Hardware :: External Storage Media And Time Capsule Options
Nov 24, 2009
I currently have a 2007 24" iMac with a 500Gb HDD. With my addiction to downloading HD content filling up my hard drive iv'e decided its time to get an external hard drive. I'm gonna be using to back up key data (pictures and documents) and storing the majority of my video media. The reason for the thread is for two questions:1. Do i get a time capsule? Despite the cost i really want one, they look cool and im looking for 1TB of space. Ive read the reviews on the apple store website and there littered with stories of failure after 18 months, if this is the case im not spending ?230 for this to happen.
Hope this thread will benefit those who are considering to buy Time Capsule or already a have one.
I'm considering to get Time Capsule for my home network which consist of:
- One MBP (15" Unibody)
- Two Windows XP desptops (connected via Ethernet cable)
- One Windows Vista laptop
Could any Mac users help answer my queries below:
1) Since I'm going to use Time Capsule as backup storage for Time Machine. Can I still manually copy files into its HDD and share those files with other network users?
2) Can all Windows PCs use Time Capsule as a external storage for storing and sharing files even after Time Machine has "marked" it as a backup storage for my MBP?
3) I presume the HDD in Time Capsule is formatted using HFS+. In this situation, do Windows users need to install special software to access the HDD in Time Capsule?
My main computer is a MPB17 with 256gb SSD and 750gb HD in an optibay. I have huge media libraries and like to have ready access to all my photos and videos. I have a Gen 1 Air that I use at home for mail and surfing and I have been using my iPad for mail and web when out. I have a max spec 11" Air arriving this week. It weighs the same as my iPad with Vaja case so I'm going to take it everywhere and leave the iPad for a reader in bed. Now I'm starting to think I might leave the 17" in my office and sync the 11" Air up and use if when I'm out. Problem is I want a fast, light USB drive to hold my media. Ideally with USB and FW so I can sync it fast with the MBPro.
I got the iMac Wednesday and have been setting it up all week/weekend. I finally down to the end of getting time capsule setup. Here's what I'd like to have: Internal iMac HD: 500gb time capsule HD: 1tb (750gb backup, 250gb usable space)
Right now I've got it set up and I'm about to pick the drive in time machine, but it looks like as soon as I do that it's going to just start backing up my internal HD to the time capsule's HD? Will I later be able to set aside 250gb of time capsule space to use as storage? Do I need to set up something before I backup to it? Is this even possible, or is this what everyone is talking about when they say time capsule can't be used as a NAS?
I am new to Macs and a friend recommended getting Time Capsule for my external storage. I wondered if I could get some feedback on reliability, security, and overall product information. Also, does anyone recommend another external storage unit.
I've an xbox 360 and have my external HD connected directly via it's usb port for playing movies on the TV. I'm thinking about getting a time capsule and I'd probably attach my HD to it's usb port. What I'd like to know - Is it possible to stream media from time capsule directly to xbox360 yet. Does the Time Capsule support uPnP. Do people on here think that Apple will support uPnP on the time capsule any time soon?
I've been trying vigorously to connect my itunes library with my Time Capsule Media files.So that I can keep the music I acually listen to on my Macbrook Pro's harddrive but have the rest of my music stored onto my time capsule and listen to when I am at home.What I thought to do was put the music i listen to in the itunes library folder on the harddrive and then change the media location to the TC media file folder.Turns out my idea was wrong.. any others care to elaborate on this issue? I'm pretty much confused with this and i haven't been able to find it on the forums anywhere
so I bought a time capsule on Friday along with a new mac thinking it would work super easy to set up, boy was I wrong.
I currently have my internet through virgin media with the modem and a wireless router(free from virgin) I also had an external drive but needed a new one so went for the time capsule.
so I take the cable from my router and plug into the time capsule, it powers on no bother go through the usual set up it says its connected but it will not work.
I'm looking to upgrade my wireless router as well as get serious about storage backups -- curious if I should go with the Time Capsule or go with the AirPort Extreme and an external drive.
If AirPort Extreme with external hard drive, any recommendations?
Bear with me guys, I'm not sure where to put this question. I figured that because my Macbook Air (and it's limited storage space) was the reason for my needing an external HD I thought this would be the best place. My MBA has run out of storage and I bought a Seagate External HD to move my stuff onto. I guess my question is: What's the best way to combine the external HD with the MBA? Here are a few of the things on my mind:
-Most of the space is taken up by my user folder right now such as itunes, photos, etc. If I copy that folder to the external drive it would alleviate a large part of my issue, at least for the time being. Eventually I will hit the storage capacity as I add applications over time I guess, so this is a temporary solution (although I free up 27gb of space this way). Can I designate a folder on the external drive as the default for programs like imovie and iphoto like I can with itunes?
-I KNOW there is a way to set the external drive as some kind of default drive but is this feasible? It would be a hinderance if I needed to have it connected at all times to access even applications (which I assume to be the case?
-I also wondered about partitioning the external HD and using one partition for additional storage and the other for time machine? It's a 1TB hard drive, and I figure I could make a 100GB partition to use with time machine (my MBA only has a 64gb capacity) and use the other 900GB for files. Is this even possible or does time machine need it's very own separate drive? Anyway, this doesn't necessarily ask many specific questions and I apologize if it appears a little disjointed. I'm looking for help and opinions on the best way to use this new piece of equipment to compliment my MBA.
I have an external 500gb drive plugged into my brand new Time Capsule. The 500gb drive basically stores my entire library of music and my iTunes points to this external drive.
Is it possible to have time machine backup all information on the 500gb drive to the time capsule, so encase the external drive takes a dump, I don't loose my entire music library? Maybe time machine is already doing this, I am not sure.
As my 160N series Linksys router neither has gigabit ports, usb connector or dual band networking, I am looking for a replacement.
When it comes to Apple routers I am looking at 2 options - either the base station with an external USB drive or get a 1TB capsule with the buildt in drive and worries regarding reliability.
What I like about the Time Capsule is that it is neat to have all in one, takes up less space and only has 1 plug to attach, while Iike the idea that I can just connect a bigger drive later on the base station solution.
1. Will the connected USB drive function just like the internal drive in the Time Capsule for Time Machine use?
2. Will everything be transparent to Snow Leopard?
3. In case of both units with an attached USB drive - can I control who actually can see the drive and access it?
4. Do they support this DNLA thing so that e.g . PS3 can access an attached drive??
I am trying to organize my external storage for a new iMac with an 500G SSD drive. I have a new thunderbolt G-Raid drive and an aging Airport Time Capsule. I was thinking of storing music and pictures, as well as a Time Machine backup of the SSD, and storing a Time Machine backup of my music and pictures on the Time Capsule. Will I need to partition the G-Raid?
Equipment: Mac Mini (Early 2009), Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GHz, 4 GB RAM, Lion. I started noticing my Mac Mini was having trouble reconnecting my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, slow processing (spinning pinwheel of death), and programs freezing. I did a recovery within Lion from the recovery drive and it seemed to work for a week or so. It started acting up again. So, I decided to erase the HD and reinstall Lion. I basically use the Mac Mini as a server for all my iTunes content.
My iTunes default save location is to my Drobo storage unit. Now that I have reinstalled Lion, I am looking for the easiest, most convenient, and safest way to change the default save location in iTunes and then importing the media. It would be nice if it was possible to just simply change the default save location to the folder I previously had all my media saved in and it would just magically appear in iTunes. Everything was organized perfectly, which took hours of time and attention to details.
Info: Mac Mini, 2 13 Inch Macbooks, Mac OS X (10.5.7)
I just purchased a 500gb External Hard Drive. I was wondering what is the best way to format and partition it so that I can use 300gb dedicated to Time Machine and then use the ~180gb for external storage. The key part of my situation is that I want to be able to access the ~180 gb from both my Mac and my windows based machines. I know I could go into disk utility and partition it, but what format should I use if I want to do both.
The other part is the hard drive is already setup to use time machine since yesterday, however I am willing to format it completely to partition it to use on windows machines (XP and Vista.)
I have a 500GB external HD but a 250HD on my macbook. is it possible to partition the HD 300GB for time machine and 200 for storage of data and files? If so, how would I go about doing that? I just don't want to waste a 500 GB external if my HD is only 250GB.
set it up successfully. I can log on the internet and use it as a storage device. However, when I connect the external 250gb HD I have to it, it doesn't recognize the drive. Airport express says there is something wrong with the drive. But, if I connect it directly to my Macbook Pro, I see it just fine. I'm transferring all my music to the Time Capsule. I was just hoping to use it as more storage.Is there something else I should be doing? The external HD is a Seagate Free Agent Desktop 250gb drive. It was used with a PC and has many PC files on it. Should I have formatted the drive for a Mac?
I do like the concept of wireless routing/networking capabilities and integrated design of using Time Capsule w my new iMac 1tb HD (STILL not here yet), but am wondering if my 240gb WD HD is sufficient backup storage for the time being.
Maybe I can just spend the $300 for 500GB Time Capsule later on? Or should I just spend the $$$ and stop my sniveling? Once my iMac is delivered, should I take it to the Apple store and have them set it up, or is the setup easy enough for a Windows refugee to handle?
Please give me your feedback regarding this matter. Understand that I really have no wireless networking experience. Anyone whose read my previous threads will further understand that I'm currently a Mac Noob (virgin), and any elementary additional help is greatly appreciated.
I have a MacBookPro and a 1TB external that contains my iTunes library. The drive is not always attached as the MBP is used by all the family and moves around the house. I have a Time Capsule that I would like to use to back up the iTunes library on the external. How messy is it going to be setting up Time Machine to back up the external to the TC? Will the external not being connected when it tries to back up cause problems or will it just not back up at that time?
integrating an external HD with a wireless router. The new TC caught my eye (1TB model), but so did the price... After reading a few threads, it seems many people are creating their own makeshift TC. That is, buying the AEBS and manually connecting an external HD via USB. While I think that's a great idea, I'm a little worried about how everything would work/look. For instance, what kind of enclosure would be best for this setup? Does the external HD require it's own power source? Is there any loss of functionality with this setup as opposed to the TC?
external HD for me to use Time Machine.I've been traveling alot lately, so I was thinking of getting something similar to the Time Capsule where I could get wireless (distant) connectivity. I would like to leave the HD home while traveling, since I already trashed 2 HD by dropping them.
With the new update of the time capsule I'm thinking of buying one but I've got a question that as now still hasn't been answered. I'm currently using a 500 GB external drive for my backups and use a 1 TB for data storage, now the 1 TB is almost full and I could use the HD in the time capsule. My problem now is that the 1 TB or 2 TB in the time capsule is pure waste for backup only as I am the only mac user here and the 500 GB drive isn't even halfway full at the moment.
My question now is, is it possible to plug the 500 GB and 1 TB drive in the time capsule (with powered usb hub) and use the 500 GB disk as a automatically backup and use the 1 TB and the time capsule for data storage? With automatically I mean as the time capsule that it backups as soon as I'm in the network. I've been trying to contact the technical support line of my local apple-store but keep getting answering machine.
I drive a big truck and like having my whole music collection at my fingertips while driving. In the past what I've done it trap my Macbook Pro to the passenger seat and use my remote and FrontRow to change tracks. This worked pretty well except that the rough roads and rough ride of the truck kills regular hard drives fairly quickly. Replacing the drives every 6 months gets old. I need at least 1TB of storage for my iTunes media, I do not want to split it up to different drives. The drives used need to be SSD's to handle the 130k+ miles of abuse a year.
The bumps don't seem to effect the computers main drive, either because of the motion sensor or iTunes being able to run in memory and not need the drive to spin up. I was thinking of using a Drobo with 2.5" drive adapters. I'm not concerned about speed with the drives, just reliability. None of these drives will ever be used as a system drive, just media storage and playback. What drives would you guys recommend? Would this be possible for under $1500?
i have all my music on a external drive, and i want to copy it to my time capsule as a backup. but since my music is over 300gb. it will take a long time to copy, is it ok to leave the drive on overnight and let it copy all the music to the time capule?
I'd like to split my TC into a backup drive and an external hard drive. Apple support tells me they don't support this function, but it's possible. Anyone have any experience doing this?
I bought a 1TB Time Capsule and setting up the wireless network was easy. I also added the printer and that works too. However, I am having problems sharing my External Seagate 500GB USB Hard drive. I have a USB hub and I connected it, and when I'm in Airport Utility, I click on Disks, it shows the 500GB Seagate!
However when I'm in Finder, I can't see the 500GB Seagate drive. And I launch Disk Utility, it doesn't show the drive.
How can I access the External USB Drive first of all? And enable it, for sharing via my Time Capsule's wireless network?
The thing is, Time Capsule detects my additional hard drive, but I believe it's not configured to enable using it.
Oh and yes, I checked the Enable File Sharing checkbox & secured it with a password. Airport Disk Guests Access is set to not allowed though. Should I change that? Share Disks over WAN is also unchecked.
I picked up my first Mac about a 2 weeks ago and over this past weekend I picked up a new Time Capsule. Originally I bought the Time Capsule to wirelessly bridge to my Linksys router running DD-WRT (mega) but apparently the ethernet ports won't work on the Time Capsule or the Airport Extreme when connecting them to another party wireless router. So i have taken out my Linksys and am now only using the Time Capsule. The reason for the Time Capsule is to have backups on it and that for some reason I do have wireless issues with my Linksys that I am not having with the Time Capsule. Such as when I had a iPhone I would lose my wireless signle a lot and have to reboot, same with my iPad and sometimes with my Nexus One. So far none of those issues with the Time Capsule. I'm not missing much from my Linksys but one of the things I miss is being able to open up a browser from any network connection and being able to connect into my router. Is there a way with the Time Capsule / Airport Extreme to be able to access the configuration settings when not on the local network? Such a when I am at work I want to be able to access the configurations page.
I have an iTunes library of approx. 60GB that is currently stored on an external hd connected via USB to a mac mini. I access this music library via other devices such as ipad, iphone bose soundtouch. Currently the iTunes library is only accessible from the other devices if the mac mini is awake and functioning.
I am therefore considering moving the external hd USB connection from the mac mini to my time capsule which provides the network in my home. I assume that this will provide me with an always on music library rather than one which is dependent on the mac mini. Firstly is this assumption correct or will I still need to have the mac mini awake and iTunes open on it in order to access the iTunes library from an iphone for example?
If my assumption is correct, what steps do I need to go through to relocate the hd from the mac mini to the time capsule and still be able to play music?
