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Time Capsule vs. External Hard Drive?

Time Capsule or External HD?

zhenya said:
As you've already noticed, the benefit of a device like the Time Capsule is that you are automatically backed up wirelessly, every hour, every day. If you are wary of the Time Capsule, how about an Airport Extreme with a generic USB hard drive attached as a Time Capsule destination? This achieves the same level of protection as the Time Capsule, and the convenience of wireless backups, but breaks out the two devices theoretically improving reliability (or at least making dealing with a failure easier).
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I'm not too computer/mac literate, so let's see if I understand this correctly: Are you saying that I can take an external hard drive, and plug it into a usb port on an Airport Extreme and then the Time Machine feature on my new Macbook Pro will wirelessly back up my whole computer??
Also, I currently have a D-link router. How hard is it to switch out and set up an Airport Extreme?
I would appreciate any responses.:)
 
rdlink said:
Your statements on numbers 2 and 3 are not entirely correct. You don't have to "manually" direct it to back up. You have to manually configure the AE + external hard drive solution a little more than just the Time Capsule. But once configured, it does the back up on it's own.

On the external hard drive, it's actually a little more automatic than either one of the other solutions. With either the AE or the TC, you have to tell Time Machine that you want to set them up as the backup drive of choice the first time (then it works automatically from there). On the USB drive directly connected, the first time you plug the drive into your computer, it proactively asks you if you'd like to use that drive as your Time Machine backup. Once you say yes, and click one or two more buttons, it will always automatically back up using that drive.
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**bliss** thank you! Now I think perhaps I can just hang with an external drive, since I have a router already. I just need to decide if I want the wireless option (and routing capabilities that I'm sure are faster than what I have). :rolleyes:

Thanks!
 
Besides the other negative points, AE and TC are very slow for disk transfers. Get a good NAS enclosure.
 
cube said:
It's normal to want to upgrade a disk. The design sucks.
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I'm "normal" and I don't want to upgrade drives unless I have to. Thus the purchase of the 2TB version. If I ever cracked open a TC it would be to replace an out of warranty broken drive.

My AE with the tethered USB HDs never disconnected or corrupted (for over a year) until the enclosure itself went belly up.

Not sure how you were wronged by the TC, but the thing just works as advertised for me. Took about an hour and a half to transfer over 250GB of music and movies to it when I used it to move files around my network a few weeks ago. I might not be as discerning as you, but that didn't seem too slow for what it offered in convenience.
 
flyfish29 said:
This details the issue with TC and 18 months:

http://timecapsuledead.org/closed.html

This explains what to do with your TC if it dies:

http://timecapsuledead.org/now_what.html

The thing about TC's failing only has to do with power supply- nothing to do with the drive so those instructions to replace the drive are unhelpful with most cases.

Apple seems to think it has corrected the problem. FOr ones that fail they are most often now replacing them at times even without Apple Care.

You can't buy Apple Care on TC.....and it can be any Apple Care on any computer not even purchased at the same time as TC. So my plan is to use my current TC (which I just fired up this week) for the 18 months and if it craps out at some point- it will be time to upgrade my laptop anyway so I will just have it replaced under that AC contract. Remember- the first year of a computer purchase is still apple care. Just one years worth. Apple says it must be purchased up to 2 years prior to be covered under Apple CAre- Unfortunately I bought mine in the fall but never got around to hooking it up until now so I might be screwed on this plan- oh well.

this talks about apple care and time capsule in detail

http://www.apple.com/support/products/proplan.html
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All useful information. Thanks for shedding some light on the background.
 
rdlink said:
Not sure how you were wronged by the TC, but the thing just works as advertised for me.
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I didn't buy the TC as it is not upgradeable. I bought the Airport Extreme and it corrupted the USB drive twice because of the frequent disk disconnects.
 
Similar to the OP, I'd like to set up a wireless backup/NAS storage system. Does anyone have experience with this?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/MSU2NAS/

Both this and the Airport Extreme only have one USB2 port. Is it possible to daisy chain multiple drives? I think this would be pretty slow. Are there better options to have more than one drive on the network? I'd like to back up more than one computer and have some extra space for storing music/pictures.
 
cube said:
I didn't buy the TC as it is not upgradeable. I bought the Airport Extreme and it corrupted the USB drive twice because of the frequent disk disconnects.
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While I agree that it's not upgradeable while under warranty, do you really need more than 2TB? I'm backing up a MBP and a Mac Mini server, and their backups go back several months. I still have nearly 800GB free on the TC.
 
rdlink said:
While I agree that it's not upgradeable while under warranty, do you really need more than 2TB?
Click to expand...

I buy the best enclosures I can find, not crap. I also buy the best drive to go with it, not some lame overpriced included unit.
 
cube said:
I buy the best enclosures I can find, not crap. I also buy the best drive to go with it, not some lame overpriced included unit.
Click to expand...

I agree. My approach was to buy the Mercury Elite Pro enclosure with FW800 and put a 1 TB Western Digital in it.
 
skerfoot said:
Similar to the OP, I'd like to set up a wireless backup/NAS storage system. Does anyone have experience with this?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/MSU2NAS/

Both this and the Airport Extreme only have one USB2 port. Is it possible to daisy chain multiple drives? I think this would be pretty slow. Are there better options to have more than one drive on the network? I'd like to back up more than one computer and have some extra space for storing music/pictures.
Click to expand...

That inexpensive device looks interesting--wish someone with experience with it could post. I believe (but can't say for sure) that both it and the Airport Extreme would allow multiple USB drives to be connected by using a USB hub. I believe this because I have a Time Capsule with an old 1.1 USB hub plugged into it, and my USB printer and USB memory stick plugged into the hub. Works fine for me.

AFAIK, you can't daisy chain USB devices like you do FireWire devices, but you can use multiple USB hubs to attach some large number of USB devices to one USB port.
 
Macology said:
But my question is this: My Apple store fellow recommends the Time Capsule for backups/internet access. Given the concerns I've seen online with TC, is this a smart choice? Or should I go with an External HD (and any recommendations on which?). I definitely need a backup solution....

I appreciate any advice and guidance--thank you!
Click to expand...

There are Time Machine compatible NAS drives out there. Iomega has one right now that looks fairly good. I think it's the Home Media Server. You can get a 2TB drive for $230 right now.

BB
 
cube said:
I only need to look at the specs. It's not a gigabit ethernet device. Discarded.
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If you mean that it's not a router, than yes, thank you, I am aware of that. I already have a wireless router and could simply plug it in to the existing system. I don't know if it's worth replacing my existing router with an Airport extreme simply to add the feature of plugging in a hard drive.

Good idea of using a USB hub posted above. Not quite sure why I didn't think of that.
 
skerfoot said:
If you mean that it's not a router, than yes, thank you, I am aware of that. I already have a wireless router and could simply plug it in to the existing system. I don't know if it's worth replacing my existing router with an Airport extreme simply to add the feature of plugging in a hard drive.

Good idea of using a USB hub posted above. Not quite sure why I didn't think of that.
Click to expand...

No, I imagine he means that a NAS limited by a 100Mbps interface takes it out of the running. The difference in transfer speeds between 100Mbps and 1Gbps is substantial.
 
Yes 100 Mbps theoretical speed is very slow, when you think that USB 2.0, FW400, and FW800 are 480, 400, and 800 respectively.
 
rdlink said:
So share. What is your solution?
Click to expand...

- I needed a base station, a gigabit switch, and network storage
- The Time Capsule was expensive and not upgradeable
- I wanted Spotlight on the network drive
- I had a plan of maybe getting a Mac mini as a cheap server in the future
- TC and AEBS are slow as network drives
- TC and AEBS only allow to connect three devices by gigabit (the bare minimum for me)
- I was happy with the simplicity of managing an Airport Express, so I was not in the mood of fiddling with DD-WRT or whatever, even if it is much more powerful.
- I needed to upgrade my backup from 1TB

Because of Spotlight, it seemed the only definitive solution would be the Mac mini (I think with OSX server), so I discarded all NAS (except perhaps TC and AEBS, as I thought they supported Spotlight maybe).
TC was discarded because of the disk limitations issue, and I decided to go with the AEBS as a temporary solution, even if it was very slow for disk and had few gigabit ports.

I looked at the specs of the Mac mini and AEBS and they seemed to have exactly the same footprint, so I was happy that a mini-like enclosure would be a great transition device.
I like maxing out the interfacing possibilities, so the NewerTech miniStack V3, with its quad interface and USB hub seemed perfect.

The only 2TB drive available at the time was the WD Caviar Green (no problem if it was not 7200 RPM, as it was for backup and I like efficient hardware very much). [I would buy a 7200 now, even if the Green has performed great]

I put the 2TB Green in the old enclosure directly attached to the backup server (I use Retrospect), and the old 1TB Black went into the miniStack for network storage.

Am I happy? No. The AEBS corrupted the Black twice by disconnecting. I have now downgraded the firmware one level to see what happens (I could still go back one more). [And it seems it has no Spotlight capability.]

In conclusion: if you don't care about Spotlight, find a good gigabit NAS; otherwise, pony up for a Mac server.
 
Is there any NAS enclosure that is Time Machine compatible and that can also use HFS+ formatted drives?
(not the Apple stuff)
 
cube said:
Is there any NAS enclosure that is Time Machine compatible and that can also use HFS+ formatted drives?
(not the Apple stuff)
Click to expand...

Drobo claims complete Time Machine compatibility. However, they only mention it in context of using one of their direct connect methods (firewire or USB). I would think that it would work over the LAN if you purchase the networking option. While it's not cheap, I'm a little intrigued by the concept of the Drobo. Or maybe it's Cali Lewis' explanation that has me interested...:D

http://drobo.com/resources/drobodemo.php
 
rdlink said:
Drobo claims complete Time Machine compatibility. However, they only mention it in context of using one of their direct connect methods (firewire or USB). I would think that it would work over the LAN if you purchase the networking option. While it's not cheap, I'm a little intrigued by the concept of the Drobo. Or maybe it's Cali Lewis' explanation that has me interested...:D

http://drobo.com/resources/drobodemo.php
Click to expand...

I know there are some NAS which claim Time Machine compatibility (I'm not sure if over the network). The key point I as asking about is if there is any NAS which can use HFS+ formatted disks, so that they can be repaired by Mac tools like DiskWarrior (maybe via direct attachment).
 
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