Apple introduces Time Capsule, a NAS companion to Time Machine

Apple announced a companion to Time Machine today, Time Capsule. Essentially a hard drive and Airport combined -- an NAS from your favorite Cupertino team. The wireless drive will come in 500GB and 1TB configurations, and will feature 802.11n, as well as server grade hard drives. They will clock in at $299 and $499, respectively (Steve says they're aggressively pricing them because they want everyone to backup). You'll be able to backup your notebook or desktop wirelessly from anywhere in your home. Available in February, pre-order now.

Gallery: Apple Time Capsule

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[brandon russo @ Jan 15th 2008 12:27PM]

sounds pretty unreal

[AnonM @ Jan 15th 2008 12:35PM]

Great. So first they tell us that AEBS will work with Time Machine, then two weeks before Leopard is released they remove that feature.

Now, they enable that feature, but only if you pay a premium for a new AEBS with a 'server grade hard drive' from Apple.

What's the bet they decided on Time Capsule before they released Time Machine, and didn't want to cannibalise sales?

- M.

[PaulT00 @ Jan 15th 2008 2:22PM]

Of course it was all planned. I'm just annoyed that I bought an AEBS *specifically* for its airport disk feature, then discovered *after* I bought the 1TB drive to plug into it that (a) there were problems with large drives and (b) it wouldn't support Time Machine. Can we say P*SSED OFF?

Now come on Apple, how's about, now you have the firmware for the Time Capsule sorted, releasing the working code as a software patch for those of us who bought the AEBS for this feature?

[EMoShunz @ Jan 15th 2008 2:46PM]

i just spent $150 on an airport extreme because pre-leopard release said time machine would work on a usb drive attached to it...then they dropped support, now it suddenly works, but not in my home :(

[Galley @ Jan 15th 2008 12:37PM]

I picked up an AEBS at Best Buy a few days ago for $152, but hadn't opened it yet. An additional $150 for a 500GB HDD with wireless backup is a no-brainer. I'll be returning it tomorrow.

[Hijakk @ Jan 15th 2008 12:42PM]

Sexy - but can I use it as an actual NAS, or is it ONLY for time machine backup?

I'm talking out of the box, of course, I'm sure that it'll be, er, modified to allow real NAS functionality if it doesn't include it.

[rip @ Jan 15th 2008 3:18PM]

I'm wondering the same thing.

[rip @ Jan 15th 2008 3:24PM]

I checked. Looks like you can use it as a regular NAS.

Looks like a pretty good price for a 1Tb NAS with a built in wireless-N router.

[Ed @ Jan 15th 2008 8:44PM]

I would assume so. After all, you can share USB disks from both this and an airport extreme, so it makes sense to share the internal drive too.

What I think would be cool is if holding down a key on a mac at boot would search for your time machine and let you restore from backups straight from the machine, no boot disk needed.

[Ty @ Jan 15th 2008 12:48PM]

Anyone else lol at "Server Grade" ?

[Dubb @ Jan 15th 2008 2:23PM]

I did, gotta add the fanboy spin. "Server grade" hard drives fail all the time, there goes your backup. This should be RAID, but that might be too much for the fanboys.

[Sal @ Jan 15th 2008 3:20PM]

I LOLz +100 at "server grade." 10 bucks you cant open this Hot plate

[shifuimam @ Jan 15th 2008 12:59PM]

I'm wondering what "server grade" storage means. 15,000 RPM Seagate?

And if it has that lovely Apple warranty, you're looking at another $100-$300 for AppleCare to cover it if the HDD fails after the first 90 days...

[Ed @ Jan 15th 2008 8:48PM]

I think all airport devices are covered under your Mac's applecare plan, assuming you have one. At least, I would hope. I shelled out for an APP on my MacBook, but who wants a warranty on what's essentially a router?

[Adrian @ Jan 19th 2008 1:12AM]

Which doesn't help me in recovering my backed up data.

It's times like these where I fear I need to backup my backups.

[fh @ Jan 15th 2008 12:59PM]

Unless that picture is inaccurate (which it more than likely is), "Sever Grade" holds no bearing: enterprise drives (from Seagate, WD, etc) are certainly rated for 24/7 usage, but backup is fatally flawed unless Apple offers a RAID configuration (which I doubt if the -only- configs are 500gb and 1tb). HP MediaSmart server (et al) is a much better bet, since it already supports backups from Apple machines and offers drive redundancy (not to mention more features, albeit without a transparent initial setup process).

Of course, at $299, the 500gb is aggressively priced (HP's 500gb WHS box is already $599); but unless this proves to offer significantly more features, I could just buy a $99 500gb drive and a $30 single-drive NAS enclosure and get the same functionality.

[Rooster @ Jan 15th 2008 1:43PM]

When this came up I was certain that the "Air" would be the ultra portable laptop. Not only could you back up your laptop (which will have limited storage space) but I wonder if you would be able to place excess files (ones not needed daily or for travel) on the thing. Your massive iTunes library, movies, old documents, photos, and so on. You could access them at home via wi-fi and store them on the Air when you needed them. Besides, you need a wireless router anyway and here's another reason to pic up the Airport Extreme.

[Dan @ Jan 15th 2008 1:47PM]

so does that mean time machine will be able to backup to my MyBook World Edition NAS or is this the only NAS that will be able to be used?

[nryder @ Jan 15th 2008 1:56PM]

Of all the things Apple does right, Backup is one thing I believe they have gotten wrong. Microsoft I believe offers a greater solution to backup than Apple.

Apple its ok to copy MS on this one. Please do it for me.

[ClaMs @ Jan 15th 2008 2:54PM]

How is this backup system wrong? It all happens wirelessly and automatically, for all your Macs.

[kyle @ Jan 15th 2008 2:24PM]

i'm guessing "server grade" means WD raid edition.

does this mean that time machine will work with any NAS now?

[CasperT @ Jan 15th 2008 2:25PM]

I really need to know - will this hook up as an external harddrive on leopard also?

[Galley @ Jan 15th 2008 3:24PM]

From what I have read on the product page, it still functions as an AirDisk external drive.

[mike @ Jan 15th 2008 2:34PM]

Still waiting on Time Machine to work with my 500GB NAS I already have. Come on' Steve, if you really want everyone to backup, hurry the hell up and fix Leopard.

I guess this means the fix will be out in Feb. After all, Time Capsule is just a branded, overpriced NAS. The code will have to be updated for it to work!

[treacherous @ Jan 15th 2008 3:06PM]

Combine this with AppleTV and add support for a digital TV provider (even OTA) and it would be a winner.

[treacherous @ Jan 15th 2008 3:06PM]

All in one box I mean!

[Aj Collins @ Jan 15th 2008 3:35PM]

Hmm...Does this remind anyone of the Windows Home Server Microsoft introduced last year?

[Westacular @ Jan 15th 2008 4:14PM]

I wouldn't say it's over-priced. To put something like this together on your own, you'd be looking at

$150+ for a decent gigabit/802.11n router with USB
$100 for a 500 GB hard drive
$30+ for a USB enclosure for the hard drive

= $280, and not nearly as tidy or simple. At $300 the Time Capsule is really quite tempting.

[Andrew @ Feb 27th 2008 10:08PM]

I guess its not overpriced at the 500gb level... but an extra 200 bucks for the 1TB is quite the step up..

[jwehman @ Jan 15th 2008 4:57PM]

I wonder if you could load content *onto* it locally, and then serve it up wirelessly to a draft-n equipped Notebook (PC). That would solve a lot of problems for me...

[Robin @ Jan 15th 2008 6:34PM]

I'm really rather tempted by this, of course the UK price is inflated by stupid taxes. I'm in the market for an N-router and was going to buy a 1tb external drive, now I can get both, hoorah

[Reid B. @ Jan 15th 2008 8:14PM]

You gotta be kidding me, a one drive NAS? How lame can you get. May as well buy a USB drive.

The proper use for a home NAS is to store your large libraries of photos, movies and music - backup your entire network - and have REDUNDANCY!

Of course a backup solution is not complete without OFFSITE backup. Jungle Disk/Amazon S3 is the best solution.

[gamerzunited @ Jan 15th 2008 8:30PM]

does this work with PC? i hate how the other ones are all big for 1TB... if this doesn't support PC... i'm going to get the robotic External hard drive with the Share Unit

[Chris in CA @ Jan 15th 2008 9:16PM]

I guess now we know why they dropped support for Time Machine on AirPort Extreme Drives.

[ScottG61376 @ Jan 15th 2008 10:24PM]

Anyone else think the two week delay is to have time to release 10.5.2 which will enable this feature for both standard NAS as well as TimeCapsule?

[zcollvee @ Jan 16th 2008 5:43AM]

Waste of money?

[Sciamachy Moran @ Jan 16th 2008 10:07AM]

Aggressively priced? Not in the UK - here it's £100 more than its nearest competition with the same capacity (1Tb) - and £50 more expensive than the same product in the US.

And why, if the MBA is made in China & priced at $1799 in the US, they're £1199 in the UK? Last I looked, $1799 was £918.51. Rip-off Britain strikes again - or that's one hell of an expensive power socket adaptor.

[theNetImp @ Jan 16th 2008 2:03PM]

Sciamachy Moran, it could have to do with import tax differences between the US and the UK. I suspect Apple wants $x and in order to get it they will price things based on what they want, and not to make it similar in each country. Therefore if the import tax is more then they'd increase the price to make sure they get $x.

I don't agree it' right, but it doesn't surprise me.

[BigRick @ Jan 16th 2008 12:56PM]

I would rather buy a Netgear ReadyNas Duo and connect it to my wireless N router. Not only is the cost lower, it adds functionality, portability, mirrorring and expandibility. Works with Time Machine and is shipped with retrospect. This Time Capsule is a Money Capsule. Just look at the cost of a wireless accesspoint, a SATA-drive and an Apple TV box.

[pfj_englishman @ Jan 16th 2008 5:43PM]

Can I use the Time machine as a proper NAS for my PS3 as well?
Cheers

[chammi @ Jan 16th 2008 11:52PM]

Can it be partitioned? Any special limitations?
I have a Vantec Nexstar LX enclosure that is sitting unused because it can't read my Linux/Win HDDs. :(

[Ernie Oporto @ Feb 28th 2008 10:52PM]

Now, given a little Windows software, it might give the Microsofties a little taste of the mac world to slide a few more over.