Ian Hamilton
new member
Joined: 15/10/02
Posts: 969
Loc: Scotland
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OT: Time capsule
#841408 - 21/06/10 01:43 PM
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Sorry I know its off topic, but is mac related and I thought a few of you might be using
them..
Interested in getting one for backup of two machines, sharing of
printers/harddrive and the dual wireless broadcasting.
However I've heard mixed
reviews and quite a few die after 18months?
Any comments would be
appreciated.
Ta.
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Studio Support Gnome
Not so Miserable Git
Joined: 22/07/03
Posts: 8995
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Re: OT: Time capsule
[Re: Ian Hamilton]
#841422 - 21/06/10 02:29 PM
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personally i feel they're over priced... and over complicated.
IMHO it
makes more sense to simply buy decent OEM HD's and a network drive housing, and use Time
machine to back up, and a basic Airport express base station connected to it by Ethernet
cable.
it'll probably come to about the same money , but is a helluva lot
easier to replace or expand the drives, and if any one piece fails, it's replaceable for
less money. and without affecting the rest.
--------------------
if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.
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~Paul
Joined: 01/09/04
Posts: 1793
Loc: South Herts/North London
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Quote Max!:
IMHO it makes
more sense to simply buy decent OEM HD's and a network drive housing, and use Time machine
to back up, and a basic Airport express base station connected to it by Ethernet cable.
The express is a
bit limited though, in that it's USB port is for printers only. You can't plug an HD into
that. It's ethernet port would also be hooked up to the modem presumably, so no port spare
for plugging into a network drive, unless you also buy a switch/router. By which time it's
getting messy and expensive again.
But you can use an Airport Extreme for Time
Machine. In fact, I do. An Airport Extreme with a USB HD plugged in works just like a Time
Capsule.
I use it to back up 3 Macs in the house wirelessly. Works good!
That
combo might not be cheaper than a Time Capsule? (I really don't know, I set mine up ages
ago) but at least you get to choose your own drive, and you are not putting all your eggs
in one basket, so to speak.
Im using an inexpensive Western Digital MyBook USB 1TB
drive with my Airport Extreme.
Paul
--------------------
Paul
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Studio Support Gnome
Not so Miserable Git
Joined: 22/07/03
Posts: 8995
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Re: OT: Time capsule
[Re: ~Paul]
#841434 - 21/06/10 03:17 PM
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sorry, forgot abut modem, as all our Base stations are in a WDS network, so the network
port on the express connects to anything i want  like a
drive, or a wireless-less computer....  (using a BT home hub, an Airport Extreme , and Airport Express , to get full coverage at
full speed, and allow remote connection to network over cables as well, i've found 2TB or more to be more like it when backing up multiple machines BTW 1TB is
really only big enough for 1 machine, or two small ones with relatively little regular
added data. if you want it to be backing up audio work, it needs to be a big
one...
-------------------- if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.
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Studio Support Gnome
Not so Miserable Git
Joined: 22/07/03
Posts: 8995
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and to put the relative costs in to context...
i've seen 2TB Gigabit network
attached storage devices for £150 or so
and the express is about £80
so if you're WDS networked, that's a whopping £158 less than the apple solution...
even if you add a network hub .... it's still financially sound...
not as cool, not as elegant, maybe, but effective, and budget friendly.
--------------------
if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.
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~Paul
Joined: 01/09/04
Posts: 1793
Loc: South Herts/North London
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Re: OT: Time capsule
[Re: Ian Hamilton]
#841439 - 21/06/10 03:25 PM
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I've found 1TB to be enough. But yes, if you are working on many big projects, you'd want
more than that. Only 1 of my Macs does any real audio work. The other 2 are just
browsing and email machines for the most part. So no significant amount of data to back up
from those. Still, bare 2TB drives are down to around £100 now. So why not  Paul
-------------------- Paul
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Bazza
new member
Joined: 19/08/03
Posts: 464
Loc: County Durham
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Re: OT: Time capsule
[Re: Ian Hamilton]
#841476 - 21/06/10 06:20 PM
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New models have been released since those complaints so you would hope that the issues
have been dealt with. However, the new models haven't yet been out 18
months. I bought one anyway on the strength of the above assumption. As much help as I can offer I'm afraid Bazza
-------------------- This time next week, who'll give a sh*t
http://www.podcastrevision.co.uk
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Dave B
Joined: 03/04/03
Posts: 5367
Loc: Maidenhead
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Re: OT: Time capsule
[Re: Ian Hamilton]
#841569 - 22/06/10 07:15 AM
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Max, the same price / spec argument can be used to buy a generic PC (or a custom built
one) for less than the price of a Mac. What you get with the Time Capsule (as with all
Apple products) is an integrated solution that works cleanly and simply - but pay that bit
extra for it. I know a couple of people who have Time Capsules and they love
them. When they get home in the evening, their MBP or Macbook Air finds the unit and
performs a backup quietly in the background - it's backing up for the 'I just want it to
happen' crowd. You _could_ get funky with external units and rsync scripts, but you'd be
doing the heavy thinking and some people just don't want to do that. Still ....
variety eh? Spice of life and all that ...
-------------------- Veni, Vidi, Aesculi
(I came, I saw, I conkered)
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Studio Support Gnome
Not so Miserable Git
Joined: 22/07/03
Posts: 8995
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Re: OT: Time capsule
[Re: Dave B]
#841575 - 22/06/10 07:32 AM
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dave, my point being that the functionality is provided by Time machine, irrespective of
the hardware... My Laptop does exactly what your other friends do... without the
time capsule...
there's no need for scripts.... once time machine is
activated, and set to use a drive, it will do so whenever that drive is available.
--------------------
if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.
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Dark Fader
sith lord
Joined: 03/01/04
Posts: 648
Loc: Death Star
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Quote Max!:
personally i feel
they're over priced... and over complicated.
IMHO it makes more sense to
simply buy decent OEM HD's and a network drive housing, and use Time machine to back up,
and a basic Airport express base station connected to it by Ethernet cable.
it'll probably come to about the same money , but is a helluva lot easier to
replace or expand the drives, and if any one piece fails, it's replaceable for less money.
and without affecting the rest.
I was very much under the impression that Time Machine isn't recommended for use
with NAS because threre is no verification that the data has actually been written to
disk, whereas this doesn't happen with the Apple's own networking devices. You wouldn't
be able to tell something was wrong until you try to restore particular files from a
corrupt backup.
The way I have it set up is by having a Macbook Pro and a
Macbook backing up to a USB drive attached to a Mac Mini. This setup DOES verify that the
data has actually been written to disk.
It's a bit more of a hassle setting
it up, requiring some configuration and scripts to automount the TM drives etc. but works
perfectly when configured; as soon as I open the lid on my Macbook Pro it starts backing
up wirelessly to my time machine drive on the Mac Mini.
The original Time
Capsules fail because of the heat generated and lack of ventilation causing the power
supply capacitors to fail. I don't know if this has been improved any in the newer
versions.
There is quite a bit of info on t'internet about all of this.
Cheers,
Jim
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Ian Hamilton
new member
Joined: 15/10/02
Posts: 969
Loc: Scotland
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Re: OT: Time capsule
[Re: Dark Fader]
#841915 - 23/06/10 01:29 PM
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cheers for replies..
Plenty of food for thought. I currently backup my audio
system with time machine and works seamlessly, with a LaCie 2TB drive.
Now I've
added a Macbook and the missus is getting one with work, I fancied having something to
backup our mackbooks wirelessly. We both use them for work, so there's isn't masses of
information.
Plus I don't want to upgrade my printer so like the USB option.
Will delve further.. it was more the reliability that I was interested in. I didn't
want to outlay more for a 'apple' product only for there to be issues with it. I'd rather
go cheaper and put up with any 'seams' that I need to overcome.
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