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Safe to buy a Time Capsule now?

I

ICEBreaker

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 12, 2007
270
3
Dear forum members,

Like many people here, I have an iMac and a MacBook Pro and would like a backup solution for both computers. The Time Capsule seems like the perfect solution. Yet, memories of the epidemic scale of failures still haunts me. Therefore, I was wondering what's the consensus at the moment. Has Apple fixed the power supply problem? Is it safe to buy a Time Capsule now?

Are there any alternative solutions to the Time Capsule (while still using Time Machine wirelessly). Some people have noted the use of an external hard disk connected to the Airport Extreme. Is this actually possible without a hack?

Thank you in advance for your kind assistance.

- - -
 
My TC died on my last night, I bought it in March of 08. I called Apple, they are sending me a replacement at no cost. I am out of warranty and do not have apple care. I asked the applecare rep if the problem was fixed and she said it is. They supposedly have a new power supply installed in them.
 
I've taken mine apart many times and I'm going to mod the fan to blow into the power supply, hopefully cooling it a little. The current design blasts air at the top corner of the HDD. Completely pointless imo.
 
ICEBreaker said:
Dear forum members,

Like many people here, I have an iMac and a MacBook Pro and would like a backup solution for both computers. The Time Capsule seems like the perfect solution. Yet, memories of the epidemic scale of failures still haunts me. Therefore, I was wondering what's the consensus at the moment. Has Apple fixed the power supply problem? Is it safe to buy a Time Capsule now?

Are there any alternative solutions to the Time Capsule (while still using Time Machine wirelessly). Some people have noted the use of an external hard disk connected to the Airport Extreme. Is this actually possible without a hack?

Thank you in advance for your kind assistance.

- - -
Click to expand...
It was safe two years ago. That's how long mine has been working without a hitch.
 
Hellhammer, do you know which of the current USB hard drives work best with the AEBS? I just bought an Iomega Prestige 1.5TB and it wasn't recognised by it. Had to take it back and don't want to make the same mistake twice. ;)
 
Catman77 said:
Hellhammer, do you know which of the current USB hard drives work best with the AEBS? I just bought an Iomega Prestige 1.5TB and it wasn't recognised by it. Had to take it back and don't want to make the same mistake twice. ;)
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but I don't :( Apple pretty much says that any USB HD should work

It may require some playing with settings so check this, this and this
 
Hi guys! Thanks so much for all your replies, especially Hellhammer. I just have one more concern:

I heard that the Time Capsule takes ages to sync wirelessly, especially during the first run. If I am using Airport Extreme with a USB drive, wouldn't that take forever, since USB is so slow.
 
ICEBreaker said:
Hi guys! Thanks so much for all your replies, especially Hellhammer. I just have one more concern:

I heard that the Time Capsule takes ages to sync wirelessly, especially during the first run. If I am using Airport Extreme with a USB drive, wouldn't that take forever, since USB is so slow.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it takes forever. I gave up and went back to FireWire.
 
First backup always use an ethernet cable connected to the TC. I don't have a TC, but have an iomega NAS that has the same performance as the TC when doing time machine backups (which is about 13MBytes/s over wire or around 5-7MB/s over Wireless-N) ...

Backups take forever, but restores are quicker.
 
ICEBreaker said:
Hi guys! Thanks so much for all your replies, especially Hellhammer. I just have one more concern:

I heard that the Time Capsule takes ages to sync wirelessly, especially during the first run. If I am using Airport Extreme with a USB drive, wouldn't that take forever, since USB is so slow.
Click to expand...

Yeah it takes long time due limits of wireless technology, but just leave it running overnight and you're fine. USB is still faster than the tech AirPort Extreme or TC supports so USB ain't limiting it.

I think you can do the first backup with USB plugged in your Mac and then move it to AirPort Extreme and use it wirelessly, so the first backup won't take ages
 
Hmm. I don't think you can do this, Hellhammer.

What you can do, according to the threads, is hook up the hard drive to the airport extreme via USB, then hook up your computer to your airport extreme via ethernet cable, and do the first back up that way (all subsequent backups done wirelessly).
 
Catman77 said:
Hmm. I don't think you can do this, Hellhammer.

What you can do, according to the threads, is hook up the hard drive to the airport extreme via USB, then hook up your computer to your airport extreme via ethernet cable, and do the first back up that way (all subsequent backups done wirelessly).
Click to expand...

Can you link those threads? I have no idea is it possible but can't see why not..
First backup takes long time but not THAT long, just leave it running overnight etc, it's still fully usable when backing up.
 
fehhkk said:
First backup always use an ethernet cable connected to the TC. I don't have a TC, but have an iomega NAS that has the same performance as the TC when doing time machine backups (which is about 13MBytes/s over wire or around 5-7MB/s over Wireless-N) ...

Backups take forever, but restores are quicker.
Click to expand...

This is the correct method.
 
OK, thank you to everyone who helped me out. You guys are great. OK, I will hook up the Airport Extreme via ethernet cable to do the initial backup.

The reason why speed is very important is because I am actually doing this at a friend's place. I want to be able to do the initial backup, followed by a wireless run, on both the iMac AND the Macbook Pro within a couple of hours (say 5 hours). I am not doing this at home where I can leave things running for hours on end.
 
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