Apple issuing free repairs or replacements of wonky 2008 Time Capsules
It takes quite a lot to get Apple (or any of the other big timers) to swallow its pride and admit a faulty product, but the random deaths of its Time Capsules seem to have fit that bill. Of course, in classic corporate fashion, we're not told that there's a problem at all, but if you bought one of the earliest batches of Time Capsules -- between February and June 2008 -- and it has since suffered a fatal malfunction, you may now be entitled to a free repair or replacement. This new coverage is also being extended to people who've already had to pay to deal with a less than reliable Capsule; they'll get full refunds of their money, but we doubt their hearts will heal that quickly, and let's not even talk about the lost data that was supposed to be getting backed up on the thing.
























Dear Apple,
Please announce this 2 years ahead of time so i don't discourage customers from buying your time capsules.
Thanks,
Jake
@tu eres estupido
The fact that they seem prone to failing is reason enough to discourage me. Buying an external HD to lose your data doesn't seem right, but maybe the issue only affects older models?
@michaelwub lets put it this way: if you buy one today you will know in 2 years if its prone to failing
@tu eres estupido
For how much these cost you would think that they would work well.
@tu eres estupido Oddly enough, I was just reading a post on TUAW the other day about faulty Time Capsules still being faulty.
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/07/09/my-trip-through-time-capsule-hell-leads-to-a-different-backup-ap/
@bjsguess
Early adopter syndrome
@tu eres estupido
The best thing they could do is to put Windows 7 oj it. Then it would be fixed and reliable.
@rederikus Windows 7 has nothing to do with hard drives failing... Windows 7 manages better disk transfer rates, but software doesn't affect hardware (you are making the same mistake apple did with the iphone 4)
@aschettler That article is why this article exists. They are not two separate issues. The time capsules purchased at launch are now failing, and now being replaced.
@tu eres estupido NOTE: i am not being a MS Fanboy, Windows 7 does somehow have faster data transfer speeds so don't rank me down please
@bjsguess Exactly. I paid through the nose for mine. It stopped working a couple months ago. For a company that brags about how superior its products are and charges a premium it's not too impressive. More and more I think of Apple as infatuated with (snobby) design but average on engineering.
A little late now, isn't it?
How about some free data recovery, mm?
Still, not gonna fault a company for trying to make amends.
@jrm125 they did this with the Macbooks 2 years later too! they do that so the PR and stockholders don't care... 2 year old computers are not as big of a deal as brand new recalls because most people have already upgraded or thrown it away...
@jrm125
No, see--it's a TIME capsule. They've gone back and fixed the problem before it even happened.
@jrm125 Just spoke to Apple who say take it in and they will transfer all the data. The problem is not the disk but the power supply.
Although I expect fanboisism won't let facts get in the way of fun... :)
@LordBrian
Where's the fanboyism?
So I just type into here and hit submit?
@Awall
no, you need to come up with relevant content, then do said steps
@Awall
Yep. That's generally how commenting works.
@Psyclotr0n
Crap. Sorry. Forgot about the useful content.
@Awall So I just think about sending you to oblivion and hit the minus?
@Awall
If this were your first comment (not to be confused with "FIRST" comment), this would have been understandable. In other words, what tu eres estupido said.
@tu eres estupido Actually, I found this troll post to be funny. It's no fair to downrank the obvious trolls just for not saying "/s" at the end.
God. It's like talking to a wall
@Awall I was going to put 'first' but I know how everyone hates that. Plus I wasn't sure if would end up actually being first. Maybe I should have attempted a joke about the iPhone 4 antenna or put (i) in front of a word to signify how terrible Apple is.... That would have been original
/S
Magical
Sent from my iPho...
iCrap
How can I tell when mine was made? I bought it from eBay pre dual n.
Nevermind, no new capsule for me. My sn is beyond the faulty range.
Bought one when it first came out.
Returned it a day later. Lol
Apple makes some pretty sweet products, but the Time Capsule is the stupidest most overpriced thing there is.
Might as well get a third party HD for this type of thing for much less.
Though this is about the only time I would take third party over something from Apple themselves.
That and my Momentus XT
@rmbrown09 The Momentus XT is a damn good hard drive.
@rmbrown09
It's actually a pretty nice product if you have multiple macs, want network backups, a network drive that's always on, need a wireless-N router and don't want to put a dedicated server machine up for it... It's probably the easiest way by far to get all this if you're a digibete.
But I have to agree that the pricing is a little bit on the steep side...
Hahaha, time capsules aren't supposed to fail...
@Grubasaurus Rex they're magical!
so, their Airport Extreme, Mini, Apple TV, and Time Capsule all look the same. that's great and all, but how can you tell them apart if you have all of them?
@Psyclotr0n One has a tv attached, one has a modem attached, and one has a mouse and keyboard attached....
@tu eres estupido oh and one just is plugged in... thats the time capsule
@Psyclotr0n Why do you have an Airport Extreme if you have a Time Capsule? Advanced networking?
@Psyclotr0n the one that doesn't work is the time capsule
I think it's encouraging to know we can all expect the same quick response times to fixing the iphone4 too!! Customer Service WIN! Way to go Apple!!
@xnowimcoolx
2 years?
@ricochetvt
sarcasm?
What about my airport extreme? The damn thing has never worked right.
@npa189
So then you returned it right?
@Tes
Of course not, the guy bought an Apple product. You keep it until it gets fixed (and you'll like it, or else). Then when it gets fixed you tell everyone about your new "feature" as if it's the first time in the world it's been possible (see copy and paste, MMS, etc.).
@sonicyoof Yeah, I used to give my friends and family shit about that for the longest time.... My (piece of crap) Motorola V225 could do all of that 5 or 6 years ago. Their lack of Copy/Paste and MMS was a "feature." A very terrible "feature."
This really shows that Apple's manufacturing quality is going down the drain. Dunno why Steve decided to give his designers more weight than his engineers...
Sad considering how over priced they are and thats not something that should 'fail" especially an apple product that costs that much.
When you could just use a 3rd party external thats just as reliable or better
@Hydra I tried to use a similar netgear device before I got my Time Capsule. It was a joke. Netgear released it buggy and never fixed it. Unless your time zone was GMT, it would screw up all the dates on files so your system would get confused about what was what.
@spin cycle
I'm pretty sure he meant a external HDD
But your spot on with the netgear is crap
NAS FTW