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Apple Time Capsule MB276LL/A 802.11n 500 GB Network Backup Hard Drive
Binding: Electronics
Format: CD
Platforms: Macintosh, Windows
Release Date: 2008-02-01
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Features: A revolutionary backup device that works wirelessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard, Time Capsule can back up and store files for each Leopard-based Mac on your wireless network, 500 GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA server-grade hard drive gives you all the capacity and safety you need, More than just a wireless hard drive, Time Capsule is also a full-featured AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n technology, Works with Mac and PC
Average Rating: 3.5
Total Customer Reviews: 48
List Price: $299.00
Our Price: Too low to display
Sales Rank: 278
Product Description
Introducing Time Capsule. Automatic wireless backup for your Mac. Time Capsule is a revolutionary backup device that works wirelessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. It automatically backs up everything, so you no longer have to worry about losing your digital life. Time Capsule is also a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station. Every computer in your house can work off a wireless network at blazing speeds. And they can back up wirelessly to the same Time Capsule.
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| User Reviews: |
Excellent Product - Worked Instantly and Very Configurable
I'm a big Apple fan, but was a little weary about buying Time Capsule because some of the negative reviews I read here. I did, however, end up purchasing the 500 gb version and am extremely happy with it. The wireless network worked instantly, and it was very easy to add MAC address filtering and encryption. Using a USB printer was also simple and works reliably.
I limited the space available for Time Machine backups to 250 gb by using a sparse image (the technique is discussed in many forums) and used the rest to store files I don't necessarily want to keep on my computer. It's too bad that this is not a configurable option, but only a little technical knowledge is necessary to accomplish this task.
My first backup over ethernet went very smoothly. I disallowed my computer from going to sleep or turning off the display and was able to easily finish my first 80 gb backup overnight. Since, subsequent hourly wireless backups have been very smooth and worked well. They don't seem to consume much computer memory either.
I definitely recommend this product to everyone running Leopard who wants to wireless backup. You won't be disappointed!
FAST, helpful, but not as robust in configuration.
Let it be know that yes, I am a snobby Apple user. I am very demanding that my environment be very intuitive but also lets me tweak it at a low level. This router does NOT do that.
The good points of this are obviously the automated backups built into an airport extreme. If you do the math you also find you are getting quite a good deal, as an Airport Extreme router and external HD will run you a bit more than this configuration will. Yes, it does have a deathstar---wait I mean--- Deskstar HD running in it, but the issues surrounding those HD's are pretty much gone. The HD is solid. The value here is an intrinsic one too, it's a less complicated setup.
The backup system is a little quirky because it's not a direct connection to your system but rather a network. This means if you do things like restart, sleep, etc in the middle of a backup it considers this a failed backup and skips until the next designated time (1hr). The initial backup will take forever, this being a network connection you only have so much bandwidth, even with a gigabit network (which is what I have). All the systems in the house (4 clients) took about 12 hours to get the initial done. Subsequently, however, you won't notice the bandwidth getting used. If you're on a wireless, make sure you have an 802.11n device if you're doing backups, it's going to be horrid otherwise. With 4 clients and being post-initial backup I've not noticed a network slowdown or a problem. I try to keep the intervals different for each client so we're not trying to backup more than one system at a time.
The configuration of these routers, however, is a bit strange if you've experienced many other configs. These routers don't configure via a web interface, there's a dedicated client. This brings up a few oddities, because the advanced menus aren't really as intuitive as other routers I've configured in the past. Things like blocking a particular domain aren't even possible (!?!?). Traffic filtering will be odd. The other weird aspect is that I just use plain MAC address filtering to keep people off my network. If they can get past that, they can get past the WAP/2 encryption as well.
The router's speed and stability, however, are unparalleled. Whatever I throw at this router it just stands there and takes it. I somehow suspect its even asking for more, and without a much larger network I don't know what to give it. I have a 16mbps internet connection at home with 1mbps upstream and I have hosted some gargantuan games online, all the while I'll also have my desktop system streaming an HD movie file to the PS3 on another TV while another system is probably doing its backup, I notice no slowdown. This router handles heavy load and it does it like a champ. Other routers have faltered and stuck or reset themselves by this point but this thing just smiles and chugs on through. The only wireless clients is the laptop, the rest can be doing all kinds of heavy loads maxing out their bandwidth to the router and it manages all the traffic just fine. I could not be more impressed.
In short, great router, great backup system, but could use a hand in robust configurability. Otherwise I'd have no complaints whatsoever. If you balk at the price at all, remember, you get what you pay for. If you get this router/backup system it will give you peace of mind and a rock solid router. You can find other rigs, but they won't offer what this does. I guess Ferris Bueller put it succinctly, if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.
Ethernet/wireless router + quiet hard drive, potential configuration trouble in mixed PC/Win network, lacks some usability
Good:
- quiet!!!
- single box for both router and hard drive, compact
- nice design
- works nicely with Leopard TimeMachine, providing automatic backup
Bad:
- any non-trivial setup make take a while (I had trouble while upgrading to Leopard which refused to see TimeCapsule, while it was working ok with Tiger; my Win notebook never saw it even after Bonjour installation)
- heats up even when hard disk is idle
- any configuration change (like turning on/off wireless network) resets device with service interruption (so my iMac doesn't have Internet for half a minute)
Most wanted improvement is to add physical switch on the box, that can turn wireless network on/off without interrupting ethernet connectivity - that would be good for occasional wireless network users that have wired connection for main computer and need wireless network only a fraction of their time.
Very Good Apple Product
The assumption here is that you are going to use this product with Apple computers. With that in mind this product works very well. Setup is extremely easy via the Airport Utility built into your Apple computer. The wireless network is setup within minutes. The router also offers several dual band options to allow you to simultaneously have an "n" and "g" network running for your devices to get optimal speed for each device.
Backup for the most part to the device works great even on a "g" equipped Apple computer. However, if you have an older Mac that does not have draft 802.11n capabilities you will probably want to plug it into the router via ethernet for your first backup. I had difficulties getting the first back up to star. It was about 25 GB.
Good idea but not fully baked
This is a great idea since most people just forget to do backups but I think its missing two important things:
1) The ability to partition the drive and use part of it as a dedicated NAS/file server - for a multi-computer setup, this could have been an ideal scenario. But if you can't partition the drive (short of disassembling the unit), then the backups can just grow to fill up all the space or someone has to manually go through and delete things.
2) A simple way to backup the Time Capsule for an offsite backup, i.e. plugging in a USB drive and having it make a full backup. Basically this helps if your computer crashes but is useless in a fire or other disaster at the site where it is.
It is reasonably priced for an Apple product though and the issues above are easily resolvable through software fixes, let's hope Apple is listening.
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