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REALLY need some advice on external harddrives/time capsule/router

B

Burtonsnow9

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 22, 2008
137
0
alright guys, i'm really in a dilemma here as what to do. i will be going to college in the fall and just got a mbp and need a router and a backup solution.

-i want 500gigs storage
-to be able to share my printer on network
-not have network performance hindered by backups

i can either get:
- a time capsule for $279
-or i could get a AEBS for $159 (both student discounts) and then best buy has a sale right now for western digital drives so i was looking at the My Book Studion 500gig for only $139 right now! or the My Book Essential 500gig for only $95!

now what should i do? i wont mind plugging the backup drive directly into my computer so it will be faster and not hinder network performance.
 
Burtonsnow9 said:
alright guys, i'm really in a dilemma here as what to do. i will be going to college in the fall and just got a mbp and need a router and a backup solution for home and then college. i want 500gigs storage and be able to share my printer on network. i can either get a time capsule for $279 or i could get a AEBS for $159 (both student discounts) and then best buy has a sale right now for western digital drives so i was looking at the My Book Studion 500gig for only $139 right now! or the My Book Essential 500gig for only $95! now what should i do?
Click to expand...

Get the time capsule. Then, as you need to, get more hard drives. The $ per GB of the TC is competitive with other hard drives, and you won't have any worries about the functionality as you would with AEBS + hard drive (not saying it won't work, just that Apple has been hinky about support).
 
I recently purchased a My Book Home Edition from WD for data backup. Looks like you've found a great deal on a similar one. Time Capsule is not a bad deal; the price is decent and it has all the features you are looking for. You can even attach a usb hub to it to allow you to connect a printer and usb hard drive.

Personally I would buy the AEBS and attach an external drive to it. That way you have the option to connect the HDD directly to your Mac and boot off of it. Having said that, I would recommend you use and app like Super Duper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable backup. Time Machine does not create a bootable backup.
 
these are both good thoughts but i'm still torn between what to do. i also found a $65 giftcard to walmart and they are selling the my book essential 500 gigs for $95 so i could get it for $30.
 
ok i know someone else has some inpt on what i should do.

and who uses a WD My Book Essential edition, and if you do, do you like it?
 
Time Capsule. You're gonna get sick of unmounting that WD and pulling the cable every time you want to walk 3 feet with your MBP.
I know.
 
Batt said:
Time Capsule. You're gonna get sick of unmounting that WD and pulling the cable every time you want to walk 3 feet with your MBP.
I know.
Click to expand...

so does backing up/watching movies over the network affect performance?
 
alright thats good to know. i will prob go for the time capsule then, but i think i still need another drive to hold all of my movies and extra pictures and stuff. is the wd my book essential good enough?
 
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