Travel Technology - Alternative to an Apple Time Capsule

I hope to soon toss my piece of crap HP laptop in favor of a Macbook Pro 17. As part of this upgrade, I want to get an inclusive device to provide wireless 'N' and storage for transferring my files and backing them up.

Technically, it looks like the Time Capsule is the perfect one-stop shop - wireless N, 1TB storage and a print server connection, and I can even use SuperDuper backup in place of the clumsy and unreliable Time Machine software that comes with the Mac.

However - the reviews on the TM are blisteringly poor, even on Apple's own website. 12-14 months seems to be the average time for the system to fail, and it runs loud and hot due to the full size drive. It's also fairly expensive.

Can anyone suggest a single device, or a combination of two small, simple devices I can combine to create a more reliable setup than a Time Machine alone?

I've never tried it, but couldn't you plug an external HD into the back of any old wireless router that has a USB port?

I use an external HD plugged into my Mac and it seems like the Time Machine software works flawlessly. It was a lifesaver a month ago when the HD in my Mac finally gave up the ghost.

I've never tried it, but couldn't you plug an external HD into the back of any old wireless router that has a USB port?

I use an external HD plugged into my Mac and it seems like the Time Machine software works flawlessly. It was a lifesaver a month ago when the HD in my Mac finally gave up the ghost.

That's kind of where I was going, but I was hoping for some specific product recommendations, re: best router and drive :)

fwiw, i piggy backed something similar in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/982858-need-good-terabyte-external-hard-drive.html) starting with post 12.

now as to the time capsule, the concept is great and goalie-parents use it and the fact that there are additional ethernet ports and a usb port make things good if hooking up a wired usb printer or a wireless printer via ethernet.

t/c works well tho the initial backup may take up to and perhaps longer than 24 hours (and if you do go with t/c, i do recommend downloading "time machine editor" as it allows you to change the back-up settings on t/c to whatever you want vs hourly, daily weekly etc as i find not being able to set my own b/u schedule a pita)

myself, i use the time machine software but with an external drive for back-up and it did save my bacon on my ancient (and slow laptop) as the h/d crashed but after 18 hours (i told you it was slow)

the only "issue" i have with my set up is that where i use an external firewire drive, i need to physically connect it to the laptop to back up but since it's only once/week, i leave the drive permanently connected to my i-mac and just un-plug it from the imac and plug it into the laptop. now, if my router had a usb port then it would make life a bit easier as the drive has both fw 400 & 800 and usb 2.0 ports

If you're getting a Mac, get an Airport. I know it's a little more $$, but it's easy to set up, and the software is built into the system, unlike the &*$%*$ D-Link router I used to have.

fwiw, i piggy backed something similar in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-technology/982858-need-good-terabyte-external-hard-drive.html) starting with post 12....

Thank you :) I'm still torn between the simplicity of a Time Capsule and its reliability issues. I'd rather have one simple device sitting on the counter, but I will look for a N class router that will take either a firewire or esata drive.

Thank you :) I'm still torn between the simplicity of a Time Capsule and its reliability issues. I'd rather have one simple device sitting on the counter, but I will look for a N class router that will take either a firewire or esata drive.

This is an ongoing concern of mine. The more stuff becomes all-in-one, the less clutter you have, but at the same time you can't just swap out pieces if something breaks. My thinking is that if it's mission critical, flexibility wins out.

Thank you :) I'm still torn between the simplicity of a Time Capsule and its reliability issues. I'd rather have one simple device sitting on the counter, but I will look for a N class router that will take either a firewire or esata drive.as wiredboy10003 points out, the set-up using apple's built in airport technology and the time capsule is a snap to set up as i did it for goalie-parents in about 15 minutes and (knock wood), not one problem hardware wise in the year that they have had it

i was going to go the t/c route when i inherited goalie-mom's laptop but it tuned out my dsl modem was so/too old and it wouldn't work and after calling at&, they deiced to send me a new wireless modem & router for free as i'm a long time customer

Ok - having set up a TimeMachine share on a linux server, I can safely say that it's not simple.

Apple has engineered the software to make it rather difficult at best. It CAN be done as you suggest, but you'll have to jump through some hoops first.

There are several websites with how-tos. They're all pretty specific to a single setup (like a particular vendor's NAS box). You'll need to read a couple and see how to apply the information to your particular setup.

And the big caveat: While the time machine will work for normal activities, it may not support a full restore as there are settings that need to be tweaked on the Mac. If you get a new one and want to restore from timemachine, you may not be able to break into the normal restore process to update those settings.

Ok - having set up a TimeMachine share on a linux server, I can safely say that it's not simple.

Apple has engineered the software to make it rather difficult at best. It CAN be done as you suggest, but you'll have to jump through some hoops first.

There are several websites with how-tos. They're all pretty specific to a single setup (like a particular vendor's NAS box). You'll need to read a couple and see how to apply the information to your particular setup.

And the big caveat: While the time machine will work for normal activities, it may not support a full restore as there are settings that need to be tweaked on the Mac. If you get a new one and want to restore from timemachine, you may not be able to break into the normal restore process to update those settings.regarding a full restore via time machine and using apple's time capsule......

fwiw, when i had to do a full restore this past july after i replaced the laptop h/d due to a hd crash, the full restore worked flawlessly and all settings were retained. it just takes time based on the speed of your machine and in my case, as i was restoring from goalie-parents time capsule, it also took time due to it being done over wifi

regarding a full restore via time machine and using apple's time capsule......

fwiw, when i had to do a full restore this past july after i replaced the laptop h/d due to a hd crash, the full restore worked flawlessly and all settings were retained. it just takes time based on the speed of your machine and in my case, as i was restoring from goalie-parents time capsule, it also took time due to it being done over wifi

I use my Time Capsule with a couple of macs. What I suggest for the initial backup--as opposed to the incremental backups--is to go ahead and run a wired connection between the Time Capsule and your Mac but only for that first backup. Do this also if you need to do a full restore. That way you can take advantage of the speed of the wired connection for the large data transfers.

I've not had any issues with my TC and it seems to tolerate the occasional power outage just fine.

I use my Time Capsule with a couple of macs. What I suggest for the initial backup--as opposed to the incremental backups--is to go ahead and run a wired connection between the Time Capsule and your Mac but only for that first backup. Do this also if you need to do a full restore. That way you can take advantage of the speed of the wired connection for the large data transfers.

I've not had any issues with my TC and it seems to tolerate the occasional power outage just fine.d'oh :eek:

forgot about that as that's how i did the initial back up of goalie-mom's laptop after "learning the hard way" ;) when backing up goalie-parent's i-mac.

now, fwiw, these are the instructions i used to connect the laptop via ethernet and it worked (and feel free to correct as needed :))

Connecting The Time Capsule Via Ethernet



Connect one end of a Cat-5 Ethernet cable into one of the LAN ports of the TC (<•••>).
Connect the other end to your Macs ethernet port.
Open Network Preferences.
At the top change "Location:" to "Ethernet Connection".
In the list on the left "Ethernet" should be at the top of the list. (If not use the Action Menu (gear button) at the bottom to "Set Service Order".)
Click "Apply" in the lower right.
Give it a moment to acquire an IP address from the TC.
You should now be connected.
Now begin your initial backup.
Now that you are reconnected to the TC, you should still have internet access during the backup.

Connect one end of a Cat-5 Ethernet cable into one of the LAN ports of the TC (<•••>).Use a Cat-5e cable or Cat 6, as the Time Capsule ports are gig Ethernet.

I setup my own linux TC based on a network-attached drive. It worked, but Time Machine would not always reliably find the drive and start the backup. I ended up buying a TC, and I haven't had any problems. A lot of the criticisms I've read are based on initial backup time, and that's easily solved.

Apple recently cut the price of a 1TB TC in half. Were you aware of this?

My biggest gripe with the TC is lack of compliance with RFC 1918. For the 10.0.0.0 network, you can't have NAT clients in anything that doens't start 10.0.X.Y. All of my printers and media devices were in 10.30.50.X, and all had to be renumbered, along with the clients that pointed to them. It was a royal pain.

Use a Cat-5e cable or Cat 6, as the Time Capsule ports are gig Ethernet.

I setup my own linux TC based on a network-attached drive. It worked, but Time Machine would not always reliably find the drive and start the backup. I ended up buying a TC, and I haven't had any problems. A lot of the criticisms I've read are based on initial backup time, and that's easily solved.

Apple recently cut the price of a 1TB TC in half. Were you aware of this?

My biggest gripe with the TC is lack of compliance with RFC 1918. For the 10.0.0.0 network, you can't have NAT clients in anything that doens't start 10.0.X.Y. All of my printers and media devices were in 10.30.50.X, and all had to be renumbered, along with the clients that pointed to them. It was a royal pain.the instructions i had were for goalie-parent's first generation 500 gb t/c which iirc was not gigbit ethernet where the new versions (now 1tb/$299 & 2tb/$499 [with no 500gb version] are gigabit ethernet)

Since I don't need to back up everything on the machines, I use Dropbox and sync all my documents across three Macs and a W7 Netbook. No hardware, and I have all of my files wherever I am.

Since I don't need to back up everything on the machines, I use Dropbox and sync all my documents across three Macs and a W7 Netbook. No hardware, and I have all of my files wherever I am.

+1. I backup only my personal files and not my installed applications or other stuff on my hard drive. Dropbox is $200/year for 100 GB, unlimited bandwidth -- about 2x as expensive as just going directly to Amazon S3 storage, but Dropbox's software layer is worth the expense, plus they cover the BW costs.

So all my computers are in-sync, plus I have access via the web interface to revision control (prior versions, or deleted files).

Dropbox has really changed my backup strategy. As in, I don't, anymore.

Dropbox has really changed my backup strategy. As in, I don't, anymore.

It's completely changed the way I work. No more mailing files to myself every night. :)

If only it were a bit cheaper.

Since I don't need to back up everything on the machines, I use Dropbox and sync all my documents across three Macs and a W7 Netbook. No hardware, and I have all of my files wherever I am.

I think it depends on what kind of stuff you work on. On a one day photo shoot I can generate several gigs of files. I think uploading this much stuff every day could be really painful. For me, it's about being backed up. It's not as though I'm going to be doing Photoshop on my netbook while sitting in an airport lounge. I do like the idea of an offsite backup though.

Not for everyone, but I am using an infrant readynas...this is a more expensive solution than a time capsule but does have hot swappable drives and raid to allow replacement of failed drives with no loss of data size expansion..the latest firmware supports time machine with no tricks necesary. before that I was using a USB drive, but the convenience of having timecapsule on a network drive is awesome.

as others point out, using a wireless n router is huge...I have no problems with my d-link dir655.

Not for everyone, but I am using an infrant readynas...this is a more expensive solution than a time capsule but does have hot swappable drives and raid to allow replacement of failed drives with no loss of data size expansion..the latest firmware supports time machine with no tricks necesary. before that I was using a USB drive, but the convenience of having timecapsule on a network drive is awesome.

as others point out, using a wireless n router is huge...I have no problems with my d-link dir655.

I used to have a ReadyNAS. Actually, still do. An old one, before they had their X-raid system implemented. But have gone through three of their cross-flow fans and it's still dead now. Turn it on and it overheats in an hour. Good idea, but didn't work out for me.

What is the ulimate objective here? TC has some real benefits, in that it is all in one, and the current models offer multiple radios for either protocol segregation or security segregation. Of course, they have build in storage and can be used as a print server. There are of course, very good wireless routers, with gige connections. One can simply add a network storage device, many types of NAS devices in various capacities, which would provide not only cost savings, but redundancy across devices.

Personally, I use a linksys router, with gige connections, and a couple of NAS devices from westerndigital and buffalo and iomega (and HD HomeServer products) and I use TimeMachine backup for three macs across the network for this. The first one is fairly slow, but subsequent backups are pretty fast and reliable.

This is an ongoing concern of mine. The more stuff becomes all-in-one, the less clutter you have, but at the same time you can't just swap out pieces if something breaks. My thinking is that if it's mission critical, flexibility wins out.

If you're not backing up multiple macs, why not get (a) a hard drive and (b) an airport express. The great thing about the express is you can take it on a trip and create your own wireless network if the hotel has only a wire.

If you're not backing up multiple macs, why not get (a) a hard drive and (b) an airport express. The great thing about the express is you can take it on a trip and create your own wireless network if the hotel has only a wire.

Will an Airport Express or any Airport model support E-SATA or some other super-fast data transfer protocol? Since the Airport has the printer support, I could just add an external E-SATA or similar drive and not risk losing the whole contraption if one item failed.

I just answered my own question - all of the Apple-branded routers support USB only, and have one port which means no printer+drive, just one or the other and nothing close to the transfer speed of E-SATA or even Firewire.

Will an Airport Express or any Airport model support E-SATA or some other super-fast data transfer protocol? Since the Airport has the printer support, I could just add an external E-SATA or similar drive and not risk losing the whole contraption if one item failed.

the airport extreme has a usb port for attaching a hard drive. you'd need a usb enclosure.

the airport extreme has a usb port for attaching a hard drive. you'd need a usb enclosure.

The USB transfer speed is a fraction of E-SATA, and a fraction of a dedicated internal drive (like the Time Capsule). The performance would be dog slow in comparison.

I looked around and was unable to find any wireless router that offered an E-SATA or fast Firewire connection, so my complaint is probably moot.

The USB transfer speed is a fraction of E-SATA, and a fraction of a dedicated internal drive (like the Time Capsule). The performance would be dog slow in comparison.

I looked around and was unable to find any wireless router that offered an E-SATA or fast Firewire connection, so my complaint is probably moot.

if you're using 802.11g, the wireless link is going to be the bottleneck. if it's 802.11n, then the drive speed might make a difference, but i'd be surprised if it was all that much, if anything, in typical real world use.


all of the Apple-branded routers support USB only, and have one port which means no printer+drive, just one or the other

that's why they make usb hubs. :) i think you can even attach multiple hard drives.

The idea of untethered backups is appealing, especially for laptops.

But I just attach a Firewire drive periodically and let TM backup.

Of course, sometimes I go weeks or even months and if a hard drive fails and it's been a couple of months since the last backup ...

I just answered my own question - all of the Apple-branded routers support USB only, and have one port which means no printer+drive, just one or the other and nothing close to the transfer speed of E-SATA or even Firewire.

Yes, and the airport express does not (I believe) support a hard drive on the USB port.

Anyway, FW and ESATA are far faster than wireless speeds you're likely to achieve, so isn't that speed pretty irrelevant? The fastest connection will be with a FW or ESATA cable direct to the computer.

FWIW, with Time Capsule one can, at least in theory, set it up for WAN access with backups even from the road. I got that to work, so I could use Time Machine to back up a laptop to my Time Capsule. The limitation is that upload speeds on most internet access points are extremely slow, so the backup can take way too long (even when it's just a couple of MB).