Apple Time Capsule MB277LL/A (AirPort Extreme Plus 1 TB Storage)
by Apple Computer
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List Price: Our Price: $184.99 You Save: $315.00 (63%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple Time Capsule MB277LL/A (AirPort Extreme Plus 1 TB Storage)
Customer Review: Not quite as advertised...
Summary: 3 Stars
Got this to serve as network-attached storage and backup for several computers with an existing wireless network. I read some critical reviews, but decided to try it anyway, because the other network attached storage solutions were reputably even harder to administer ([...] or too expensive (Data Robotics DR04DD10 Drobo 4-Bays USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 Fully Automated SATA Robotic Storage Array and Droboshare, Network Attached Companion for Drobo). I didn't consider a USB external drive because I want to be able to access my files from my notebook computer when the one desktop computer we have is asleep or out of sorts.
Here's what I learned after buying it that you should know before:
- Automatic backup is only for Mac machines with Time Machine (a feature of Leopard, which is a $100 upgrade I haven't done yet). For any other machine you have to configure it yourself somehow (there are no instructions for doing this). Also, I haven't been able to get it to work with Windows Vista's automatic backup feature - I get some kind of RPC server error when I try to specify to back up to the TC.
- It can't connect wirelessly to a wireless network that isn't 802.11.n. It kind of says it might work, but when I tried to configure it with my 802.11.g router, it just stopped responding and I had to reset it.
- It won't work with a network that's got less than 128-bit WEP encryption. This is a direct contradiction to something this product description says. Also it requires a 13-character ASCII WEP password, not a hexidecimal password.
- If you use it to access the internet through another router, it "dumbs down" its speed to the speed of that router. Even if I'm just writing files between my Mac and the Time Capsule, it's limited to the speed of the older, non-Apple router.
- Time Capsule supports WPA and WPA2 encryption, but if you use it with Windows machines or another router tech support says you should not try to use WPA because non-Apple equipment might have problems supporting it. WPA is supposedly better than WEP.
- The best scenario is to have it be your only wireless router. Although you can configure it to be a "member" of the network or to "extend your wireless network" if you connect it via Ethernet, Apple tech support discourages that. One tech I talked with said she had a customer who configured it to work with another router and it worked at first but then stopped working for no apparent reason.
- If you have a wireless router from your ISP you might have to reconfigure it (to change the password and encryption strength) and/or turn off the wireless feature to let Time Capsule be the boss.
On the bright side, Apple wireless support was free, easy to get, and helpful. (Except for the part where they kept telling me it probably wouldn't work the way I wanted it to!)
After a few days attempts to configure it, I can mount it as a network drive and it seems to be working (I'm copying 25GB of photos to it now). I haven't tried backing up to it yet, since I haven't researched yet how to do that on Tiger or figured out how to make it work on Windows.
I still think it's a decent price for a network-attached 1TB drive, but unless you have an all-Mac household and it can be your only wireless access point, you will have to do a lot of work on your own to make it do everything you want it to.
Customer Review: Very pleased with this product
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the 1 TB version from Amazon. Usual great Amazon delivery.
As for the product, I have a mixed network with a PC and a Macbook Pro. I have been thinking about upgrading the wireless to N from G and had a need for more network storage. Plus I needed a workgroup switch up to hook up the Blu-ray disk player and Directv box through a single ethernet jack. And I wanted to get serious about backing up that Macbook.
In other words, this product was made for me - addresses four needs with one product.
I consider myself an advanced novice when it comes to networking and I found setup to be pretty simple. The wired switch aspect of things worked without any action on my part other than plugging in the cables. (I am not using the TC as a router per se, the router is in the basement and is connected to the TC through another switch and a long run of CAT5e cable, all without glitches.)
Getting wireless going was a bit of learning experience. The unit worked perfectly throughout, but figuring out exactly what I wanted was a bit of an effort. Ultimately I decided to ditch the wireless I currently had (a wireless G access point from Linksys) and use the TC exclusively. TC can work with other wireless routers/access points, but I didn't need it because the TC covers our entire medium-size house with ease (from the upstairs down into the basement). It also took a little doing for me to "get" the way WPA security works when you have WEP only devices to connect as well, but it is actually pretty simple (just use 13 character keys and check the "WEP transitional" box and you are okay).
The hard drive worked easily from the start. It can be seen from both the Mac and the PC (I ran the included software on both to set it up). It seems pretty fast, both when accessed wireless (from the Mac) and via ethernet, again through multiple switches (from the PC). Time Machine works flawlessly.
All of my random wireless devices - ipod touch, Wii, old Soundbridge M500, Blackberry Curve - linked up no problem once I got the wireless password thing worked out.
In sum, this is a great product for just about anyone who wants a "home wireless network with backup in a box," which I imagine is most people. I suppose the clincher is the ability to back up OS X/Leopard machines with Time Machine, which as I understand it otherwise requires an attached USB drive or, to use network storage, some fairly esoteric tinkering. In other words, if you are a pure PC user, there may be cheaper solutions out there, but, price aside, I doubt there are much better ones.
Enjoy!
Customer Review: It doesn't get much easier or more convenient than this
Summary: 5 Stars
WHAT COMES IN THE BOX
Time Capsule
Plug
Installation Disk
SETUP
If you are using a cable modem, unplug it and wait for the IP address to reset. Then attach the network cable to the Time Capsule and plug the Time Capsule in. Running the installation disk from the Macbook Pro, setup was quite easy. I was up and running in about 10 minutes with 3 wireless devices - My laptop, my daughter's laptop and my wife's laptop. Additionally, I use WIFI at home on my iPhone and the Nintendo DSi.
Installation of the Time Capsule software and configuration was intuitive. Backing up of my Macbook Pro's hard drive takes time (I left mine on overnight) for 279 GB of data.
USE
The device is simple to operate. Just plug in the network cable and plug your device into your surge protector. Setting up the Time Machine's preferences is as simple as accessing the System Preferences folder and choosing Time Machine. If you used another drive in the past, make sure you change the drive on the Preferences or you will get error (-47), initially.
Replacing a prior Belkin, the set up was a fraction of the time. With the ability to create a shared drive, I see limitless options for the operation of the wireless devices in our home. The signal is quite strong and reaches all areas of my 5 Bedroom home without a loss of signal (the most sensitive device for signal loss is my Nintendo DSi on WIFI - I barely get signal in far reaches of the opposite side of my house). Prior to the installation of this product, I had to deal with 2 to 4 bars (out of 5) which varied depending upon how I tilted the iPhone. The same situation was with my Nintendo DSi. Now, I get full strength on the WIFI Signal.
I was able to back up my data by just dragging the folder into the hard drive interface. I did not measure transfer speed but the convenience of a wireless backup is a great concept. I also put all of my songs from iTunes into the hard drive. Instead of storing my songs on my laptop, it is synched with the wireless hard drive which allows more space, if I want to do video editing.
CONSTRUCTION
The drive is a square white box with a multicolor LED indicator light. There are 3 ports for USB devices and a reset button. The top of the unit gets quite hot so I do not recommend placing anything on top of it. The drive is quite quiet and you barely notice that it is on.
OVERALL
I am very happy with the Apple Time Capsule. It serves as both my wireless router, as well as my backup hard drive.
Customer Review: An easy to setup, great product!
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the 1 TB Time Capsule to replace my Linksys Router and an external Lacie 500 GB HDD. Setup took about 2 minutes - and I was up and running. It was extremely simple - insert the disk into a drive, install version 5.3 of the AirPort Utility, answer a few questions, and you are up and running - easy as pie.
That said, I have a warning for power users who want more security than a disk password - IE; you use user accounts for file sharing, etc. Instead of following the 'easy' path, you will want to use 'manual setup'. If you initially use the 'easy' setup and want to go back and change from a disk password for security to account security, you will lose any data you have transferred to the disk - that is correct, you will lose any data you have transferred to your disk - for me that was a 7 hour, 350 GB transfer - lesson learned.
I backup two computers via time machine on the Time Capsule - a Mac Mini, and a MacBook Air. They both averaged 25 GB on the first time machine backup, which took about 2.5 hours each via Ethernet - which is another point - you will want to use Ethernet instead of WiFi for your first backup - as the Time Capsule will truncate the transfer rate to allow others to keep using the AirPort.
That said, I am using the 802.11n (5Ghz) setting on the time capsule - and when I am surfing or downloading files via the internet on my MacBook Air, I honestly can't tell the difference between that and a direct Ethernet connection - when connected to the internet via cable Modem. It is absolutely incredible. To give you an example of the 802.11n transfer rate - I am sharing a single library stored on the Time Capsule for both my iTunes and iPhoto programs between the two computers - it used to take 45 to 60 seconds for the iPhoto library to come up when accessing via 802.11g (Linksys) on the MacBook Air - accessing the iPhoto library now via the 802.11n connection on the MacBook Air takes 5 seconds or less.
As you can guess from the previous statement, in addition to backup - I am also using the Time Capsule as an External HDD - I have about 350 GB of music and 100 GB of video stored on it. And so far so good!
Overall I am extremely pleased with this product and would recommend it to anyone!
Customer Review: Great router, good network disk, decent backup device
Summary: 4 Stars
This product is basically three products: an airport extreme wireless router, a networked drive, and finally, with Leopard, a networked backup system. Overall, it's a very good product, but there are some serious limitation one should be aware of.
As a router, it is fantastic. Typical Apple ease of use, with all configuration done by a very intuitive GUI application.
Unfortunately, it's not a great network drive. The drive appears to be internally connected using a very slow USB connection. You will find that even with a computer connected via Gb/s ethernet, transfer speeds will be limited to around 5-6 MB/s, tops. If you connect two Macs via fast ethernet, you can often get over 40 MB/s transfer speeds, so this is a rather large disappointment, especially for a device which will be getting a lot of use if you use Time Machine.
Time Machine is great in theory, but has a few issues. First, it is a file-based differential backup. That means if even a single bit of a 1 GB file is changed, the ENTIRE file gets backed up. Not only does this take a lot of time, it quickly depletes your backup drive because the same data is added to the disk every regular backup. To get around this, you have to explicitly exclude backing up such files. Good candidates for exclusion are Mail and iDisk caches, as well as virtual machine disk images.
There have also been numerous reports of Time Machine backups being susceptible to corruption. I've experienced this once, myself, after a backup was cancelled, so I can vouch that it happens. However, the problems can often be fixed by deleting the last backup. The next backup will take a long time as the computer must scan the full disk again, but the backups then continue on normally after that.
Time Machine backups have their place, and come in very handy to recover accidentally deleted files. However, they should only be considered part of a larger backup scheme. They probably shouldn't be trusted for a full recovery, and won't be of any help if your computer's drive completely fails, anyway. (How are you going to run Time Machine if you can't boot your computer?) As such, you should image your entire drive regularly, in addition to using Time Machine.