[BrianB]

Hey Guys,

I am thinking of getting more external storage as my current lame 120GB hard drive and my 500GB external Western Digital Hard Drive are getting full.

I was thinking of getting the Time Capsule, as I like the idea of everything wireless, and also it can act as a router, but I read some reviews on Apples website and people have said that the drive seems to have a short lifespan and just dies, usually after 18 months. Has anyone had experience with the Time capsule and have had similar issues?

I've looked for other external drives that might be wireless but none seem to exist?

The other thing is that the Time Capsule is very expensive compared to just getting another Western Digital external hard drive, which I might end up getting. It's just nice to have no wires.

I've also looked into backing up in the cloud, but that would use so much data allowance and take ages to backup as well, and also probably end up costing more in the long run.

So what are people's thoughts on the Time Capsule?

What do you all do to back up your data?

[Ken Gracey]

The first Gen., one seemed to have some issues, but apple updated the time capsule a few months ago when they dropped the 500 Gig one in preference for the 1 terabyte one for the same price, so far so good with my one, no issues at all to report.






TL

[Dave Bullard]

I've had my 1TB model for nearly three years, without a single hiccough.

An added bonus is the fact that it's a 802.11n base station. Buying it meant that I could use it as my primary Wi-Fi router and use the old Airport Extreme to extend the coverage to the other end of the mansion.

Cheers
Dave


PS: Printer sharing is cool, too.

[golfer]

had a 1TB model since it first came out and never had an issue. Works seamlessly and as it should.

[BrianB]

Thanks for the feedback. It's always amazing how some people have no problems, and others have lots of problems.

If you read the reviews on the Apple Website under the Time Capsule product, so many people have said that it has died on them.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.

[JZ]

I planning on getting a time capsule. I currently use airport extreme. It has been great, air tunes, wi-fi, wireless printing. But it is first gen. So wanna upgrade to wireless backup and faster wi fi.


jz


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Htial]

With the number of computers I have around the house, I'm hanging out for a 4TB version... ...that would be the tipping point for me...

[BrianB]

Decisions, decisions... Why do they have to be so expensive...??

Looks like I'll just be going for a standard external hard drive.. Sob sob...

[golfer]

Then go for a Lacie Quadra 1TB and use FireWire connection.

[JZ]

Brian, I have a G-Tech G Drive Q which is fantasticjz

[BrianB]

I have a Wrstern Digital drive which has been good so far. I might just get another of those. But thanks for the advice guys. Also how much faster in FireWire 800 compared to USB 2.0.

[golfer]

bornstein75, on 12 October 2010 - 05:33 PM, said:

Also how much faster in FireWire 800 compared to USB 2.0.

heaps! don't know technically (someone will) but trust me, it's a beautiful thing.

[BrianB]

Thanks golfer, just realized my little MacBook only has FireWire 400, which apparently is slower than USB 2.0 but in practice is actually faster.. I'm going to test it out and dee if it makes a difference.

[Ken Gracey]

 
    Read Test: 
5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 33% faster than USB 2.0
160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 70% faster than USB 2.0

      Write Test:
 5000 files (300 MB total) FireWire was 16% faster than USB 2.0
160 files (650MB total) FireWire was 48% faster than USB 2.0


Hope it helps


Tl

[BrianB]

Just did a test myself and I copied 8.19GB to my external hard drive using USB 2.0 and then Firewire 400.

Results:

USB 2.0 - 7mins 28 secs

Firewire 400 - 8 mins 47 secs

So looks like USB 2.0 is faster than Firewire 400. I wish I could test Firewire 800.

Is there a Firewire 400 to 800 converter available that would work I wonder?

[Dave Bullard]

I reckon if I was buying a new drive now I'd be going for a USB 3.0 model ... bus speeds of up to 4.8Gb/sec, which are 10 times faster than USB 2.0's 480Mbit/sec.

As an example of what you can get, Verbatim are releasing a new range of USB 3.0 Superspeed Portable Hard Drives this month, in 500GB ($129) and 1TB ($219) capacities.

OK, you won't have a Mac that can handle USB 3.0 yet, but in the meantime you're still getting USB 2.0 speeds AND you're future-proofed!

Cheers
Dave

[BrianB]

Thanks for the advice Dave....Good thinking.... I'll wait to see those drives....:-)

[BrianB]

Dave Bullard, on 13 October 2010 - 08:49 AM, said:

I reckon if I was buying a new drive now I'd be going for a USB 3.0 model ... bus speeds of up to 4.8Gb/sec, which are 10 times faster than USB 2.0's 480Mbit/sec.

As an example of what you can get, Verbatim are releasing a new range of USB 3.0 Superspeed Portable Hard Drives this month, in 500GB ($129) and 1TB ($219) capacities.

OK, you won't have a Mac that can handle USB 3.0 yet, but in the meantime you're still getting USB 2.0 speeds AND you're future-proofed!

Cheers
Dave

What are the benefits of buying a portable drive over a desktop external drive besides the obvious of not having to plug it in to a power point?

Are there any disadvantages over buying an external portable hard drive opposed to a desktop one that you have to plug in?

[Ken Gracey]

I think a portable drive would actually give you more flexibility, I would imagine it would be a lot smaller, and pretty handy if you needed to take it on the road, or wanted an easy way to tranfer files around.




Tl

[Dylstra]

The only advantage for me for a FireWire drive is that I have a million USB devices already and two empty FW ports.