Is the Time Capsule worth it?

Da[]San

Da[]San

Da[]San

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Hopefully will be getting a new Macbook this week, but as such will no longer have access to my 2TB hard drives in my desktop. They are not both full, probably only 800gb in truth after removing my backups etc. I understand the Time Capsule can daisy chain external drives so i could get access to my photos/music etc off my old drives, is it that simple?
 
No, they're a rip-off. Get another NAS and you'll be able to do anything you want with it, including anything a time capsule does, and it'll be half the price.
 
Agree with the above, the TC is just a wireless AP with a HDD. If you already have your own wireless network then plug in a NAS and you've got all the storage you need without the cost of TC.
 
Well some might argue all Apple's stuff is a "rip-off" and it's "just" a laptop.

In all honesty, yes the Time Capsule is expensive but it depends on how far you want to go integrating your Apple products to work seamlessly together.

I bought one when I first made the switch. Would I get one again? Yeah I probably would.

It's the easiest to setup router I've ever used not to mention the best, the fact it flawlessly switches between bands/channels depending on how many devices are connected to it and how much interference there is makes it a bit special. It also free's up the USB port to be used for a printer rather than a hard drive.
 
Deku, it's a fair point but the TC is overpriced for what it does. You could get an Airport Extreme (which has all the wireless features you mention) and a NAS for around the price of 2TB TC.
 
shine said:
Deku, it's a fair point but the TC is overpriced for what it does. You could get an Airport Extreme (which has all the wireless features you mention) and a NAS for around the price of 2TB TC.
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Yeah you are right, I guess I just prefer the fact it's one product or maybe I'm so far down the apple rabbit hole that I can no longer see any alternatives.... help!
 
Deku said:
Well some might argue all Apple's stuff is a "rip-off" and it's "just" a laptop.
Click to expand...

Unlike a lot of other Apple stuff the Time Capsules really don't distinguish themselves IMO. It's a router+NAS. It might be simple but it doesn't have any special features and as said you can even get almost all of the functionality with just an Airport Extreme. All the time capsule has on top is very basic network storage with no performance or feature or simplicity advantage over other hardware.
 
I can see the appeal of an all in one product and if the 2TB device was about £200 I'd give it serious consideration but as it is for ~£400 I've got an Airport Extreme for the dual band wireless, gigabit router and a 2TB NAS in RAID plus all the extra features the NAS provides and I still have a USB port free for anything else in the future.

There is no doubt Apple have excellent products but I think sometimes they price themselves out of the market and reply too much on people thinking how nice it looks and just buy it. With the clever use of ethernet cabling the NAS is hidden away in the corner and only the Airport is on show looking nice and sleek. :)
 
Yeah, I have an airport extreme but just plug an external hd into it for the time machine. Works really well.
 
I bought the 2Tb TC when they were first released and the 2Tb drives were still expensive to buy so it wasn't as overpriced as it is now. I'd probably recommend an Airport Extreme and an external 2Tb drive now though as they'll do the same job and just be cheaper.
 
What would be a decent nas to go with it. I have a wd my book world already book world but it does not let me use the shared folders as it is the windows version. I moved over to all apple products now so I want to sort something new and put the one I have at mine and buy a new one for mine
 
That depends on your budget and how much storage you want?

I use a Synology DS211J with 2 x 2TB F4's with mine in RAID for redundancy. Suits my need perfectly.
 
shine said:
That depends on your budget and how much storage you want?

I use a Synology DS211J with 2 x 2TB F4's with mine in RAID for redundancy. Suits my need perfectly.
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I'm willing to pay for the tc 2tb but wouldnt mind it being cheaper if airport extreem does the same thing. I don't use anywhere near 2tb but would like 2tb just for feature and I have 4 macs to back up that I never did before.
 
Then take a look at the synology and disks I use, its a great NAS and works with time machine and the airport extreme which is my setup.
 
When it comes to storage and backups, if it's not RAID then it's not worth it. Something with only a single disk is pretty useless in my opinion, especially at the prices they sell for.

They advertise the time capsule as "server grade storage" but it really isn't. They might use enterprise grade disks, but so what? It's not the same thing. If you're gonna do it, do it properly with one of the nas boxes mentioned.
 
I've got a 1TB dual-fequency TC and if I had my time again I'd just get an Airport Extreme and a proper NAS.

If all you want to do is use it for Time Machine then it's fine to just sit in the corner and occasionally backup your data.

If you want to use it as a proper NAS it's pretty useless because the file-transfer speed is so slow even when connected by ethernet.
 
Many thanks for your opinions, I'm leaning towards the NAS look will investigate some more. Which leads me to Airport Extreme, It maybe a worthy upgrade to my Netgear DG834GT which is now rather old and lacking in features (Wireless N, and USB). Will look at the Apple router some-more.
 
Da[]San;19201272 said:
Many thanks for your opinions, I'm leaning towards the NAS look will investigate some more. Which leads me to Airport Extreme, It maybe a worthy upgrade to my Netgear DG834GT which is now rather old and lacking in features (Wireless N, and USB). Will look at the Apple router some-more.
Click to expand...

I can't speak highly enough of the airport extreme, it's expensive but it's functional and reliable, particularly used with a Mac, printer sharing works nicely and it's been very little hassle to me. In an environment, I should add, where several other netgear, dlink and Thompson routers have resolutely refused to provide stable wireless. I'm sure they could be made to work but the Airport worked pretty much out of the box and has caused me little trouble since, which at home is what I'm looking for...

The time capsule is a nice single box solution but I've never quite been prepared to suck of the cost and buy one, it's not quick as NAS storage goes either. Still, it's an elegant one box solution...
 
I agree with the both the above comments above the airport extreme, it is expensive but it just works which is what I needed. A cheaper alternative is the Linksys e4200 and if you want something more customisable with similar features go for that. I've got the extreme installed at my parents, the aesthetics mean I get no complaints from my mum and my dad is happy that he now gets good wireless coverage through the house and garden. The peace and quiet is worth the extra in my book :)
 
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