Apple Time Capsule hands-on
By Paul Miller 
posted Jan 15th 2008 3:10PM
posted Jan 15th 2008 3:10PM
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I'd like to know if Time Capsule will hold files photos, etc that aren't backed-up duplicates? The reason is that I need more hard disk space rather than a duplicate of my already stuffed up machine. Can I copy to TC then delete from laptop, or just copy originals to TC then access it from my laptoop?
I'd like to know if Time Capsule will hold files photos, etc that aren't backed-up duplicates? The reason is that I need more hard disk space rather than a duplicate of my already stuffed up machine. Can I copy to TC then delete from laptop, or just copy originals to TC then access it from my laptoop?
Ditto...Since the MBA has only an 80gb hdd, I'd like to store only the most pertinent data on my laptop, with the ability to retrieve additional data from the TC as needed. I'd love to store my movie collection on the TC. Seems like Time Capsule and Apple TV should eventually become a merged device. Could you imagine Apple TV with high speed router capabilities, backup, etc. An all-in-one digital (home-based) appliance & your MB (mobile appliance).
The only thing holding me back from buying the 1TB model is trying to find out if there is a way to connect a usb cable from my computer to the time capsule usb port and backup files that way. aka NOT using wireless. the apple site only says you can use it to connect a printer or hard drive to it. ????
anyone have any more info on this?
I'm pretty sure you can not do that- but of course you could connect your computer directly to it via ethernet for the same purpose...
Engadget, ask how many macs can you back up to the 1tb model. Apple doesn't seem to say anywhere.
he did say in the keynote ( the post covering it) that you could back up all the macs in the house...? i mean 1Tb is a lot of space haha
From the Apple.com website:
"There are no cables, so you can back up all the computers in your home to a central location."
So I'm guessing as many as there is space for.
That would totally depent on how big a hard drive those mac's have, and if you choose to back up all partitions on that mac, or only the one with system, pictures, music, movies and such on. So basically from one mac pro with lots of harddisk space - to 17 macbooks with 60gb hdd's.
Not to forget you can attach more hard drives via. the usb port. Several in fact if you apply a usb-hub first. So in theory you could have a total of 10+ TB's available for backup if you needed it.
Time Capsule + Apple TV software = I buy
I don't think they work the way you think they work.
does this only work for macs?? would be sweet for a PC....
It's designed for Time Machine, so I'm guessing it wouldn't work for PCs...maybe as a basic network drive.
Yep, both work with it
Works as a NAS for all computers on the LAN, but only mac's with leopard can benifit from the automated backing up through time machine.
Is this why Time Machine doesn't support networked drives? So, Apple can sell their own networked drive... the only one that is currently supported?
This is exactly what I though! I'm a new switcher but these kind of decisions taken by Apple are really annoying me.
Blah, I'm so mac'd out now I'm gonna have to go install linux on something to compensate, or maybe even Windows 98se, just to balance out the bias...
Oh quick question: what happened to that bit out piece of apple in the logo? was that where the apple folks' common sense went?
The bitten out piece in the logo? Looks like it's there to me
I was simply joking that the bitten out piece must've had Apple's common sense in it, since some of their decisions (like non-removable batteries) are down right stupidity..
So does this mean that i'll never be able to just hook up a USB hard drive to my Airport Express and backup to it using Time Machine?
i'm guessing that's a yes. honestly to me this is probably the most useful release of this year. hope it does well.
Ouch, but i suppose it's fairly reasonable for the same AE with a "server class" hard drive.
Maybe that's one of the features to be announced with the MacOSX 10.5.2 update (I'm hoping anyways).
If you go to Terminal and type
defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1
This will allow you to use a NAS drive in Time Machine.
another yawn.
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There's a TB in there? and draft-N router? That seems pretty impressive.. Too bad I don't have 500 laying around or a laptop with N :(
Well, you know, per se it is a great piece of hardware, even at a reasonable price -- the thing turns to bad when you (and I) think about the people who bought, months ago, an Airport extreme (or two...) and a USB hard drive to perform wireless backups. If Apple won't release an upgrade for the AEBS to let it wirelessly backup onto the Airdisk, it would be a great betrayal for us customers, since they promoted the AEBS as a great way to have a wireless disk.
Waiting to shout SUCKERS. Hope not.
Agreed - I do very much hope that this means that Time Machine and the preexisting Airport Extreme base stations will be updated to allow a similar functionality with other disks.
Now here's the other question: Is the drive in this thing user-swappable? I have an unfortunate feeling that it won't be. But if it was built so that it was easily accessed so that the backup drive could be replaced when it fails, then that would definitely be better.
Can it be accessed over the internet? If it can, I'll order one today...
The current AirDisk can (I'm looking at my share at home right now), so I don't see why this one can't.
The 1TB version is just perfect for me and my family of 49!
Hmmm. No audio/TOSlink outputs, so you can't stream audio wirelessly like you can with the Airport Express.
Darn it, that's what I had been hoping to use this for! Could I plug in USB speakers and play wirelessly from my laptop?
Doesn't Microsoft call this Windows Home Server? And isn't it user upgradeable? And doesn't it have a ton more functionality? This is garbage.
Windows Home Server is a full blown server: a small-scale headless PC running a variation of Windows Server 2003 acting as a very featureful NAS. It use a lot more power, it's not a router, and it has no wifi.
It's also twice the price for a 500 GB model.
So, other than allowing network storage and backups, they're entirely different products. Thanks for playing.
I'd pay a little more for a lot more function. I'm not playing, I'm just stating the facts. I love Apple products, but when they do what they accuse Microsoft of doing all the time, by copying and existing product, I have to call them on it.
No, MS calls this NAS (Network Attached Storage) with a Draft-N wireless router built-in. Go troll somewhere else.
In my opinion, and im sure alot of other people as well, apple doesnt only build for people with a lot of technical ability. They want this item to be for people who want to take it out of the box and work, and it seems thats what its going to do. Same with the apple tv. I think this is a good item for apple. As they build market share, those buyers are going to want items that work seamlessly with their mac without much setup. This fits. My only hope is that people who already have the AEBS can use the network drive with time machine.
In my opinion, and im sure alot of other people as well, apple doesnt only build for people with a lot of technical ability. They want this item to be for people who want to take it out of the box and work, and it seems thats what its going to do. Same with the apple tv. I think this is a good item for apple. As they build market share, those buyers are going to want items that work seamlessly with their mac without much setup. This fits. My only hope is that people who already have the AEBS can use the network drive with time machine.
The question nobody seems to have asked is where does this leave .Mac users? What about .Mac Backup?
Your question should be focused at Time Machine, not Time Capsule. Time Capsule is just a NAS with a router, switch, and some extra firmware that hooks up all pretty-like with Leopard.
That said, .Mac Backup can still be used for off-site backup, so it can work in conjunction with Time Machine.
Also, I'm running Time Machine and ChronoSync at home, so it's not like Time Machine won't work with other backup programs.
Is it fanless? The problem with most NAS and USB/FW external disks is that they have extremely noisy fans.
This thing is NOT an NAS storage device. If I can't access my data remotely from this thing (meaning anywhere else other than from my sofa) then what's the friggin point!? I don't like it...why not have .Mac manage the remote access portion of this...that would make it ideal. This is definately a DON'T BUY.
It never fails that when Apple releases something that doesn't fit a particular person's needs, that person will be inclined to post all over the internet how nobody in their right mind would buy such a thing. I mean really, DON'T BUY?
I can see why one might not consider buying the thing. It'd be nice if this was a little more full featured. I'd like to see expandability, ability to access files remotely, and single instance copy to name a few. However, until I'm at the helm of some company designing products to suit me, then I'll have to live with whatever company can more closely offer what will work for me.
I'm a pretty technical guy. I develop software for a living and building computers doesn't scare me. I could configure up some RAID linux NAS and be able to manage my data in any number of ways. But I don't really want to. I want to buy something that works out of the box and never have to think about it. I think there is a large market for this type of thing. It's easy to use, and that's Apple's whole philosophy.
Besides, I don't recall Apple ever said this was a NAS. It's simply a hard drive tacked on to a draft N router. As a bonus, it works with Time Machine.
You hit the nail right on the head. Apple wants you using stuff that you don't have to think about. Or simply stop thinking and just buy it. Why do people always sugar coat everything Apple does, because what they make looks pretty or sexy? They're out there to make as much money as possible just like any other company. If they can sucker their customers into buying crap and keep them coming back, then why wouldn't they?
this is coo, just wish that would of added all this funk to the apple tv
I was thinking an appletv plus this would be magic for my system.....I then could use my current airport express back in my bedroom for extended coverage and also be able to stream some music back there.
also am I right in thinking the appletv 40gig will be plenty if it is networked with this. pretty awesome
The "Time Capsule" isn't shipping until February, hopefully between then we get 10.5.2 and a firmware update for the AirPort Extreme N's.
Someone at MacWorld should check the OS Build and the firmware on one of the Time Capsule demos.
I also noticed that the AppleTV is listed as compatible.. maybe the new firmware will give us access to content stored on an APE.
Will this be able to run SlimServer?
Question for Apple: I'm curious about using Time Capsule to boot from. I know in Leopard you can boot from a Time Machine backup now, but that was with drives that were connected directly. Will you be able to boot from TC over network, or will/can it be hooked up via the USB port to boot from?
To be able to boot from a network connected drive is something that has to be built into the firmware of the machine you are trying to boot – by definition it does not have an OS until booted. I know some machines allow a boot from an Ethernet connected drive, which means that the firmware can handle an Ethernet adapter. Handling a wireless network adapter requires a bit more.
Need to look at what is possible with your firmware, BIOS on a PC EFI I think it is known as on Mac.
Out of all the announcements today, I think this one is actually useful for me. First, I do not have a router, so this would be great. Second, I never back up anything, and know that I should, and time machine makes it easy. Finally 500GB would be a ton of room. The only thing is, I want to be able to use it as extra storage too. The apple rep I asked today at Macworld didnt seem to know for sure, but their website says it can be used as a regular NAS. Now I just have to find 300bucks...damn
I would totally buy this in a heartbeat IF it also streamed iTunes content...I can't believe Apple released a networked HD that doesn't do that, especially one with plenty of room for both backups and iTunes content (eliminating the need to back up the iTunes stuff as well...)
That´s call Apple TV.
actually, what I meant was a device that acts as an iTunes library server (I've seen similar software on other, mostly PC, NAS devices) so that you can access your iTunes library from any device - Mac, AppleTV, iPod, iPhone, etc...
I know its early but any word on if this can be detected on a PS3 im looking for a NAS that I can store everything on Music, Photo, video, files, and access it from all computers and the PS3.
Anyone know right now if this thing can be used as a conventional stand-alone storage disk or is it purely dedicated to Time Machine?
I would love to use it to store all my lossless music files so that itunes can access it and send it to my airport express.
I second this notion. But, to cosign what a previous poster has said- In a perfect world they would have included toslink audio output so that you could run an itunes server out of it. I love my airport express/airtunes setup- however the occasional dropouts are enough that I am considering purchasing a mac mini with an external hard-drive attached to it for this purpose and plugging it directly into the stereo. Wait a minute, maybe that is why they didn't include this feature in this near-perfect product.......
This is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a backup hard drive for Time Machine that I could access wirelessly with my laptop. I also wanted to be able to access my printer wirelessly (it's bluetooth, but you have to buy a $100 adapter, which I didn't really want to do), which is a huge bonus. It not only acts as a backup for TIme Machine, but to archive things like photos and movies. It would be nice to access remotely, but that's not really something I desperately want or need. Basically, it's got everything I'm looking for.