Is Time Capsule good as an NAS?

I have a jailbroken Apple TV that I can stream my movies from my mac. However, I have a crappy linksys router and I have issues with it reading the 2TB hard drive attached to my MBP. Is the Time Capsule good for doing something like this?

Time Capsule is (imho) good for one thing: Time Machine Backups.
If you want the features of an NAS, I'd get an NAS.
edit: Realize that might sound a bit negative-should add that it has also been a stellar wifi router for our household of iPads, iPhones, and Macs, and great for backing up the Macs regularly. I just don't consider it an NAS.

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Time Capsule, External HDD as NAS, Time Machine Backup the NAS

Can I attach an external HDD to Time Capsule to use as a NAS? Then can I use Time Machine on my Macbook to backup both my Macbook and the NAS drive to the HDD in the Time Capsule?

Can I attach an external HDD to Time Capsule to use as a NAS?
Yes. Although it will not exactly be a NAS with its own "brains".
Then can I use Time Machine on my Macbook to backup both my Macbook and the NAS drive to the HDD in the Time Capsule?
No. In order to back up the hard drive using Time Machine, the drive must be connected to your Mac, not the Time Capsule.

Time Capsule and Linksys Buffalo NAS

I am struggling with my new TC and looking for some pointers.
What I want to be able to do is have setup my network they way it used to be before my linksys router crapped out... only now with TC I want the added time machine backup capability.
what I used to have was cable modem>linsys router>linkstation buffalo NAS (ethernet) and (wireless) to airport express (with USB printer and Airtunes speakers)
I have managed to get all set up EXCEPT the linkstation buffalo.. for some reason simply plugging it into the ethernet jacks on the TC doesn't allow it to show up as a shared drive... and unfortunately there is no way to do a USB to USB on this device because both have the same connector end and I can't find anywhere that this cable exists.
help?
Does TC support an additional NAS device in it's network capabilities? I have 'extended the network' and any other preferences through airport setup utility, but to no avail...

My Xbox 360 can't connect to Time Capsule wirelessly unless I run in 802.11b mode or unless I purchase something like an AirPort Express or similar wireless access point. I use the Linksys as my main router because it has much more configurable options, especially with the DD-WRT firmware, than the Time Capsule does. The Time Capsule is very user friendly but I think it sacrifices a lot of advanced options.

Installed Time Capsule, lost access to NAS server

I have a MBP and installed the TC behind my modem, then it connects to the home network. Backup of laptop worked fine. I have a NAS server that I have always connected with via its SMB address. However now my MBP cannot locate it. The server has all of my backed up data files, so I need to get them over to the TC.
1. How do I navigate to the server?
2. Do I have to move the files I want to backup on the TC over to the MBP first and then allow Time Machine to back them up? That's going to demand a lot of storage space on my MBP. Other suggestions?
Tnx

After a half dozen calls to AppleCare we figured it out.
1. With TC running the newtwork, all IP addresses were changed, including the NAS Server IP address. I called the mfg of the server to get help identifying the new IP address. They suggested that I download a freeware Mac IP scanner, which I found using Google. I ran one of them and it gave me several addresses to try out in my browser in an effort to get into the setup menu for the server. After some trial and error I hit on the right IP address, set up the server name, username, password and then used that info to navigate to the server via the MBP Finder-Go-Connect to Server menu.
2. Can't back up a server to the TC, ***. I have to copy it all to my MBP if I want it to backup...
Oh well 1-for-2 was not bad.

Time Capsule vs Synology NAS

Hey everyone,
So my current set up at the moment is a Mac Mini with a 3TB external hard drive hooked up for my iTunes library and a 1TB external hard drive used for Time Machine backups for the Mac Mini and 2 Macbook Pros.
I can't decide which would be better to use a Time Capsule or a Synology NAS for the following:
My iTunes library to share to my Apple TV, and other iDevices.
Time Machine backups for all 3 computers and 2 iPhones and 2 iPads
And possibly a file sharing location for use with OS X Server.
And Caching location for app downloads used with OS X Server
What device do you think would be better to use.

Is your mini running OSX server now??
If you plan to install a computer running Server, then I would work out that setup..
This is a "don't quote me" but when you use a server.. you don't want the files to be on network drives.
ie using a server and using network drives (either TC or Synology) means you have competing requirements.
Server should have local disks so it has full control over permissions etc.
Synology in particular is designed as a server replacement.. you don't use a small server plus a synology. You can use TC but only as TM backup location and router.
For your bullet points.
My iTunes library to share to my Apple TV, and other iDevices.
The Synology would be better.. but you still will need a computer running. Home serving of iTunes must be done via a computer.. therefore your library is located in the wrong place. The built in iTunes in the synology.. is really ??? Sorry cannot say much until I get it setup and running.. !!
Time Machine backups for all 3 computers and 2 iPhones and 2 iPads
Any will do as TM target. iOS devices backup to iTunes or iCloud.. There is no TM for iOS. And it will need a real iTunes.. not synology itunes.
And possibly a file sharing location for use with OS X Server.
And Caching location for app downloads used with OS X Server
You are using the Synology as dumb storage. A USB drive plugged into the OS X Server computer will be faster, cheaper and more reliable. You are effectively buying two servers and bypassing on of them to simply use its hard disk.. pointless.

ITunes library stored on Time Capsule or other NAS drive?

On the iPad, can I use an iTunes library that is stored on an external, network-attached disk?
In other words, I'd like to put all my music on the Apple Time Capsule drive (or other NAS disk drive) and play it from iTunes on my iPad. Is that possible? If not, are there any updates, software extensions etc. coming out that would make it possible?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: powerbookuser99

Actually I searched again and found this ipad app called FileBrowser:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/filebrowser-access-files-on/id364738545?mt=8
It says it supports NAS and people say in their reviews that they can stream music from their NAS drives using this app.
And after all, it would have been hard to imagine that ipad can't access the NAS when even my Android phone can do it.

Encryption Questions: FileVault 2, Time Capsule, 1Password

Hello...Newbie here. I have FileVault 2 turned on and Time Machine backs up to Time Capsule.
When I'm logged in, does this mean all my data is unencrypted? If so, does that mean my Time Machine backups are unencrypted on Time Capsule which cannot be encrypted?
Since FileVault is on, does this mean encrypted 1Password info is then unencrypted when it's backed up on Time Capsule?
Any info is appreciated.

Something else to keep in mind here:
I recently went about upgrading my MBP to a SSD. I have Lion and I'm using File Vault 2 because I handle medical data and HIPAA states that I have to... I'm also using Time Machine (it's not a Time Capsule, it's a Netgear ReadyNAS but it works the same way). The Time Machine sparsebundle is not encrypted.
So, to do the switch, I pulled the encrypted HD out of my MBP and put in the SSD. I then booted from a Snow Leopard DVD and went about the 'Restore from Time Machine' route. I was able to find the drive, hook in to the TM sparsebundle and do the restore.
Once the restore was finished and had rebooted it behaved very strangely, apps crashed, status bar didn't seem to load correctly, Finder crashed constantly, the machine was SLOWER. Not good. I figured it was a bum drive so I got another one (same brand, model, etc...). Another restore with the same results.
NOTE: I also tried doing a fresh install of Snow Leopard with the intent of upgrading to Lion right away and pulling my files back from TM but I couldn't even install a fresh install of Snow Leopard. I've since learned that not every SSD will work in every system.
Before returning the drives I wanted to wipe them both clean so I put one of them in to an enclosure I have and plugged it in. I was shocked (although perhaps I shouldn't have been) to see that nothing on the drive was encrypted. I could access every file on the file system with out an issue.
I had assumed that if I encrypted the drive and then made a TM backup that a restore would create an exact copy of the old drive, including encryption.
In my case it appears that the Kingston drives I was trying to use are not compatible. I've since returned them both (both wiped clean) and ordered a drive from Crucial which, I'm told, will be compatible. But in the back of my mind I'm left wondering if the Crucial drive will have the same sorts of issues and if I'm really just left with the single choice of building the drive from scratch and then bringing my data back piece by piece.
One additional note of interest: You can create an encrypted sparsebundle and use that in Time Capsule (or some other NAS like mine) very easily and it should work just fine.
So, what's my point here? Well, there are two things:
1) Make sure you get a SSD that's compatible with your system as they're not all the same.
2) If you are using FileVault 2 and backing up using TM (regardless of whether you have encrypted the sparsebundle or not) you might want to try restoring to see how/if it works. It may simply be that you can't just restore from TM if you have an encrypted HD.
Honestly, it's not often (in fact it's very rare) that I find myself in a position when I need to restore from TM like this so maybe doing a clean install each time isn't such a huge deal but still it would be nice if it worked as advertised OR these sorts of issues were thought through and addressed.

Problems accessing Time Capsule disk on Desktop

I'm having problems connecting to my Time Capsule (used as a NAS shared disk) from my Snow Leopard machine. (If it makes any difference) I don't use it for Time Machine backups.
If I click on the Time Capsule in Shared in Finder's sidebar it will access the disk and I can access the files on it OK. If I click on the Time Capsule icon on the desktop I get the following error message:
The alias "Time Capsule" can't be opened because the original item can't be found.
The only thing on the Desktop is the Time Capsule icon as a mounted disk, not an alias of it.
I also get this error message if I open a Finder window and go to Computer (the very top icon) in the sidebar and then try to open Time Capsule from there. I've also noticed that I can't drag the Time Capsule share from the desktop or Finder window into the Devices section of the Finder sidebar. It won't let me do this.
I have a Mac mini running Leopard and don't experience any of these problems. I can also drag the Time Capsule share from the desktop or Finder window into the Devices section of the Finder sidebar without any problems.
Is this a Snow Leopard bug? If not can anyone help?

I'm having the same problem since upgrading the Snow Leopard. There's another thread that discusses a possible solution but is not yet solved: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10115033
Message was edited by: Tak-Seng

Watch movies on ipad from time capsule

Hi
Which app can i juse to watch movies on ipad from time capsule?
- Eirik

not sure how time capsule handle it's NAS features but my NAS can be reached by all upnp clients in app store so I can access the data stored on it

Replacing Older Airport Extreme W/Time Capsule

Greetings,
Just received my new TC, and want to replace my existing Airport Extreme (older "Mushroom shaped' one).
Do I have to setup an entirely new wireless network, or is there a way to just transfer the settings, etc. from the older Airport (network name, password, etc.)
Trying to avoid having to reconfigure all the wifi devices in the house to work on the new TC.
Thanks
Jim

Thanks for the response Tesserax!
You are correct - during setup the TC provides several options including importing settings from a previous airport.
Setup was easy and I'm pleased with the results - faster WiFi in the house, and 3 separate Macs backing up seamlessly to the Time Capsule - good stuff

What is the best way to auto back up from a pc to time capsule?

IN MY HOUSE WE HAVE ONE MAC AND THREE WINDOWS PCS/LAPTOPS. I AM LOOKING FOR THE BEST WAY TO AUTOMATICALLY BACK UP THE PCs TO THE TIME CAPSULE.

windows 7 will not back up to a time capsule. because windows backup demands ntfs, and time capsules aren't true nas devices (they don't include the ability to fool windows into thinking its an ntfs partition)
i thnk your going to need another back up utility for your windows computers, like maybe acronis or paragon or rdrive, etc etc
theres nothing stopping you from copying files back and forth from a windows computer to a time capsule, but when it comes to windows backup it won't work

HT4260 Airport extreme and time capsule connection order in a roaming network

I plan to create a roaming network with my current Airport Extreme as the primary device connected to the internet and the new Time Capsule as the secondary device in Bridge mode. The connection between AE and TC will be wired (ethernet). Then I plan to connect the PC that needs backing up to the Time Capsule with an ethernet cable. Apart from the PC-backup functionality, I'd like to use the Time Capsule as a central NAS-device in my network. All other wired network devices that need access to the NAS (Apple TV, Xtreamer) are currently connected to the primary Airport Extreme with ethernet cables. My question: is there any reason why I should consider reversing the setup order, i.e. making the Time Capsule the primary device connected to the internet and the Airport Extreme the secondary device? Would this have a positive or negative effect on Time Capsule functionality and performance in the network? Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Your Gen3 Extreme and all TC are gigabit.. as long as you connect with the required standard cable to have a gigabit connection between the two, there will effectively be no difference. In a home network you will struggle to saturate gigabit no matter what you do. Although the difference between the two configurations is really very small.
General rule is keep whatever is using the highest bandwidth closest and directly connected to whatever it is using.. shrug.. in this case you can follow or not.. it is more a guideline.

Time Capsule vs. Airport Extreme w/ HD vs NAS

It looks like I'm having trouble with my current Time Machine drive and will need to replace it.
I'm considering several options.
I mainly use Time Machine with a FireWire 800 drive for quick backup of my iMac. I'm pretty lax about backing up my MacBook, though--months going by before I remember to attach it to a different drive to back it up, too. So, I've been considering a network solution; the dying Time Machine drive is sort of the kick I needed to go ahead.
Obviously, a Time Capsule is a quick and easy solution to it all. However, one concern is that, as with other multipurpose devices, is that if one part dies, that pretty much kills the second part--i.e., if the hard drive fails, then I must (potentially) replace the whole unit (from what I've heard, replacing the drive in a Time Capsule isn't for the faint of heart).
Then there's an Airport Extreme; from what I understand, you can attach a USB drive to the newest models for use as a Time Machine backup:
http://tidbits.com/e/14347
Of course, that's USB 2, which'll be on the slow side as compared to FW 800, but there's the benefit that if I need to restore, I can detach the drive from the AE and hook it up straight to the Mac, which should be quicker than a wifi restore (for the MacBook; I'd have the iMac hooked via Ethernet).
But there's the consideration that I have a FiOS router, so I don't really NEED another one; I don't think the Time Capsule or Airport really gives me much more than the FiOS router does, and I'd still need the Verizon router attached anyway for other services.
So, the last choice is an NAS drive. It might not play as well as a TM drive, as Apple did take some pains to support their own hardware... are there NAS drives that work better as Time Machine drives than others?
So, the essential question is, what would make the best Time Machine backup, if I want to back up two Macs (one by wifi)?

Well thought out question.
Not easy to answer.
Some considerations..
1. A fast wireless router is worthwhile.. I am not sure of the FIOS but if it has only 2.4ghz it is restricted to 130Mbps in the Apple products even if it can do 270 or 300Mbps on all the rest. Apple deliberately restrict 2.4ghz to N lite. So you need a router that is 450Mbps or better the new AC version at 5ghz. And you need that router near where the Macbook usually resides. 5ghz fast connections are not going to be long range.
So you can buy a Gen5 AE.. or even a second hand Gen4 TC.. either are pretty good buys. The Gen5 AE I see on ebay all the time for around the $80 mark including post. The Apple refurbished store might even have stock.
And of course Apple are not the only brand.. you can buy excellent high speed wireless routers .. Asus RT-AC66U soundly beats the AC apple version.. (wonder how long that sentence will last!!)
AC is worthwhile if your Macbook is AC .. otherwise the older Gen5 AE are good value.
2. I reckon a 1 year old TC Gen4 is also a good buy.. they sell around $150 in our market. Easy to setup.. fairly reliable. And you are not going to be worried to open it up and swap the hard disk.. which is actually easy.
ifixit rate it as moderate.. really it is less than that .. if you can read instructions.
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Time_Capsule
3. A fast drive.. FW800 are still very good.. USB3 better and Thunderbolt tops but bank account emptying experience. It is possible to share the drive to the network.
http://code.stephenmorley.org/articles/time-machine-on-a-network-drive/
That is the best combo.. use the local external with TM.. and do it over wireless with to the iMac shared drive from the Macbook.
4. NAS is a good but they can be unreliable.. even a USB drive on the AE can be unreliable. Up to the Gen5 Apple said it was not supported. Many people found out it was NOT supported... really.. not supported.. although it works for some.. How much is your data worth??

Can a Time Capsule be partitioned? Is having a HD mirror the contents of the TC a good safeguard for potential HD/TC failure?

I have a few questions about the Time Capsule
I am going to use a 2TB time capsule to do wireless backups of my Macbook, but also manually store files (photos, movies, music etc). Can I partition the TC? I want to have maximum storage for photos, movies etc and only 500GB for the time machine backups. If partitioning is not possible, will old backups automatically delete themselves from the TC as the storage fills up with the other files I load up on there? Or will I have to delete the old backups manually myself?
Also, as a safe guard, I plan to get a 2TB portable hard rive (Mac & time machine supported) to completely mirror the contents of the time capsule (i.e.. have 2 back ups of separate disks). I understand I will have to plug this into the Macbook each time (to do the time machine backups and add new files), but my question is whether or not this setup is a good way to keep multiple backups, just in case one of the Hard Drives (most likely the TC) dies. I'm quite new to the back up game, but I want to minimise risk (of course) and keep a consistency between the portable hard drive and the TC: I want them to be identical so I don't have files/backups on one HD but not on the other.
I hope to get some good responses !

You cannot partition a TC. Not without voiding warranty, opening it and doing it externally.
Even when you do external partition the TC will throw up disk errors so don't go that way.
See pondini on ways to control the size of the sparsebundle.
Q3 here http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Also, as a safe guard, I plan to get a 2TB portable hard rive (Mac & time machine supported) to completely mirror the contents of the time capsule (i.e.. have 2 back ups of separate disks). I understand I will have to plug this into the Macbook each time (to do the time machine backups and add new files), but my question is whether or not this setup is a good way to keep multiple backups,
Time Machine is far more limited than you think..
You cannot backup the TC.. it is a network drive. It is used as a target for the backup but it cannot be included in the backup. Therefore it is not possible to do what you are planning.. at least without buying another backup software like CCC which does have the ability to backup network drives.
In many ways the problem is that TC is not designed as a NAS.. which is what you want to use it as.
It is better IMHO to buy a NAS, if that is what you want.. although most NAS that are TM compatible don't handle TM very well, CCC can. Every NAS made can back itself up.. so you simply have a USB drive plugged in and the NAS keep itself backed up. Buy a decent NAS with mirrored drives and that also helps.. not for backup but protection against a faulty drive.

Time Capsule as a NAS in a mixed (Mac/PC) network

Hi, I'm looking for a good NAS solution for a network of 3 PCs (WinXP Pro and Home) and 4 Macs (all 10.4.11) and thought that the Time Capsule might offer a good opportunity. I want to make it easy for everyone to back up often, and a decent NAS is much cheaper than buying a bunch of external drives for 5 people.
I have a router (not gigabit, with 802.11g), and am thinking that I should just connect the TC to the router via Cat5e to simplify things.
Has anyone been through this experience? How does the TC work in a PC system? Can I just assign a drive to it and off I go? Has it been reliable?
Thanks!
Keith.

I have a TC in a mixed Mac/PC network and it's working wonderfully. Just a few things to keep in mind:
Make sure to set the Workgroup in your File Sharing section of AirPort Utility. Be sure to type the same workgroup that your PCs are members of and you should be able to see the Time Capsule's disk drive as a networked drive. You might have to add your Time Capsule's network to the list of trusted zones/networks in your PC's software firewall settings. If that doesn't work, you could always install AirPort Utility for Windows from the TC install disc which will have AirPort Base Station Agent. This is a program that loads into the taskbar and allows you to connect to your Time Capsule's disk drive.
The other thing to remember, if you are connecting one router to another, set the second router to run in bridge mode and give them both a unique SSID. This allows the first router to do all the DHCP and NAT, and will just add a secondary wireless access point to your current network. I have my TC acting as my main router with a Linksys running in bridge mode. My TC is wireless-n only 5 GHz, and the Linksys is b/g 2.4 GHz, giving me a full speed N network while still allowing b/g devices to connect.
Edit: You could also disable wireless routing on the Time Capsule entirely and just have it act as a networked drive. Set the Time Capsule's Connection Sharing to Off (Bridge Mode) in AirPort Utility and disable Wireless Mode. AFAIK this should still allow the Time Capsule's HDD to be accessed from whichever network it is connected.
Try reading this pdf from Apple. It explains networking in a lot greater detail.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/DesigningAirPort_Networks10.5-Windows.pdf

Is Time Capsule good as an NAS?

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