Hello, looking to back up my Macbook, iPad etc.

Have been using a wired external drive which I think has now died.

Pretty much all Apple products so thinking I might as well stick with the brand, anyone got real world experience of a Time Capsule?

I know other options are cheaper such as the Western Digital My book thingy, so got an open mind for suggestions!

Cheers.

Does what it says, includes a four port switch and Wi-Fi, what’s not to like? Price maybe. Obviously works very well with Apple products and mine’s not missed a beat for two years.

I’ve got something built up into a time capsule type thing from a Raspberry Pi and a western digital disk.
Seems to have worked very well for the last year or so, and have the disk partitioned so I have a separate network storage thing too.

Brilliant pieces of kit, thoroughly recommended.

Please note you can’t back up your iPad directly to the capsule.

You need to back it up to your MacBook first then to the Timecapsule.

Fit and (so far) forget purchase for us. It’s certainly “neat” from the all Apple POV.

Have a look on MacRumors forums

I am still using an external drive, been doing so for 4 years, a new 1tb one will be £60, it’s hard to argue with that when time comes to replace. I’m very much Mac based but TIme Capsual I don’t have.

The Time Capsual works really neatly, allows multiple devices to connect and you get the benefit of the WiFi router which is probably much better than the one you currently have. I woukd check you broadband supplier as not all allow you to use your own router and if you are getting a Time Capsual it’s looks an expensive solution of you don’t use the wifi part.

For me if I can justify the £250 I’ll get one for wifi and conveninence otherwise it will be the £60 solution.

Not quite got everything, fit and forget but expensive for the space as chances are most of us won’t have a modem without a wifi router built in so the wifi isn’t of massive benefit unless you don’t (or want the extra a.c. speed it supports)

I’ve got a WD live book duo as I wanted a cloud server with raid mirroring with 2tb usable space and time machine capability, was about the same money as time machine but double the storage at 4tb total. Had a couple of niggles with time machine when updating the mac to mountain lion but aside from that it’s been very good. Had to restore once and it was fine. Also bear in mind you can’t back up an iPad straight to time machine as yet.

I got halfway through buying one and bottled it, bought a 1tb hard drive from amazon instead for £60.

Maybe I’ll get one after Christmas.

hmmm – timely post.

I’ve been considering a NAS drive type backup recently and not sure what to go for. Even though it’s now a mac household (just the one macbook plus ipads/phones etc) I hadn’t really considered the time capsule – probably because it just seemed so expensive for what I needed.

With a wifi router and printer already (so I’m not sure if I’ll benefit from the wifi capability) I’m not sure what it’s offering me that a something like this is not already.

I’ve had several nas drives from buffalo and net gear and others and to be honest they’ve all been frustrating or downright crap. Most needed software on the machine to access them. The buffalo suffered some kind of damage to its software side and refused to let me access it. The one I have now appears and disappears at random.
I know the time machine box is expensive- but after these I’ll save up and buy one.

http://timecapsuledead.org/

Mine is registered on there after it lasted 18months.

Was great while it lasted but had to destroy it to get the hard drive out to recover my data. No way was it fit and forget.
Now have a WD drive that has been going strong for about 4 years.

Would never buy another Time capsule, Expensive for what it is and didn’t last!

I had the same design of time capsule as ‘andermt’ and it went the same way, overheated and died after less than two years. So obviously a design fault and yet not dealt with by apple in the way that i would expect for a premium priced product.

I’ve been using a USB drive wired directly to the mac since that happened without any problems, although I haven’t had cause to try and recover anything either so for all I know it could just be sat there flashing it little light but not doing anything!

The overheating might well be a thing of the past as the new design is quite different to the old style but my doubts remain, mostly because it still doesn’t look to have adequate ventilation. If I was looking for something new I’d take a very long look at a NAS drive preferably with an external power block. For the same money as the time capsule you’d probably get a two bay unit providing the option of a raid array.

I have had one for about 3-4years, had a couple of issues moving from one laptop to a new one- couldn’t get all the old data to transfer- it took about a week eventually. I noticed reports of overheating, so I keep mine on a stone tile and spaced off by a mm or two – just to help airflow- Its been fine. Once setup it’s fit and forget.

had mine for nigh on 4 years I think, and has been fine. But yes, read the Apple forums and indeed their shop Q&A and it’s maybe pot luck.

FWIW the reception on their WiFi isn’t a stood as the router I have, but YMMV.

Mine has been going for about 5 years, one of the first 1TB models I think. The first one died but was replaced under warranty and this one has been fine. I have to reset it occasionally but other than that it just sits in the garage. I have an old USB printer plugged into it also, so I can print to it wirelessly from the rest of the house.

It would be nice if you could use it as a wireless network extender but I think you need an all Apple wifi network for that to work (ie, not my Virgin router serving wifi).

Expensive bits of kit but they do just work. A friend recently had his die and didn’t have any other backups and as it doesn’t offer multiple disk or anything he was stuffed.

Make sure you keep two backups!

I use an Airport Extreme and just plug external drives into it – I have 3 on there at the moment (plus a networked printer and USB hub). One drive is used for Time Machine, one for movies (via Apple TV) and one is for general back up and odds and sods.

Works brilliantly and I can keep expanding it with additional drives.