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Talk me into a time capsule

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puma1552

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Original poster
Nov 20, 2008
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im a time capsule away from absolutely completing my setup.

but, i have two computers, and they basically mirror each other, via usb drive, so effectively i have two backups of everything already.

talk me into a time capsule though, let me hear your reasoning for why it is so great and worth the money.
 
I would never buy one. Rather plug my drives into an AEBS.
 
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I know that you want someone to talk you into a time capsule, but in your situation, I wouldn't bother. You have a backup of everything already. I guess one good thing is that you would have an additional backup so if two drives fail then you are ok. It would also be an advantage if you wanted to grab a previous version of a document or if you delete something on both machines by mistake.

Is that worth the money you would spend on a time capsule? To me, probably not but in your situation it may be very important.

Anyway, I hope my rambling helped to some extent. I did purchase a time capsule to keep a backup of both of my computers but it is the only backup that I have and that in itself may be playing with fire. Good luck!
 
Personally, I like the eligant look of having just one white piece of plastic on my desk. It's so very nice. Time machine works great, I've had to back up from a crash on my MBP and it did a great job. Worth every penny. You can save money by getting a ABS and an external, but I did not want all that extra cluter. It works right (most of the time). :D
 
When the Time Capsule was first released, it provided reasonable value when you considered the cost of an AEBS and a 500 GB or 1 TB drive. However, the price of 500 GB and 1 TB drives has decreased dramatically since then, but the price of the TC remains the same. So, what once was a decent value is now massively overpriced.

So, right now, I would have a hard time recommending the Time Capsule. If they lowered the price significantly or doubled the size of the HDs, it might be worth it.
 
rdowns said:
I would never buy one. Rather plug my drives into an AEBS.
Click to expand...

USB access is much much slower then the time capsule drive - unless of course you get a true NAS device with an ethernet connection.

I have one and I also have plugged an external drive an my old AEBS and there's no comparison with regards to performance.
 
I picked up a 1TB one off Craigslist months ago for $200, that was the only reason it was worth it. Other than that, I'd never pay full price for one.
 
maflynn said:
USB access is much much slower then the time capsule drive - unless of course you get a true NAS device with an ethernet connection.

I have one and I also have plugged an external drive an my old AEBS and there's no comparison with regards to performance.
Click to expand...

I've always wondered that. I have a WD attached via USB to my AEBS and I would think the TC would be faster - but had never confirmed it.

I agree with the other posters the TC is a great piece of equipment, but the price hasn't been adjusted recently.

AEBS DB = $179 (amazon.com)
WD My Book 1tb = $119 (amazon.com)
Total = $298

TC 1tb = $499

Truth of the matter the TC 1tb should drop to $299 and they should put in a TC 2tb for $499. I hope we see a price drop by Apple soon or a bump in specs.
 
rkdiddy said:
I agree with the other posters the TC is a great piece of equipment, but the price hasn't been adjusted recently.
Click to expand...
I hate to state the obvious but we all pay a premium for apple equipment and that equipment is well designed, built and integrates itself into the Macs like nothing else. I was probably not extremely clear on my post, I have a TC (not a nas device) and I like it. True, I could have gotten an external drive, but given the limited number of ports my MBP has, I thought this to be a better option.
 
maflynn said:
I hate to state the obvious but we all pay a premium for apple equipment and that equipment is well designed, built and integrates itself into the Macs like nothing else.
Click to expand...

When the Time Capsule was introduced, you had to pay $200 to up the capacity from 500 GB to 1 TB. At the time, that was fairly reasonable. Since then, however, hard drive prices have plummeted. You can now buy two 1 TB drives for the same price Apple charges you for an extra 0.5 TB. This isn’t an example of paying an “Apple premium”, but of Apple failing to adjust their price to reflect the reality of today’s hard drive prices.

If Apple were to keep the same price points, but double the capacities, the value of the Time Capsule would be comparable to when it was introduced (if you adjust for the change in HD prices). Then, it would provide reasonable value, with a slight mark-up for the “apple premium.” As it stands now, the TC is horrendously over-priced.
 
I think I'm going to go ahead and pick one up tonight.

I was really hoping they would make the sides aluminum like the Mac minis while leaving the top white for reception, etc. when they updated them this year, but alas they did not. Given that the updates for them are only like once a year, I guess I can just pick one up now.

I agree on the capacity though, 1 TB and 2 TB should slide into the respective $300 and $500 price points these days.

Still not sure if I should get a 500 GB or a 1 TB though--I have to back up a 320 gig MBP and a 120 gig Air, so I'm thinking a 500 would be fine since by the time I actually fill it the drive itself will probably be at the end of it's lifespan.

I know it says the drives aren't user serviceable, but has anyone replaced their drive with a bigger one later on?
 
Yes, the hard drive can be upgraded. From what I read it is very easy. there are 4 srcews under the bottom. Take them off and you have access to the HD. Replace it with whatever SATA drive you want. I've also read that the "Green" drives work best. They let off very little heat and are quiet. I have not done it yet, but plan to soon. I am still using 500gb TC and it has a ton of room. My MBP is 250gb and it is only have 90bg in use. I have an iMac but that runs time machine from a firewire external. I would buy a refurb TC here and then look into getting a larger HD when you need it. The way TC works.... you keep a back up until the drive runs out of space. So that maybe one year or longer if you have the room. It may also be as little as a few months.
 
Yeah I picked up a 500GB since that was all the store carried which made the decision easy, but I haven't opened it yet.

On my Air I've got maybe 60 GB of files and on my MBP I've got maybe 150 or so so I think the 500 should last me, but I'm still debating on returning it for a 1 TB version.

Though, if the drive is user replaceable then maybe I'll just stick with the 500 GB

I don't really have any plans to add any programs or anything to my computers so I don't see the harddrives really getting much fuller aside from occasional music/software updates/etc.
 
I got one even though I thought it was overpriced.

It does what it is supposed to do , and the router is nice as well...

If you like to do back-ups very very easy - I would purchase if I were you.

CrackBookPro:cool:
 
puma1552 said:
Yeah I picked up a 500GB since that was all the store carried which made the decision easy, but I haven't opened it yet.

On my Air I've got maybe 60 GB of files and on my MBP I've got maybe 150 or so so I think the 500 should last me, but I'm still debating on returning it for a 1 TB version.

Though, if the drive is user replaceable then maybe I'll just stick with the 500 GB

I don't really have any plans to add any programs or anything to my computers so I don't see the harddrives really getting much fuller aside from occasional music/software updates/etc.
Click to expand...

Hi Puma,

Just keep in mind of how the Time Machine program works. How it backs up you will fill up 500gb eventually - even if you didn't put another file on either computer.

This shouldn't be an issue though, because TM will delete older backups as it is running out of space.

Cheers.
 
rkdiddy said:
Hi Puma,

Just keep in mind of how the Time Machine program works. How it backs up you will fill up 500gb eventually - even if you didn't put another file on either computer.

This shouldn't be an issue though, because TM will delete older backups as it is running out of space.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Thanks, can you elaborate further?
 
puma1552 said:
Thanks, can you elaborate further?
Click to expand...

Sure, some people believe the TC mirrors your HD - which isn't the case. It makes incremental back-ups so technically it could (eventually) fill-up any hard drive.

So if you were using it as a nas device as well, you would want to make sure have some extra space to allow the TC to do its' thing.

It's like the old wise tail a fish will grow as large as its' tank. :D
 
J&JPolangin said:
...would it be faster to hook a FW800 drive up to your computer directly and share it over the network to the other machines than using the USB on the AEBS?
Click to expand...

Yes, but then you would always have to leave that computer on. That is the plus to the TC or AEBS w/ HD.
 
anyone know of a wireless N router with an eSata connection? or can recommend a Mac friendly NAS with gigabit connection?
 
alright so i opened it up and got it set up, and chose to import/replace my existing airport express settings, which also included wireless printing to a canon PIXMA iP90v printer

everything went smoothly, but the wireless printing doesnt work--i just set it up on lunch at home during work so i didnt have too much time to play with it, but i was just curious if there is anything to check quickly to get it going? i thought it wouldve worked since it imported all airport express settings
 
im an idiot, the usb cable wasnt pushed in all the way.

so i did the initial backup but i have a question.

it said it was backing up 54 gigs or so (i overestimated how many files i had), and the backup was going along for a few hours and last i saw it was at 41 gigs copied, then i went downstairs and came back and it was already done--no error messages or anything.

so i looked in the system.log and it said it successfully copied 42.9 gigs.

looking on apple support, someone elses log of what they called a successful initial backup was like this, where the actual amount copied was less than the amount requested.

is this right, or did my time capsule quit backing up before it should have?
 
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