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Time Capsule Very Slow

Pagemakers

Pagemakers

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Mar 28, 2008
2,951
1,227
Manchester UK
The performance of my Time Capsule has massively degraded in the past few weeks.

I connect by LAN from several iMacs and via wifi from my laptop.

Backup up is now very slow and it can even take several minutes to simply access Time Machine. Navigating Time Machine is awfully slow and juddery. It never was before.

As a test I copied a 480 MB file from 1 iMac to the other and this was achieved in about 10 seconds. If I copy the same file to my Time Machine disk on the same network it takes about 8 minutes.

Why the slowdown and how can I fix it? Tried re-booting etc to no avail.
 
On cabled / wireless?

Over cabled, 1MBytes/Sec is rather slow - it should be around five - seven times that normally over cabled on Gigabit on a reasonably populated network, with best possible being about ten times.

On wireless, anything's possible with Time Crapsule.
 
I presume you've tried powering it down and up again?

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't read the last line of your OP.

Not that I think it'll make a huge difference, but is the switch showing up a Gigabit connection to the TC or Megabit?
 
GB

I just tried to access TM again...

Takes about 30 secs to connect to it and display TM. Then I need to wait about 20 secs before I can access the dates on the RHS. Then when I click on a date it can take 2-60 seconds before moving to the date and then it can take between 10-30 seconds before displaying the information in the finder window. All of this before was almost instant.

Is there a way to verify and repair the TC disk?
 
Someone correct me if I'm (hopefully) wrong, but I think you can only format the TC.

My laptops are as slow as hell over wireless to TC, but seeing as it is a poor man's NAS I'm not realistically expecting significantly more than what you''re getting in most situations. Fortunately the lappy's which sit on the TC don't see major data changes. For me, something goes wrong every three months or so and rather than troubleshoot for ages I start over with the backups.
 
Disk Utility can only be run on the actual backup sparsebundle image, it cannot be run on the actual drive of the Time Capsule itself.
 
True enough, but AirPort Utility has an erase feature for the Time Capsule's HDD in the Disks tab.
 
I noticed a slowdown in mine after one of the latest software upgrades, but I don't remember exactly which one. Ironically, I think it was the one that promised to fix some of the TC's issues.
 
Tc

I bought A Time Capsule about 4 days ago and it has yet to successfully complete a backup through Time Machine. I have even had the entire shooting match into the store with no success. It appears like it's working then after several minutes of backing up it fails with a "Maybe it's a Network problem" type error.

I configured it to be part of my existing network. The Cross platform wireless print server worked great. Maybe I have to much interference to complete the backup .

I am taking it back tonight and going with a External hard drive and fire wire and see if Time Machine will work with that. Will try airport express for the print server piece.

JB
 
The amount of time you're describing to perform basic functions is roughly the same amount of time it has always taken me to use the Time Capsule.

I don't know what else to tell you but backup your data and reformat the Time Capsule's hard drive.

[RANT]

Personally, Time Capsule as both a router and backup drive has been the worst Apple product I've ever owned. It manages network activity poorly (no QOS support, easily bogged down), its configuration tools are poor (and hidden) and the lack of the ability to perform basic disk maintenance on its internal hard drive is unacceptable.

I couldn't recommend it to anyone.

[/RANT]

Tip: Hold down "option" when clicking on settings within AirPort Utility. You might be surprised at what Apple hides by default.
 
A point worth noting, and I'm sure it's been mentioned often enough, is that if your first TM backup fails, the backup is unusable - and it will fail every time after that. So it's worth doing a cabled backup first.

I do agree it's a low-end consumer solution at best, but it more or less works for the most part, and Superduper is a bit basic by itself for me as I'm used to considerably superior tools doing this sort of stuff under Windows. TC is Fisher-Price like most things Apple, but it works enough for me not to get too worked up about it, for the relatively unimportant machines that are backed up with it.
 
Time Capsule

Just took the TC back and bought an Airport Express and a 500GB G-Drive Q for about the same money. Print server is configured and the 70GB backup, via FW 800, is almost complete. Man I wish I had done this in the first place.

One thing I really like is how the G is up off the deck a little so air can pass under it. Yet it's nice and low so it won't get knocked over. Nice and cool and whisper quiet so far. The TC created enough heat that I could feel it through the 3/4 inch desk.
 
Okay.

What if you bought Time Capsule last year. Too late to return obviously, right? I have applecare - but they just tell me to reformat time capsule's HD - which is a pain. Is there any way around this for me or do I take the $300 hit (one year of crappy performance) and go out to buy a better server like the new airport extreme (mentioned in the last post) and go get a separate external harddrive? Time Capsule sucks. What's the best server to get and what's the best external Hard drive to get?
 
I went to a mates house yesterday and he has a USB hard drive and using the TM interface is far faster with his configuration than my Time Capsule.

He goes into TM, clicks a date, the page scrolls and the screen refreshes. If I do the same TM takes ages to open, ages before I can click a date, ages before it moves to the date and ages before the page opens.

The only difference between the 2 setups are I use time capsule via Ethernet and my mate uses an external USB HD.
 
I was just about to inquire about the TC since I wanted to purchase one, but I think I'll stick to my trusty LaCie...

Sorry to learn about the TC woes-- seems like there are many problems with this product.

For those fed up with the TC, and just want a solid, straight-forward external HD, I'd highly recommend any of the Lacie external HDs. It's definitely nowhere as beautiful as the Time Capsule, but they're extremely reliable and gets the job done. http://www.lacie.com/ca/index.htm
 
suburbia said:
I was just about to inquire about the TC since I wanted to purchase one, but I think I'll stick to my trusty LaCie...

Sorry to learn about the TC woes-- seems like there are many problems with this product.

For those fed up with the TC, and just want a solid, straight-forward external HD, I'd highly recommend any of the Lacie external HDs. It's definitely nowhere as beautiful as the Time Capsule, but they're extremely reliable and gets the job done. http://www.lacie.com/ca/index.htm
Click to expand...

Well, no - it does work, as long as nothing you do is critical and you are extremely undemanding. I mean, it is an Apple product after all. For the completely inconsequential use of my personal-use Macs it works pretty much hands-off, barring as I said the occasional failure of TM to back up, after which it needs a redo.

Pagemakers said:
What is faster when using TM

GB Ethernet or USB?
Click to expand...

It depends.

If you have a NAS/DAS like me in my loft running over a high-performance gigabit network, then it's faster than USB for the most part. On the other hand if you have a consumer NAS that's a few hundred dollars, then direct-attached USB is a lot quicker in most cases. As I've said before, just because a device advertises a Gigabit interface doesn't mean it can pump data onto the network at Gigabit speeds - far from it in most case, especially if you're looking at the aforementioned sub-$1000 (without disks) NAS's.
 
Sesshi said:
Well, no - it does work, as long as nothing you do is critical and you are extremely undemanding. I mean, it is an Apple product after all. For the completely inconsequential use of my personal-use Macs it works pretty much hands-off, barring as I said the occasional failure of TM to back up, after which it needs a redo.
Click to expand...

I am puzzled by this comment. At what point does a product which "works pretty much hands-off" become non-useful for anything but "inconsequential use?"

I've been using a Time Capsule for over six months, without any issues (except for the first interminable backup). It solved both my backup and networking problems at the same time. This seems like fairly "consequential" use to me.
 
It's slow, occasionally unreliable and doesn't afford much control over the process. When it is working however, it doesn't require much input to function. Is that the explanation you wanted?

It solved both my backup and networking problems at the same time. This seems like fairly "consequential" use to me.
Click to expand...

Congrats. I'm happy for you that your networking and backup needs are that rudimentary, and as I said, ultimately that inconsequential.
 
So what are my best and fastest option to backup 3 iMacs to a single drive about 13 meters away in the loft?

1) Replace my TC in the hope it is faulty and continue to connect it via wired Ethernet (currently slow as hell).

2) Purchase a USB drive and hope the thing will work 13 meters away.

3) Purchase a FireWire 800 drive and hope the thing will work 13 meters away.

4) Some other suggestion.....

The problem I have is not only the operational speed of the backup but the actual operation speed of Time Machine which at the moment is almost unusable.
 
Sesshi said:
It's slow, occasionally unreliable and doesn't afford much control over the process. When it is working however, it doesn't require much input to function. Is that the explanation you wanted?
Click to expand...

Not really, no. It's a transparent process -- who really cares how fast it goes? It is also linked to Time Machine, which is very specific method of backing up. What other control do you need? The only modification I felt I needed was to reduce the incremental backup frequency, which was accomplished with a freeware utility.

Congrats. I'm happy for you that your networking and backup needs are that rudimentary, and as I said, ultimately that inconsequential.
Click to expand...

This statement is what is known as a tautology. If it works, your needs are rudimentary. If your needs are rudimentary, it works. No external facts are required.
 
Pagemakers said:
1) Replace my TC in the hope it is faulty and continue to connect it via wired Ethernet (currently slow as hell).
Click to expand...

Certainly it's worth a try. As I said at first it's darned slow, but maybe it shouldn't be that slow.

2) Purchase a USB drive and hope the thing will work 13 meters away.
Click to expand...
No

3) Purchase a FireWire 800 drive and hope the thing will work 13 meters away.
Click to expand...
No

4) Some other suggestion.....
Click to expand...

The HP Mediasmart server.

http://www.amazon.com/EX485-MediaSmart-Celeron-Processor-Windows/dp/B001OI2ZG4

There's a bigger one as well, the 487. Running a Celery, the MediaSmarts have significantly more horsepower to throw at throughput and the running features.
 
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As the Time Capsule Gets Full, it becomes slower, as i think it scans all the data before you access etc.
 
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