Please recommend a wireless network setup

[ToomeyND]

All,

I was reading the thread about AC routers, and it got me thinking. My wife and I are likely going to be getting MBAs pretty soon, and I'd like to make backing up data and such easier. Here is what I would like done. How do you recommend I get there?

For my wife: Ability to back up time machine wirelessly (roughly 128 gigs of data)

For me: Ability to back up to time machine wirelessly (200 gigs including iTunes and iPhoto)
Also, I have about 400 gigs of movies that I would like to have access to within my wireless network (and probably back them up as well). I'd like to offload some of my 50 GB iPhoto library to it so that it isn't taking up the room on my laptop.

So I'm talking about roughly 750 Gigs of data that requires time machine functionality as well as (I think separate) storage. No hardcore usage. Just backup as well as storing movies that I will access occasionally.

What's the best way to do this? NAS seems like overkill for me. But I could be dead wrong. I want to think that a 2-bay usb 3.0 attached to the router would work, but I don't know how well wireless time machine would play with that.

Thanks for your thoughts!

----------

Before it gets said, I'm aware that I should clean out my iPhoto library a bit. But it's hard to cull from all of the photos of family and friends!

 

[thats all folks]

seriously?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE182LL/A/refurbished-airport-time-capsule-3tb

although, I have not been impressed with the new routers. Would recommend the previous gen over this.

 

[ToomeyND]

seriously?
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FE182LL/A/refurbished-airport-time-capsule-3tb

although, I have not been impressed with the new routers. Would recommend the previous gen over this.

But there would be no redundancy for whatever I store externally. I get that it would work for the time machine, but movies and photos stored externally wouldn't have any duplication.

 

[Macman45]

I have a similar situation.

The scenario:

iMac 27" 3TB Fusion Drive
rMBP 13" 500GB SSD

Pegasus R4 contains 4TB of media.

The backup in operation:

3TB Time Capsule backs up both Macs, but excludes ( obviously ) the R4

Lacie 4TB USB 3 HDD mirrors the media collection

It's reliable and after performing the initial backups on both your Macs, you won't even notice it's working.

The bonus is that the TC also has four Ethernet ports and provides rock solid wifi around the house. Don't be tempted to scrimp and buy the 2TB Time Calpsule though, go with the 3

Hope this helps

 

[ToomeyND]

I have a similar situation.



Hope this helps

It does help, macman, thanks.

However, don't you have to plug in the Pegasus and Lacie into the computer? I am hoping to do it all wirelessly. Or does one of he drives plug into the time capsule? I know that it isn't as much if a burden with the iMac, but win two airs, it'd be nice to hide the drives somewhere and not mess with cables.

My needs are small enough that the time machine drive (even if it's the time capsule) can back up the two computers and all of my media. However, how do I go about having the wireless external storage with a time capsule setup?

 

[hallux]

If you REALLY want redundancy, consider an off-site backup. A mirrored RAID will be of ZERO benefit if, God forbid, your house burns down. This is the BIGGEST mistake people make when considering a backup plan.

I use a combination of an external drive for local TM backups and CrashPlan to back up my MOST irreplaceable files outside my home so if something DOES happen at my home I still have a copy.

 

[thats all folks]

But there would be no redundancy for whatever I store externally. I get that it would work for the time machine, but movies and photos stored externally wouldn't have any duplication.

That is true. That wasn't part of your original requirement. But if you want network storage, a file server and continuous protection, then you will have to spend more. Something with two drives, like this,
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/974637-REG/synology_ds213j_diskstation_2_bay_nas.html

That will need to be plugged into an ethernet port on your router or switch. And that company makes many variations on this, including a model that expands to 36 drives.

You need to add your own drives to that,
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...al_wd30efrx_3_TB_WD_Red.html/pageID/accessory
Or go with 4TB if you feel motivated.

But if all that is really on this is Time Machine backups, and movies. As you mentioned, the Time Machines are already backups. If you want further protection on the computers better to use a program like SuperDuper and make a full system backup to an external. A drive you can actually boot from, om yours or most any other Mac. The movies could also be backed up on an external, a much cheaper (if slightly manual) solution to a multi-drive NAS.

 

[ToomeyND]

Good Advice

Thats all folks,

After you wrote this all out, it really does make a lot more sense to have the movies on an external usb drive for occasional plug-in. I don't access them that often, so it wouldn't be that much of a headache to pull it out for movie transfers.

Thanks again to all of the responders.

 

[Altemose]

All,

I was reading the thread about AC routers, and it got me thinking. My wife and I are likely going to be getting MBAs pretty soon, and I'd like to make backing up data and such easier. Here is what I would like done. How do you recommend I get there?

For my wife: Ability to back up time machine wirelessly (roughly 128 gigs of data)

For me: Ability to back up to time machine wirelessly (200 gigs including iTunes and iPhoto)
Also, I have about 400 gigs of movies that I would like to have access to within my wireless network (and probably back them up as well). I'd like to offload some of my 50 GB iPhoto library to it so that it isn't taking up the room on my laptop.

So I'm talking about roughly 750 Gigs of data that requires time machine functionality as well as (I think separate) storage. No hardcore usage. Just backup as well as storing movies that I will access occasionally.

What's the best way to do this? NAS seems like overkill for me. But I could be dead wrong. I want to think that a 2-bay usb 3.0 attached to the router would work, but I don't know how well wireless time machine would play with that.

Thanks for your thoughts!

----------

Before it gets said, I'm aware that I should clean out my iPhoto library a bit. But it's hard to cull from all of the photos of family and friends!

I would get a 3 TB Time Capsule for purely Time Machine. Then depending on what you can afford, get a simple USB drive for storage and periodically use Carbon Copy Cloner or schedule it to back up the external drive. Everything will mount to this drive and it should give decent performance.

If you can afford a better system, you could get an NAS or even have an old PC handle it. That would be the better idea, but it all depends on what you are willing to pay.

I have a Western Digital 500 GB USB 2.0 hard drive plugged into my 6th generation (AC) AirPort Extreme. I believe it runs at 7200 RPM. I do not have the exact model but I ran a speed test for you to see the performance.

 

[ToomeyND]

I would get a 3 TB Time Capsule for purely Time Machine. Then depending on what you can afford, get a simple USB drive for storage and periodically use Carbon Copy Cloner or schedule it to back up the external drive. Everything will mount to this drive and it should give decent performance.

If you can afford a better system, you could get an NAS or even have an old PC handle it. That would be the better idea, but it all depends on what you are willing to pay.

I have a Western Digital 500 GB USB 2.0 hard drive plugged into my 6th generation (AC) AirPort Extreme. I believe it runs at 7200 RPM. I do not have the exact model but I ran a speed test for you to see the performance.

This is good advice. I ended up ordering the Asus RT-AC68U. It has 2 usb ports, so I will use one existing 2 TB external plugged into it as a Time Machine backup for both computers, and I will use the other existing 2 TB external as a storage device. Essentially, I'm doing what you recommend, but I'm saving a bit of money over the TC because of two external drives I already own.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Although slightly different than what I ended up doing, it confirms that the decision was a good one.

 

[octothorpe8]

I got a new Airport Extreme and plugged an existing USB drive into it. Has the same functionality as a Time Capsule, but I'm not locked into paying Apple's price for hard drive space. I'm frankly surprised they officially enabled this, but they did. I'm backing up two MacBooks and a Mini to the drive and it's been perfect so far.

I also have an Airport Express in my kitchen that's plugged into a pair of speakers for Airplaying music. The whole setup is solid, fast and was pretty easy to configure.

 

[Altemose]

This is good advice. I ended up ordering the Asus RT-AC68U. It has 2 usb ports, so I will use one existing 2 TB external plugged into it as a Time Machine backup for both computers, and I will use the other existing 2 TB external as a storage device. Essentially, I'm doing what you recommend, but I'm saving a bit of money over the TC because of two external drives I already own.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Although slightly different than what I ended up doing, it confirms that the decision was a good one.

I am not sure how consistent the ASUS is in terms of Time Machine. Not to add confusion, but any USB hub can be used with any AirPort Extreme or AirPort Time Capsule. I use five drives on one of my Extremes and it doesn't affect speed much at all. In fact the difference is so negligible I never saw a difference.

 

[ToomeyND]

I am not sure how consistent the ASUS is in terms of Time Machine. Not to add confusion, but any USB hub can be used with any AirPort Extreme or AirPort Time Capsule. I use five drives on one of my Extremes and it doesn't affect speed much at all. In fact the difference is so negligible I never saw a difference.

Thanks for the info. I was curious as to whether a hub could be used to connect storage to a router. I chose the Asus based on the smallnetbuilder site describing it as the best router they test. I'm hoping reliability is part of it!

 

[Altemose]

Thanks for the info. I was curious as to whether a hub could be used to connect storage to a router. I chose the Asus based on the smallnetbuilder site describing it as the best router they test. I'm hoping reliability is part of it!

A USB hub can be used to connect USB hard drives or flash drives so long as it is a powered hub. You cannot use the ones that just use the power over the USB ports.