airport extreme and a 1tb drive for backups would be much less than comparable TC
Click to expand...

For less than the price of a TC you can buy a NAS and use it to store your media. I use a D-Link DNS 323, just add two drives of your choice, set them up to run as RAID 1 and off you go. It plugs into your router and then you can use it as you wish.
 
bubbamike said:
For less than the price of a TC you can buy a NAS and use it to store your media. I use a D-Link DNS 323, just add two drives of your choice, set them up to run as RAID 1 and off you go. It plugs into your router and then you can use it as you wish.
Click to expand...
Sry for the topic hijack, but was wondering how you liked the DNS 323 in combination with your mac. Does it work with time machine and such? I am looking for a NAS atm and this was one of my choices.
 
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