Time Capsule or Synology DS213Air

[tonynz]

Hi all,

I have a relatively old router and I would like to purchase a NAS device with a wireless capability built in so that I can plug it into my router via CAT5 and use the new, faster wireless capabilities.

From what I can read - I have two options: Time Capsule or the Synology.

Can someone please give me a recommendation on which one should I use and if the Synology would have relatively fast wireless for our Macbooks?

 

[monsieurpaul]

IMHO, you should look into a new router instead. In addition, you can plug an external hard drive in a airport extreme if you want NAS functionalities.

 

[ColdCase]

If you are going to backup via TimeMachine to the NAS, then choose the TimeCapsule. Otherwise your choice. TimeCasule works very well as a router, wireless access point, NAS combo and is easy to set up.
Synology takes more thought/effort not that its difficult.

Most here set their internet service provider's box router to bypass and use the TimeCapsule (or airport extreme) as the home router. If you don't already have hard dives, the TimeCapsule makes sense as the hard drive come with it at a reasonable cost. If you don't need NAS, then the airport extreme is all you need.

 

[AppleNewton]

you can use a new airport extreme with an external drive as a time machine backup and other backup solution with whatever size and specifications you need

 

[infinityx1]

My Synology boxes are...

.... SO much more than just generic NAS systems. They are leaps and bounds more useful to myself and my clients than a bag of Time Capsules.

And you most certainly can use all, some, or none of the disk space for Time Machine backups over the network.



My experience is with deploying Synology DS112, DS112j, DS412+ in personal and professional configurations ranging from serving media files, hosting (and serving) my iTunes library, local backup for a client's place of business (that remote backs up to the owner's DS112j located offsite). The DS412+ is a phenomenal multipurpose network device with tons of well developed applications.


Synology DSM (the web based GUI OS) is much much more than just a hard drive attached to a USB port attached to your network.

Hope this helps.

 

[glenthompson]

What Infinityx1 said. I have an older DS211 running in raid 1 mode so I have some data protection. Hard to do that with a time capsule. The TC is great for a backup device but you can do a lot more with the Synology.