Time Capsule vs AEBS w/ HD

[thatoneguy82]

I have a 2nd gen 1TB TC, which I've had for over 3 years now. I've begun running out of space on it and considering replacing it, but I wanted some answers first.

If I get the AEBS and attach an external HD to it, would this be the same as buying a TC? If so, what's the benefit of buying a TC over an AEBS + HD setup? Would the settings and such still be the same in Time Machine?

Thanks!

 

[Boyd01]

I have the new Time Capsule, and this is the performance I get over gigabit ethernet. From what I've read, an Airport Extreme with external drive will be slower - maybe somebody who uses one can post their results?

Of course this might not really matter much, depending on what you need and how you use it (probably wouldn't matter if you only use wifi instead of ethernet, for example).

When I was trying to decide myself a couple months ago, the cost of the Time Capsule was $100 more than the Extreme and that was not very different from buying a hard drive.

 

[Weaselboy]

I recall seeing some tests in threads when the new devices came out, and like Boyd said, the external drive setup was a bit slower but not much.

The upside to the external setup is you can just replace the drive if it dies, where you would need to tear apart the Time Capsule if the drive died. I went with the TC just to have everything neat and self contained.

Used to be the TC was not worth it for the drive size, but with the new AC models the cost of the Extreme plus a 2TB drive comes out to the same as the TC, so there is not cost reason to stay away from the TC any more.

Setup and usage is the same.

 

[ColdCase]

Seems the TimeCapsule firmware can handle drives and drive anomalies better than a AEBS (you can plug a USB drive into a TimeCapsule). That and less clutter would be the performance reason to chose a Time Capsule over current generation AEBS, especially if one wants to hook up multiple USB drives.

Previous generations AEBS had much more problems dealing with disk quirks (like sleep and multiple drives) which Apple seems to have straighten out with the current version.

 

[Boyd01]

the external drive setup was a bit slower but not much.

Since nobody else has stepped forward to post results, I just ran a test myself. I connected a USB drive to my new Time Capsule and these are the results. It is actually a USB 3 drive that clocks over 100MB/s when directly connected, so the bottleneck is clearly the time capsule USB interface. I assume this would be the same on an Airport Extreme, but I don't have one so I can't test it.

The internal drive is more or less twice as fast as an external.

 

[Weaselboy]

Since nobody else has stepped forward to post results, I just ran a test myself. I connected a USB drive to my new Time Capsule and these are the results. It is actually a USB 3 drive that clocks over 100MB/s when directly connected, so the bottleneck is clearly the time capsule USB interface. I assume this would be the same on an Airport Extreme, but I don't have one so I can't test it.

The internal drive is more or less twice as fast as an external.

Image

Yeah... that horrible. I did not recall there being that large a difference.

 

[Boyd01]

Gotta say, I'm surprised. Wasn't expecting that much difference. Glad that I went with the Time Capsule.

Even more surprising, the Time Capsule internal drive with 802.11ac wifi is faster than an external drive on gigabit ethernet!


Time Capsule Internal Disk via 802.11ac wifi

 

[Altemose]

Yeah... that horrible. I did not recall there being that large a difference.

My Extreme with a USB 2.0 hard drive attached...

It actually doesn't feel too slow though. Then again, this could be my slow drive too.

 

[Ronnoco]

I recall seeing some tests in threads when the new devices came out, and like Boyd said, the external drive setup was a bit slower but not much.

The upside to the external setup is you can just replace the drive if it dies, where you would need to tear apart the Time Capsule if the drive died. I went with the TC just to have everything neat and self contained.

Used to be the TC was not worth it for the drive size, but with the new AC models the cost of the Extreme plus a 2TB drive comes out to the same as the TC, so there is not cost reason to stay away from the TC any more.

Setup and usage is the same.

I did this as well. The new a/c TC was the same price. I get great transfer speeds with the a/c TC from my MBA when transferring files to the HDD.