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Posts with tag TimeCapsule

How would you change Apple's Time Capsule?

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 28th 2008 at 7:21PM Featured Story


Now that Time Machine's all buddy-buddy with AirPort Extreme's AirDisk feature, we can see the demand for Time Capsule sinking considerably. Still, Apple's own NAS drive / WLAN router combo has likely found its way into quite a few households, and now that you've had a chance to back up your life a couple times over, we're interested to see how you'd tweak things. Are you really pleased with the interface? Are transfers snappy enough? Want a little more freedom with how you're able to configure things? Would you rather it not function as a substitute for a portable stove? Let's be honest -- Time Capsule's a pricey piece of kit for what you get, so feel free to let Cupertino know exactly what's keeping you from being absolutely satisfied in every respect.

Quickertek antenna promises to boost Time Capsule's range

by Donald Melanson, posted Mar 17th 2008 at 1:05PM

It won't do much to complement the Time Capsule's minimalist looks, but if you've been itching to get a bit more range of out thing, you now have a new option to consider from Quickertek, which recently introduced its new TriBand Antenna for the device. Available either as a self-install kit or pre-installed on the Time Capsule of your choice, the slightly janky-looking rig promises a 50% increase in range over a standard Time Capsule, with ample coaxial cabling provided to let you position it just right. As if that wasn't enough, Quickertek is also promising that the antenna will let you reach speeds "much closer to the theoretical yield of 300 megabits per second," although it apparently isn't making any firm claims on that matter. If that sounds like the boost you've been looking for, you can grab the self-install kit now for $130, get Quickertek to install the antenna on your existing Time Capsule for $200, or get a 500GB or 1TB Time Capsule with it pre-installed for $500 or $700, respectively.

Time Capsule: everything you wanted to know

by Nilay Patel, posted Mar 3rd 2008 at 11:00AM Featured Story


So we spent the weekend playing with Time Capsule and we've discovered some interesting answers to all your questions, as well as a few accompanying annoyances. Our main takeaway? It's a solid product, but you shouldn't expect it to do anything more than back up your files -- and Apple really needs to step up and enable general NAS support for Time Machine. Read on!

Continue reading Time Capsule: everything you wanted to know

Time Machine plays nice with USB HDDs on Time Capsule

by Darren Murph, posted Mar 3rd 2008 at 2:41AM


Well, would you look at that. It seems as if Time Machine is all buddy-buddy with externally connected HDDs on Time Capsule after all. If you'll recall, many Apple users were miffed (to put it gently) by the disappearance of said feature from vanilla AirPort Extreme Base Stations just before Leopard hit the streets, but according to a hands-on report over at Macworld, "you can perform Time Machine backups to drives attached to the Time Capsule via USB." Granted, it wasn't exactly speedy or anything, but at least the functionality is tucked away in there -- hit up the read link if you're still spinning in disbelief.

[Via TUAW]

Time Capsule opened despite it not yet being the future

by Ryan Block, posted Mar 1st 2008 at 8:10AM


You kind of miss the point if you open your Time Capsule after just a day or two, but at least we now know that future generations can, in fact, expect an active drive cooling system (by way of a blower fan).

Time Capsule first impressions

by Nilay Patel, posted Feb 29th 2008 at 1:28PM Featured Story


Okay, so we've got our Time Capsule up and running here -- we'll be back with a full review once our full 516GB backup is completed, but here are some quick first impressions:

  • You can definitely hear the disks spin up and access. It also sounds like there's a fan in there, but there are no obvious vents for one and we can't feel any air coming out, so the drives might just be that loud.
  • The top is getting quite warm during the backup -- we'll see if it cools down once we stop hitting the drive this hard, but if there really isn't a fan we're a little concerned. Hope those server-grade hard drives like being cooked.
  • You can't transfer an existing Time Machine backup to Time Capsule. Sure, it's easy enough to switch back and get at your old data, but it's still a pain -- and now we have a 1TB drive sitting here with months of backups on it that we can't erase and reuse.
  • Time Machine doesn't prioritize network activity on your machine, so it's slamming our network connection right now as it backs up. That's not a huge problem since we're backing up over Ethernet, but we'll see what happens when we try this over WiFi later.
  • We tried to back up a second machine while the first was in progress, and not much happened -- it created the disk image and got to "Preparing..." and then did nothing. We're assuming these can only happen one at a time.
  • The wireless side of things is basically the same as the Airport Extreme, nothing shocking there, although the setup assistant has been substantially revised to make things easier.
  • The setup assistant now asks if you already have a 2.4GHz network and offers to create a 5GHz secondary network, which is interesting.

That's about it for now -- there's not much we can try out while this backup is in progress. Anything else you guys want to know?

Opening the Time Capsule

by Nilay Patel, posted Feb 29th 2008 at 11:15AM


Right at the buzzer, Apple shipped us a Time Capsule -- and just like we remember, it's a bit bigger than you'd expect. We're about to set it up in our WiFi torture chamber of an apartment building, we'll let you know how it goes -- unboxing in the gallery below.

Time Capsule shipping this week?

by Ryan Block, posted Feb 28th 2008 at 5:02AM


According to AppleInsider, it sounds like Time Capsule customers' orders are in the crucial "preparing to ship" phase about now, meaning credit cards are being charged and units will be loaded onto trucks for distribution as early as tomorrow for some. Apple still hasn't said anything officially about shipping though; just don't be too surprised units start showing up shortly at your doorstep or in your local Apple store.

Update: Yep, we've got confirmation from Apple that it's shipping this week (although some users apparently already manage to snag theirs offline -- good for you). The only question now is: will it really last 10,000 years if buried in your back yard?

Airport Extreme owners not happy to be left out of Time Capsule

by Nilay Patel, posted Jan 21st 2008 at 2:32PM


It's no secret that most of you aren't exactly pleased with Apple's decision to charge $20 to add in Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, and Notes to the iPod touch, but there's another segment of Apple users feeling burned by last week's announcements: Airport Extreme owners. Seems like Apple's only enabled network support for Time Machine when used with Time Capsule, not for USB disks connected to the Airport Extreme -- even though early Leopard promo materials promised such support. Of course, it's an easy hack to enable NAS support (although it's probably pretty risky), and who knows what'll happen when 10.5.2. is released, but for now, it certainly seems like Airport Extreme owners just got a raw deal.

Apple Time Capsule hands-on

by Paul Miller, posted Jan 15th 2008 at 3:10PM Featured Story


Here's the new Time Capsule NAS from Apple. Not much to say about this one. It's a bit larger than we expected, but still pretty well sized for a NAS.

Gallery: Apple Time Capsule hands-on

Apple introduces Time Capsule, a NAS companion to Time Machine

by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jan 15th 2008 at 11:45AM Breaking News


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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