Time capsule or Airport Extreme + USB hard drive

I would like to get a wireless update solution (to work with time machine) and I am considering the following options:
1. Time Capsule 1TB
2. Time Capsule 500GB + USB external hard drive attached to the time capsule (in case I need more storage than the 500GB on the Time Capsule)
3. Airport Extreme Base Station + USB external hard drive attached (to use with Time Machine)
I am wondering what the opinions are in this forum. What is cheaper? More reliable? Better?
Any other suggestions? Thanks!
I am running Mac OS X 10.5.5 on an iMac

Yeah, I've seen your explaination that those are glasses before. But I can see why some might be confused. (First laugh of the day!)
No I hadn't tried that yet because my 2 external HDs are Firewire. But it just so happens that I picked up a USB WD500Gig yesterday and am starting an initial TM backup to it now via USB - after having reformatted it of course.
I am assuming, though, that as soon as I move it from my MB Pro to the TC that the TM backups will be broken and I'll have to start a new set of backups to create the disk image (sparsebundle). However, it will give me an opportunity to see if backups created locally (USB) can be viewed via "Browse Other TM Disks" when they are connected to a TC.
I'm curious how it works out, though, because I've noticed a few comments here that state these drives (or one of the WD models) has trouble waking from sleep for routine backups when connected to the TC USB port. I guess I'll find out.
Great to hear from you.

Similar Messages

Time Capsule or AirPort Extreme + External Hard Drive for iTunes Library

Hi, I currently have an Airport Extreme (Gigabit) and am planning on getting a MacBook Pro. What I want to do is keep my iTunes Library on an External Hard Drive and attach it to my AirPort so I can access it anywhere in the house (and world). Now I have been reading various reviews that perhaps a Time Capsule would be better for my needs. I don't plan on using it for Time Machine backups right now, just as a NAS Drive. If anyone has any experience with this I would appreciate the advice.
Thanks!
Message was edited by: Mr. Macintosh693

Hi,
I have something like that working at the moment. My setup is based on a Mac Mini Core Duo [ OS 10.5.6 ] connected to a Time Capsule. I have configured iTunes to store all archived music on the Time Capsule. I use the Apple Lossless format for my CDs and approx 420 titles have taken approx 130Gb from my 1Tb Capsule. In general this setup works well [ especially the optical out of the Mac ] but be aware of the following potential pitfalls:-
1. The Time Capsule is a little on the noisy side and depending on the quality of your playback equipment, your choice of music, ambient noise and your values of "satisfactory" you may want to put your Capsule or HDD in another room. This seems OK for generic playback, but in my experience wireless is not a good way to go for streaming content.
2. iTunes v8.0.2 has a preferences capability to allow you to redirect it's archive to the Time Capsule. However, even if you leave the Capsule switched on it goes into a "sleep" mode. Rip a new CD and iTunes won't tell you this; instead it will silently reconfigure itself to store on your local hard drive and then you're left with the challenge of moving your collection piecemeal if you want it in one location, followed by manually updating iTunes to "point" it to the new location of the music.
One nice thing about the Capsule is that it does allow other connection types. I have mine networked to a PC running Ubuntu Linux and a music player called Amarok and I am able to stream the Mac-Ripped lossless files and play them over Linux perfectly... Works very well. Apparently you can do this with a Windows client and iTunes for Windows, but I don't run Windows as a matter of principle and can't validate that.
My 1Tb Time Capsule runs hot, too. Not dangerously so, but hot to the touch. There are no cooling fans, but you might want to think about placement; it needs plenty of fresh air circulating around it.
For what it's worth [ and I appreciate this is going beyond your question ] I also wanted my setup to be able to store and retrieve recorded TV. I have Elgato EyeTV and a USB Freeview decoder. I quickly learned that despite claims to the contrary the performance of the wireless connection just isn't up to streaming video content. So I went out and purchased a pair of Ethernet-over-mains adapters from Zyxel that are absolutely perfect for the job.
Yes, the Capsule is a little pricey for what is little more than a Hard Drive in a box, but it does work very well.
Beware the timeout disconnections and the silently re-configuring iTunes thought...

Airport Extreme usb hard drive connection loss after closing finder window

I just did a software update on my MacBook Pro and now I am experiencing a weird Airport Extreme usb hard drive issue. I can see the name of my airport extreme in the Shared section of my finder window. However when I click on it, the finder indicates the it's connecting, but it stops immediately and displays the 'Not Connected' message. When I click on the 'Connect As' button, I am prompted to enter my password and if I click 'Connect', it just spins out endlessly. However, when I re-enter the password and press Connect, my usb drive mounts. I can view, access and use the drive's contents, but if I close the finder window, the connection drops and I have to re-connect. What else is weird, is that once I see my drives, the finder indicates that I am connected as another user(not a user native to this computer). This issue did not exist before my software update.
My software log update indicates that the following items have been installed:
Canon Printer Software Update 2.3 and Security Update 2010-003.
I suspect it has something to do with the Security Update. Is there a way I can revert to the previous security version? Or is there any other solution that could help me avoid re-connecting to my airport extreme usb hard drives?
I will really appreciate any feedback.

Free Solution:
Sure there's a »fix« with Apple software. You'll need to install the Developer Tools (Xcode) from the Snow Leopard Install DVD, though.
After you've done that, you can use "SetFile" to clear the Alias bit from the misbehaving Volume:
/usr/bin/SetFile -a a /Volumes/<YourExternalDriveName>
Please keep in mind that using this command might be dangerous, so don't try this solution unless you feel confident on the command line. (See http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/m an1/SetFile.1.html or invoke /usr/bin/SetFile without arguments for more info on the SetFile command.)
...a similar discussion and answer can be found at: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2131824&start=45&tstart=0

Can Time Capsule show a connected USB hard drive?

Hi, I have just purchased 1TB Time Capsule, which supposes to show a external USB connected hard drive. But why there is no drive nor icon shows in Find after it connected to Time Capsule?
that USB hard drive just works fine with direct connection to my MBP.
thanks all.
Message was edited by: marvinclick

marvinclick wrote:
But why there is no drive nor icon shows in Find after it connected to Time Capsule?
in the finder, click on the icon of the TC under shared. a connection dialog will appear and you may have to enter your admin password. then click on the folder symbolizing your USB drive
that USB hard drive just works fine with direct connection to my MBP.
in case above does not work, check if your drive is formatted for Mac or FAT32. your TC will not recognize NTFS formatted drives ...
JGG

AirPort Extreme & USB Hard Drive Time Machine Backups

Hi everyone. I'm a brand spanking new MacBook Pro owner and am looking at ways to backup my machine and to save my films, photos and files on a wireless network that is available to everyone in my home.
I'm the first to admit that I'm not the most computer savvy person but I'm okay with the basics. I've read through a lot of forum sites and the community pages on here and most seem to recommend Synology products. They do seem very good but are a good price too once you've bought the hard drives to go with it. I already own an external hard drive so I thought that maybe the AirPort Extreme would be the ideal choice as I know that it can be connected and files can be saved wirelessly. I did read tonight however that you cant backup your macbook using time capsule which is a little bit annoying.
I have two questions really, firstly is it the case that time machine won't backup to an external hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme and secondly, how important is it to back up through time machine? I'm what you could describe as a low level user and will only be using it for simple tasks such as watching/saving films, storing and editing photographs, surfing the web and saving the odd pages and numbers document.
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.
Simon

I have two questions really, firstly is it the case that time machine won't backup to an external hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme and secondly, how important is it to back up through time machine?
The very latest 802.11ac version of the AirPort Extreme DOES support Time Machine backups to attached external USB HDDs. All other 802.11n models are not supported by Apple for these types of backups. A number of folks have been successful doing so, but most typically post here about data corruption issues.
Time Machine is not the only backup strategy, but it is very convienent. I would recommend that your overall backup strategy includes at least two types of backups: 1) Incremental ... like the ones Time Machine supports, and 2) Disk cloning. The latter is very effective for quickly getting you back up and running if your Mac suffers an internal HDD loss.

Using Airport Time Capsule with an external usb hard drive - how to connect

I have 2TB Airport Time capsule which is connected to my iMac by an ethernet cable and which I use for T.Machine backups - No problems here.
I have an old MacBook Pro running 10.6.8 and which is also connected to my T/C via wi-fi - again no problems.
But I understand I can use an external hard drive via usb cable connected via a powered hub, to the T/Capsule and which I wish to do certain backups from my MBP (I have no wish to update the MBP as it runs certain apps no longer available on the iMac (10.9.2)
Now the problem I have is trying to set it up, the MBP has Airport Utility 5.6.1 and I can’t continue as it says I need a newer version. As I see it, the newer version doesn’t work on the MBP only the iMac.
A catch 22 situation. If I continue and and go to “manual setup” then try update, all I get is “correct the problem before updating” (Allow setup over the internet using Bonjour).
Anyone have any ideas or images that I can view to try and get things going?
I should add that I wish to use my external hard drive not as a time machine backup but only for certain items using say, Super Duper, but am unable to get the disk to mount on the MBP
Alan

I still can't use it the way I was hoping because it then becomes a T/M back-up disk and not a normal usb/firewire disc.
You are first mounting the drive on the desktop, correct?
Not sure what you mean here.
You can drag/drop files normally or copy/paste files to the drive icon on the desktop, just as you would a normal drive that is displayed on the desktop.
Or, double click the drive icon on the desktop and drag/drop files into the open window there.
Tell us the steps that you are using to mount the drive on the desktop. What happens after each step?

Airport Extreme USB Hard Drive & Time Machine?

For my iMac I have a FW800 external drive set to perform Time Machine backups.
My question though, is for my Macbook Pro. If I get a USB drive, can it be set and operate as a Time Machine backup through the Airport Extreme? I thought this was a possibility, but have not seen anything addressing this.
Thank you!

As Tesserax says, backing-up to a USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme is not reliable.
You do have a wireless option, though: back up via your network to a "shared" drive connected to the iMac. If it's large enough, you can use the same one the iMac is backing-up to. See #22 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Time Machine+ forum) for details.

Remote access the airport extreme usb hard drive over the internet with multiple users?

I just purchase the new airport extreme 802.11n and set it up on my LAN behind a comcast modem with broadband. I plugged a 3 tb Seagate hard drive formatted with fat32 (default) to it and have set it up for access for all of my computers, ipad, iphone, android in my house. Everything works as expected, internet access, file access to the USB HD on all devices locally through back to my mac. I would now like to allow my daughters in another state to access this drive through the Airport Extreme remotely from their location and have there own accounts on this hard drive to store and move their files for on the go access. I have studied many of the forums and have enabled share disks over WAN, Enable file sharing but no body really gives an exact method of connecting remotely. I had one of my daughters try on her Macbook Pro laptop through the finder, connect to server, by giving her the IP address. She could see the name of the Airport Extreme but could not access the hard disk and got a "Not able to connect message". I am obviously missing something simple that needs to be checked or setup but have drained my brain trying to figure it out. Most of the forums describe clicking manuel setup on the Airport utility, but with version 6.1 this is now where to be found. I have a DYN account but could not figure out where to input this in the Airport utility.
There is a network option which has DHCP lease and range and a box for Enable NAT port Mapping Protocal with Enable default host at:
I am guessing that this is for some other purpose though. Please help

Try installing AirPort Utility 5, then you may be able to follow the guides you mentioned earlier:
http://macintoshdesktop.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/airport-utility-56-and-mountain-l ion.html

Access AirPort Extrems USB hard drive from Android

I'm starting a new discussion because I erroneously marked my earlier discussion "solved".
I've been using a USB connected disk drive on my AirPort Extreme from my Android tablet for years. Since upgrading the AirPort to version 7.6.4 I can no longer access the disk drive from the tablet. I have not changed anything on the tablet, only the AirPort.
The tablet can see the AirPort itself as 10.0.1.1 and can see the attached disk drive, but when I try to access the drive I get a series of possible errors including Firewall issues, SMB service is off or out of scope and WLAN is off.
I don't know how to look at the firewall on the AirPort or check on the SMB service (I can't find either topic in AirPort Utility).
I have tried a factory reset, and also reverting back to version 7.5.2 as suggested in the other thread, but I still get the same message when I try to connect.
The drive is fully accessible from either of the two Macs on the network.
Please help - I really need to access files on this disk from the tablet. I konw Dropbox will work, but ti's cumbersome and I don't really want some of the files to live on Dropbox.
Walt

I would venture to say that the issue may be related to the AirPort firmware update not being compatible with the current version of firmware on your Android tablet. Of course, you probably already know this. I'm not aware of any incompatibilities between these two devices as Apple has not provided any information on this.
As far as firewall on the AirPort, unless you are accessing the Extreme from a remote location its NAT firewall would be a mute issue. About SMB, this is automatically enabled when you configure the Extreme to share out an external USB HDD. So there is no setting to change there either.
I have tried a factory reset, and also reverting back to version 7.5.2 as suggested in the other thread, but I still get the same message when I try to connect.
If your Android was not having this issue when the Extreme was running 7.5.2 firmware, but is now after downgrading it to this version tends to make me believe the issuse may be with your tablet. Is there a potential firmware update for it?

HT204057 Time machine back up via USB hard drive connected to Airport Extreme.

Why did Apple stop supporting time machine back-up via USB hard drive connected to Airport Extreme? It worked very well.

Why did Apple stop supporting time machine back-up via USB hard drive connected to Airport Extreme?
Time Machine backups are supported via USB hard drive connected to the AirPort Extreme"ac" version.
Time Machine backups were not supported via USB hard drive connected to earlier versions of the AirPort Extreme.
Some users who tried this on earlier version AirPort Extremes seemed to have some success with Time Machine backups....some had moderate success and some had no success with this. Count me in the "no success" category.
See the topic about Time Machine support for USB disks in this Apple Support document:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5924?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Is it possible to use time capsule or airport extreme as a wireless hard drive for iphone?

Is it possible to use time capsule or airport extreme as a wireless hard drive for iphone.
I would like to strem movies from the hard drive to iphone.
I have already seen the Goflex Stellite, which works this way.
Is there any other device that could do this?

I did a typo. My current computer is a 2010 1/2 iMac. The stand alone monitors are still out of my price range so I'm looking for other options. By buying an external hard drive and a broken iMac, I'm still ahead. Still, if I understand you right, the 27" 2010 and earlier iMacs would be possiblities.
Are there adapters that would allow me to run a 2011 and newer iMac as an external monitor from my 2010 1/2. There are so many adapters out there these days.

Using Time Capsule to back up external hard drive

I just purchased a Time Capsule with hopes to backup an external hard drive. I thought I could have it plugged into the Time Capsule USB port and run TIme Machine from my computer. Then, I was told that I couldn't do that but would have to plug Hard drive to my laptop and backup to Time Capsule that way. Now I was told that backing up should work (but not supported) but if I ever have to restore, could be problematic.
What is the scoop on this? Can I back up this way successfully? I am looking for recommendations for backing up this external hard drive which we use a shared drive.

busybees2 wrote:
What is the scoop on this?
you cannot use time machine to back up an airdisk (a drive connected to a times capsule or airport extreme. what will work is to back up to a drive connected to a TC
I am looking for recommendations for backing up this external hard drive which we use a shared drive.
have a look @ ChronoSync.

Can Time Capsule support an additional external hard drive?

A friend of mine is using Airport Extreme and has both his printer and external hard drive hooked through it accessing both wirelessly. The Apple site says this works great with Extreme but does not say you can do the same thing with Time Capsule. I called our local store and she wasn't sure. Both Extreme and Time Capsule have one USB port so no matter what, you have to split the USB(I know this works with Extreme). All my music is on an additional hard drive and it would be great if I could access it wirelessly. If anyone has done this with time capsule please let me know. I want to purchase it but if not I will go with Extreme.

Can Time Capsule support an additional external hard drive?
Yes.
(41832)

Time Capsule won't recognize External Hard Drive?

Ok so I have a 1 TB Time Capsule that I previously had a 1 TB G-Drive attached to store excess data, movies, ect. I needed more space so I purchesed a 6TB G-Drive, connected it to my Mac Book Pro and coppied all the information to it from my other two 1TB external hard drives. Then I connected it to my Time Capsule. However here is the the problem I can't locate the hard drive throught the Time Capsule. If I connect it directly to my Mac Book Pro I it works just fine but no such luck finding it when it is connected to my Time Capsule? While connected to my Mac Book Pro I checked Disk Utility and it is formated with OS Extended but not (Journaled). Does that matter and if so how can I format it without dumping the info on it as it took 10 hours to load it the first time. Please help.

Apple recommends that the drive should be formatted in Mac OS Exended (Journaled) when it is connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule, or AirPort Extreme, so that might be an issue here.
Another issue might be that the USB port on the Time Capsule is borderline as far as its ability to supply adequate power for a hard drive....even if the hard drive has its own separate power supply.
See if you can locate the drive as follows:
Click anywhere on the open Desktop to display the Finder menus at the top of the screen
Click the Go menu, then click Network
If the Time Capsule icon appears, double click on it and a folder representing your hard drive will appear if the format is being read
(You may need to click Connect As the first time that you do this and enter the Time Capsule device password)
Double click the folder representing the hard drive and it will mount on the desktop
If the folder for the hard drive does not appear, then the formatting issue or power issue may be at work here. Try a powered USB hub to see if that will allow the drive to be displayed in the Finder.
If still no luck, the only other thing that I can think of is that you will need to re-format the drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). That means moving all the data on the drive to another storage area, formatting the drive using Disk Utility and then transferring the data back on to the drive.
Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that this will work either, but I know of nothing else to try.
Maybe another user has another idea.

Time capsule and airport extreme!!! or something else?

Hi
i have been looking into a new wireless device but do i really need a time capsule or a Airport extreme or is there something better out there?
thanks

Thanks for the additional info.
The AirPort Extreme would support a hard drive, but unfortunately Time Machine backups are not supported by Apple to a drive at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme, so to meet both of your requirements, you would need to look at either the 1TB or 2 TB versions of the Time Capsule.
In addition, either the Time Capsule (or AirPort Extreme) would provide you with simultaneous dual band wireless capability, so you'll have a 5 GHz band for faster, newer devices and and a traditional 2.4 GHz band for slower devices. With this type of setup, the slower devices will not slow down the faster devices on your network.
There's a Guest Network feature as well if you plan to use the Time Capsule or Airport Extreme or Time Capsule as the main router on your network.

Time capsule or Airport Extreme + USB hard drive

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