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DJ Que Yi
02-28-2012, 01:51 PM
I have a WD 1tb Passport that I use to store my collection. I use a MBP and was curious on the forum's opinion and experiences about using the Apple Time Capsule as a back up and storage device. Is it useful or should I just use a highly rated external hard drive. I welcome your suggestions and feedback.

jazzyj
02-28-2012, 01:52 PM
I'm going to be buying a WD 1TB external to use with the Time Capsule - but sorry no experience yet.

danthedj
02-28-2012, 02:16 PM
are you talking about time machine as in the software that is used to backup macs automatically, or are you talking about the time capsule that is a physical hard drive used for storage and backups?

I'd personally go for a well regarded hard drive (lacie/wd/seagate) as opposed to an apple time capsule.

DJ Que Yi
02-28-2012, 02:23 PM
I was referring to the Time Capsule physical hard drive. I've heard that they are super user friendly whereas you just set it up and open your MacBook, iPad, or other Apple device and it automatically backs up and allows you to swap and transfer data. However I've heard that the lifespans are short like dead in 2 years.

danthedj
02-28-2012, 02:33 PM
thats with any hard drive. I have a wd hard drive and all i do is plug it in and it mounts as two drives (made two partitions; one for time machine and one for other stuff). Time machine automatically goes to work backing up as soon as it is plugged in and mounted. Nothing special about time capsule except the pretty white case.

Johnnotestine
02-28-2012, 02:37 PM
The Seagate Goflex for Mac rocks. I have three and have not had a single problem. I prefer using them with the firewire connection. It will be sweet to try a thunderbolt attachment someday.

DJNR
02-28-2012, 03:28 PM
The Seagate Goflex for Mac rocks. I have three and have not had a single problem. I prefer using them with the firewire connection. It will be sweet to try a thunderbolt attachment someday.

+1 for this, only mine isn't the Mac version. Same story though, no problems at all.

VJ LouNYC
02-28-2012, 04:09 PM
g-tech or glyph

DjZzeless
02-28-2012, 08:58 PM
The Seagate Goflex for Mac rocks. I have three and have not had a single problem. I prefer using them with the firewire connection.

^This!

Cobolt
02-28-2012, 09:03 PM
I have two seagate 1tb drives as well and use with MBP and they rock.

Where did you get FireWire connections for them? I know they are designed to accept different connections but haven't seen them in stores.

mostapha
02-29-2012, 10:15 AM
I was referring to the Time Capsule physical hard drive. I've heard that they are super user friendly whereas you just set it up and open your MacBook, iPad, or other Apple device and it automatically backs up and allows you to swap and transfer data. However I've heard that the lifespans are short like dead in 2 years.

Time machine works like that with any hard drive.

Time Capsule is a POS, overpriced NAS device with meh reliability unless it's changed from the last time I looked at it.

Just buy a big FW800 or Thunderbolt external from LaCie or OWC and be done with it. Trust me, you don't want to do backups on something as slow as USB or WiFi.

I use the hard drive that came in my MBP for Time Machine in an OWC FW800 chassis. It works.

My "archive" (long-term backup) is a 500GB G-Tech mobile hard drive and a 500GB LaCie desktop hard drive, both running on FW800, and synchronized every week or so, with one of them stored off-site. I was working on transitioning to a pair of 3TB drives to replace the 2 500GB drives (because they're getting full), but the G-Tech that I bought for the first one wouldn't allow Firewire Daisy-chaining unless the drive was on and mounted, which isn't the way I want to use it. I'm going back to LaCie and OWC because they make the best chassis and pick hard drives with good MTTF numbers.

Johnnotestine
02-29-2012, 01:50 PM
I have two seagate 1tb drives as well and use with MBP and they rock.

Where did you get FireWire connections for them? I know they are designed to accept different connections but haven't seen them in stores.

Best Buy. If I can get them in Alaska I am sure they can be found everywhere.

deejaygo
02-29-2012, 01:56 PM
I wouldn't recommend getting the time machine. It's cool, but honestly it's more of an item you buy if you're trying to live a trendy lifestyle.

I've had a G-Tech G-Drive mini as well as a Lacie and they've been working great. Best value I think are still the WD externals. Newegg has sales for them often.

Jason Cerna
02-29-2012, 02:32 PM
just get a normal fw800 drive.

i'm using a 1TB seagate drive as my main time machine backup and a 2TB western digital drive for my archive backup. Every two weeks, I also run a backup on a 1TB western digital usb drive, which is stored in a fire safe.