Time Capsule? Drobo, ReadyNAS???

I was in the Apple store ready to pull the trigger on a 1TB Time Capsule, but then I called a tech buddy of mine, and also realized that my Verizon FIOS wireless router (an Actiontec) has a COAX port on it to apparently feed the cable boxes an internet connection through the house. So, my idea of replacing that router completely with a TC was foiled. My buddy mentioned I'd have to try and disable the router functionality of the FIOS router, use a LAN port on the back of it to throw the TC an internet connection - then TC does everything it is supposed to theoretically (any comments on that idea?)
So, I guess thats possible...but the more I keep reading on the Time Capsule now that I have more time before i figure how this will work, I am getting a little disenchanted with some of the issues related to the TC. I understand it is not a RAID, and its all about simplicity. I am also about simplicity. My main purpose for it will be: 24" iMac houses over 30,000 photos, 50GB of iTunes, and home videos (however, many of those are on a 250GB LaCie locally attached drive - Time Machine wont back those up, will it?). I have 2 other Macs and 2 PCs in the house, but there is no critical data on those - the iMac is the main, but I do want a NAS to be able to push data up from the other machines as needed. I thought the solution was going to be hanging additional drives off the TC, but now reading about all kinds of issues with not only USB hubs off the TC, but the addressability of the drives in this scenario. So - not sold on the TC.
Then I start reading about Drobo - I love the ability to hot-swap drives (I know, I know - cant really compare it to TC), but see that it is also Time Machine compatible. But starts getting really expensive....but still sounds incredible....yet I still hear people here using TC and Drobo.
Finally I read something about NetGear ReadyNAS....cheaper than drobo, not quite the same functionality.
So - yes, I am a bit confused on which way to lean here to totally backup the iMac and its attached storage - as well as (didnt mention this) - I have an HDV camcorder (tape based) which I plan to start creating a lot of videos in iMovie/FCE on, and also have a Canon TX1 which is generating a lot of digital AVI files that must be offloaded on storage.
What would you do?

Hi. I’m in a similar situation, looking for a perfect network storage device.
I can tell you that I have a 500GB TC (running 802.11n) bridged to an older AEBS running 802.11g for my Tivo wireless device and my older AE for AirTunes.
For the fun of it I plugged in a 4-year-old Belkin powered USB hub. It seemed to work with a 4-year-old Canon inkjet. Now I have a 1TB external WD drive and a 2TB external WD drive plugged into the USB hub and they’re both working perfectly. I use the TC just for TM for my laptop.
I’m still looking for something more bulletproof, like RAID 5, but nothing seems to be the perfect solution yet.
Message was edited by: BflatBlues

Similar Messages

Help ReadyNAS NV+ as FTP server using Apple Time Capsule

I am setting this up for somebody else. I followed http://www.readynas.com/?p=1682 to configure the ReadyNAS RND4000 NV+ and then followed http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Designing_AirPort_Networks_10.5-Windows.pdf starting on page 54 to limited success. At times I could log into the FTP server and it would Auth, but then timeout. Swapped it out with my Netgear WNR2000 and configured it and it works great. What am I missing on the Apple Time Capsule that only took me 5min to do on the WNR2000? Called Apple Care and they said they could not help since they do not provide phone support for FTP. I have spent nearly 6hrs on this and all I know is that I had it working within 5min using my WNR2000, but they really want to use their Time Capsule and I just can not get it to work.

FTP is a lot trickier than it looks and unfortunately opening ports even in a fixed range as you are doing on the readynas, (following that post you referenced). Did you open 5000-5020 for FTP?
As an odd co-incidence.. the apple utility uses port 5009 to access the TC.. when you forwarded ports in the area of the Apple Utility you may well have wreaked something. Try using different port range above 10,000.
I can understand why the Apple people would not talk to you.. they have deliberately left out ftp as a method of access to the TC.. but I have a suspicion that something else even inside it might be running ftp.. in which case when you port forward you might be messing up the internals. Or the internals are messing with you. To say nothing of the access to the internal server which could be blocked from remote access.. even if you forward the port. Apple phone support workers will have no idea about this stuff.
My recommendation for a windows network.. use a router that has normal http access. Keep the TC in the network bridged. You can get Netgear router cheap.
My other comment is, ftp has no security other than password.. it is open to man in middle attacks because passwords are sent in the clear. It is not really a great method of remote access unless you have a walled off ftp store that you don't care if others access. If you want to buy another router, get something that does vpn and use vpn to access the network.
BTW Apple do break things like vpn, ftp, telnet in some versions of their firmware.. this is a well known issue and happens across all the apple routers.. since Apple does not use those ports themselves they don't seem to give any great deal of attention to bug catching.. if you run apple network with apple products you won't need it.
eg
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1435270?start=0&tstart=0
Do a google search for time capsule or airport (fundamentally the same thing).
I stick to my recommendation.. keep the TC as a bridged device... just buy another router.

USB connected Drobo 5D won't mount on Time Capsule

Hi,
I recently purchased a Drobo 5D and, after setting it up plugged directly into my Macbook Pro via USB, plugged it into my Time Capsule (3rd Gen, firmware 7.6.4) via USB.
It showed up correctly in Airport Utility and I was able to connect to it easily via Finder. It was initially set up with 2x WD Red 3TB HDDs.
However, after a few days of successful usage, I plugged the Drobo directly into my mac for some faster data transfer. At this stage, I also updated the Drobo firmware from 3.0.9 to 3.0.10, and added a 3rd HDD (WD Green 2TB) to an empty bay. After shutting down the Drobo, I plugged it back in to the TC. From this point on, I have been unable to get the Drobo to show up in Finder or in Airport Utility. It continues to mount corretly when plugged directly into my Mac.
Things I have tried:
Downgrade Drobo firmware to 3.0.9 and 3.0.8 and back up again.
Downgrade TC firmware to 7.6.3 and 7.6.0 and back up again.
Remove the 3rd hard drive from the Drobo.
Factory Reset of Drobo, including reformatting of the hard drives (both via Drobo Dashboard and via Disk Utility).
Restore Default Settings of TC. (I have *not* wiped the TC hard drive).
Plugged the Drobo in via a powered USB hub. (other self powered 2.5" usb drives mounted correctly through the hub).
Used a different USB cable.
I've contacted Drobo support, they've looked at my log files and think there's nothing wrong with the Drobo.
Other disks mount correctly when plugged in to the TC via USB. The Drobo acts like it's not plugged in to anything and goes to sleep after a few minutes. The TC just doesn't see it there at all.
Any ideas on how to get the TC to see the Drobo again??

Bugger. I'm sure I've read about other people using it in this manner, albeit with other issues - at least their disks were showing up! Maybe they just got ultra lucky.
Do the airport extremes have the same problem? Again, I know I've read about people using them successfully... but if it's touch and go maybe I'll hunt down another router.
Interestingly, right before it stopped working I did do some speet test comparisons (using Blackmagic Disk Speed Test),
Western Digital
Drobo
Time Capsule
Internal
Write
Read
Write
Read
Write
Read
Wifi (via TC)
11.8
16.6
15.5
16.8
14.8
16.1
Ethernet (via TC USB2)
51.0
16.9
52.6
17.0
50.2
16.8
USB2
25.1
28.4
32.1
16.1
The Drobo and a different WD external disk were fastest when plugged into the TC and accessed via ethernet.
Can't understand why that's faster than directly into my Macbook (which is too old for USB3, sadly).

Can't connect Drobo 5D to Time Capsule

Hi,
I have just purchased a Drobo 5D and want to be able to connect it to the USB port on the back of my Time Capsule and use it as a Network Drive.
I also want to be able to use Time Machine to back up to the attached drive.
My first and main problem is that the Drobo drive doesn't seem to be visible when I attach it to the Time Capsule. Under the 'Disks' tab in Airport Utility 5.6 I can only see the Time Capsule device and its default partition.
However, when I attach the Drobo via USB directly to my MacBook Pro there is no problem, the drive mounts and I can use Time Machine to back up to it.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Michael.

I also had/have a problem with my Drobo connecting to my Time Capsule (TC).
I had always had no problem connecting a external drive to the TC, but once I got the Drobo (5D) it would never "see" the Drobo.
The TC would also have no problem seeing/sharing the external [2TB] drive within itself.
I then "experimented" with the Drobo by purchasing a brand new Airport Express (the one that now does "ac" signals), and found that it DOES INDEED see the Drobo - this would therefore led to the TC being the problem (I have the older, 2nd gen TC, built in 2009).
One more item I don't want to forget - initially the new Express did NOT see the Drobo, but once I checked the "Sharing" box (under Get Info) within my computer it did finally see the Drobo (but the TC never did or would).
I am now in the process of transferring all my data from my TC to the Drobo to try (as one last effort) to TOTALLY [Master] reset and wipe the TC to see if it will eventually see the Drobo. If it doesn't then that would mean either the 2009 TC is just too old (old firmware??) or maybe the TC internal USB is just bad.
I mean, once the new Express saw it [the Drobo], that says it ALL! (that the TC is the issue [bad] and the Drobo OK).
I will try to update this post [if Apple will let me re-enter] after I complete the TC data transfer, reset and wipe.

Drobo + Time Capsule

Does anyone have any experience with using a Drobo and Time Capsule together? I am considering Time Capsule instead of Drobo Share so that I can do Time Machine (wireless) backups to the Time Capsule and have wireless access to the Drobo for regular storage.
My computers are running Leopard, XP SP2, XP SP3 and Ubuntu 8.04.

There seems to be a lot of grief and pain over the Time Capsule and the Drobo. I got a new Drobo before I looked at the forum. At first when I tried to hook things up I thought I was going crazy. Now I've got the whole thing working and working pretty well.
I had the problems with the Drobo dropping off the network when attached to the time capsule, just like everyone else in this thread. But I had a couple of Airport Extremes laying around the house, from other jobs I've had. I have a long and narrow stone house with plaster walls... not good for any wireless and neither good for running wires. I had a Time Capsule set up at one end a single base and I was doing fine backing up to that. Then I added an AE at the other end of the house, and got them to talk in WDS mode. That worked OK, but not fast, and I had a second AE lying about waiting for a use, so I decided to put a second leg on the WDS. First I tried relay mode, and that worked OK too.
So I have TC(base) ==> AE(relay) ==AE(endpoint). Working.
Then I put the Drobo/Droboshare in a wired port on the TC and there's complete havoc. I can't get the Drobo to stay on the wireless MAC network for more than a minute (although it stays on the PCs which are all wired.) Also the TC keeps getting lost. Plus I can't see the other 2 AEs most of the time. I can unplug and restart them and they show up once and a while, but there are big problems.
Eventually I tried the following which works just fine now. I moved the Time Capsule to the mid point, but I couldn't get it to work as a Relay... again it kept getting lost and it lost the AE beyond it, so I made it an end point, just like the other AE, then I put the Drobo/Droboshare on the first AE and everything works fine and stays up (3 days now!).
So we have Router --- 100BT--- Airport Extreme 1 ~~N2.4Ghz~~ Time Capsule
\ \ ~~N2.4Ghz ~~ AirPort Extreme 2
\100BT
\_____Drobo/Droboshare
Because I have the Drobo formatted as Fat32 for file sharing I can't just put it on the USB port of the AE. It only works on the network.
All PCs (7) and 1 Linux box are wired to the network and all Macs (3-5 depending on the day) are wireless.
Everything seems stable since I moved active traffic off the TC and just use that for backup.
Hope this helps somebody, but if it doesn't it does work for me and I thought I'd share. I know I had more than the price of an Airport Express's worth of grief before I got the thing to work.
Next I'm going to try my luck by adding a printer attached to an Airport Express, but if that doesn't work, I'll back off for a while.
George

Can you use time capsule for your mac and have readynas backup your pc's on the same network

Can you use time capsule for your mac and use readynas to back up your pc's on the same network

Sure, that is trivial setup.. they both have different names and IP addresses.
You should be able to use ReadyNas for TM backup but you should check the latest state of play for that.

Can Time Capsule and Drobo play nice together

Has anyone had any success connecting a DROBO to a Time Capsule? My vision is to have my DROBO connected to my Time Capsule in my office with all of my media attached on it, and than using the WD TV find the media on the DROBO through my network and play it on my TV. I've heard some have had problems with a similar setup, but don't understand why. Has anyone got this to work? I actually on the Apple TV2, but can't stand all of the limitations of it. I just wish I knew of the WD TV when I bought my Apple TV2, as they are the same price!
One person I know who had a DROBO attached to an airport extreme was backing up his entire office each night and would have to reboot the airport extreme. He ended up having to use an old MAC laptop as a server to get it to work. I'm hoping this isn't the case for me.
Any help on the matter would be appreciated.
Thanks,

just leave the TC on it is designed for that.

I want to set up the Time Machine and I would love to use the Time Capsule but since I already have a wireless router I need suggestions on what other external disks Apple could recommend to use with the Time Machine and how to configure that disk

I want to set up the Time Machine and I would love to use the Time
Capsule but since I already have a wireless router I need suggestions on
what other
external disks Apple could recommend to use with the Time Machine and
how to configure that disk.
A complication that I need to resolve is the fact that I am using Vmware
Fusion to be able to use Windows on my Mac. Now it seems that Time
Machine is not backing up my files
on that virtual Windows without additional configuration and my question
is whether you can advise me here or whether this is only a matter for
the Fusion virtual machine.

If you want to use Time Capsule you can.. you simply bridge it and plug it into the existing router.. wireless can be either turned off or used to reinforce the existing wireless.. eg use 5ghz in the TC which is much faster than your 2.4ghz.
You can also use a NAS.. many brands available but the top brands are synology, qnap and netgear readynas series. These will all do Time Machine backups although how well always depends on Apple sticking to a standard. There are cheaper ones.. I bought a single disk zyxel which was rebadged and sold through my local supermarket. It actually works very well for TM at least on Snow Leopard. Major changes were made in Lion and again ML so do not instantly think it will work on later versions. I haven't tried it yet with those versions.
Any external drive can be plugged into the mac. Use the one with the fastest connection or cheapest price according to your budget. USB2 drives are cheap and plentiful. But no where near as fast as USB3 or FW800. So just pick whichever suits the ports on your Mac. Interesting Apple finally moved to USB3 on their latest computers.
TM should exclude the VM partition file.. it is useless backing it up from Mac OS side.. and will slow TM as it needs to backup that partition everyday for no purpose.. TM cannot see the files inside it to backup just the changes.
You need to backup windows from windows. Use MSbackup to external drive.. if you have pro or ultimate versions you can backup to network drive. But MSbackup is a dog.. at least until the latest version it cannot restore the partition without first loading windows. There are about a zillion backup software versions for windows.. look up reviews and buy one which works for you. I use a free one Macrium Reflect which does full disk backups and is easy to restore.. to do incremental backups though you have to pay for it.

Airport Extreme and Time Capsule – A few questions

Hey guys,
I have a Belkin Modem/Router with a USB port for storage, but I just found out it only has 10/100 Ethernet, and can only mount 1 hard drive to that storage port. Other than that, it works fine and I am happy with it. Its stated wireless speed is 300mbps, and it supports 802.11n draft 2.0.
I also just got a Mac, and was considering a Time Capsule for using Time Machine (Or, because am also considering a Drobo, just a straight Airport Extreme).
So my questions are:
1. Is there any point in keeping the Belkin to use as my modem if it’s got 10/100 Ethernet ports? Will that make the Time Capsule/APE (And hence the attached drives/devices) perform at the slower speed?
2. I don’t know if I can just “turn off” the Belkins Router abilities anyway. Assuming I can’t, will having 2 routers on my network even be possible? (Mac’s software is infinitely more user friendly, and I’d want to use it for my network).
3. Is there a limit to how many Hard Drives I can connect to an Airport Extreme/Time Capsule? (My Belkin can only share one, even via a USB Hub – it only sees the first drive.)
4. For now, my storage drives are standard HDD’s from WD and Seagate, but I am considering a Drobo (Some form of RAID storage is happening in the next few months, for sure).
In either case:
a) Will Airport Extreme recognize my External Hard Drive as a Time Machine Backup Destination? (And as a Drive to store other media)
b) Will Time Capsule recognize my external hard drive, in addition to itself (Since it’s also a Hard Drive?)
5. This page: ((http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/features/harddrivesharing.html) says: “You can set up password-protected accounts for everyone on the network or allow read-only access to certain files and folders.”
Some folders, I don’t even want to allow read only access to. Can I require a password before they can be viewed, or modified/deleted? (If I go the time capsule rout, I would want to protect the drives attached to it, and probably not the HD on the capsule itself).
6. Also, the rest of my computers are PC’s, and I was wondering if it’s possible (and safe) to set up time machine to backup to the time capsule for Mac, and allow the other PC’s to backup to it using their version of “Time Machine” too?
I know this will leave less room for mac and PC backups, but it would free up room on my Drobo / HDD’s
7. Can Time Machine backup wirelessly to other drives, such as http://shop.nextbyte.com.au/Script/MCH/Products/532195-NextByte-WDBACG0020HCHAES N-WD-My-Book-Live-2TB
Thanks so much for your help.
P.S. Can anyone recommend a good modem to use with the Airprort/Time Capsule?

No help?

Airport Extreme and Time Capsule

Hey guys, I actually posted a few days ago (https://discussions.apple.com/message/19406166#19406166) but got no love. I think I've worked out a few of them myself from other sources, but of otherwise, the following remain unanswered. (Just copied and pasted from the above post) If anyone can answer a few questions for me, that'd be great.
I have a Belkin Modem/Router with a USB port for storage, but I just found out it only has 10/100 Ethernet, and can only mount 1 hard drive to that storage port. Other than that, it works fine and I am happy with it. Its stated wireless speed is 300mbps, and it supports 802.11n draft 2.0.
I also just got a Mac, and was considering a Time Capsule for using Time Machine (Or, because am also considering a Drobo, just a straight Airport Extreme).
So my questions are:
2. I don’t know if I can just “turn off” the Belkins Router abilities anyway. Assuming I can’t, will having 2 routers on my network even be possible? (Mac’s software is infinitely more user friendly, and I’d want to use it for my network).
4. For now, my storage drives are standard HDD’s from WD and Seagate, but I am considering a Drobo (Some form of RAID storage is happening in the next few months, for sure).
In either case:
a) Will Airport Extreme recognize my External Hard Drive as a Time Machine Backup Destination? (And as a Drive to store other media)
b) Will Time Capsule recognize my external hard drive, in addition to itself (Since it’s also a Hard Drive?)
5. This page: ((http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/features/harddrivesharing.html) says: “You can set up password-protected accounts for everyone on the network or allow read-only access to certain files and folders.”
Some folders, I don’t even want to allow read only access to. Can I require a password before they can be viewed, or modified/deleted? (If I go the time capsule rout, I would want to protect the drives attached to it, and probably not the HD on the capsule itself).
7. Can Time Machine backup wirelessly to other drives, such as http://shop.nextbyte.com.au/Script/MCH/Products/532195-NextByte-WDBACG0020HCHAES N-WD-My-Book-Live-2TB
Thanks so much for your help.
P.S. Can anyone recommend a good modem to use with the Airprort/Time Capsule?

Ok, thanks for clarifying.
Unfortunately, the "jury is still out" on this. Apple's last stance (ref: Mac OS X 10.5: Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Disks) is that Time Machine (TM) does not support backups to AirPort Disk drives. However, others (ref: Time Machine now works with AirPort Extreme's AirDisk feature) have reported that this is now working with firmware v7.3.1 or later.

My three Time Capsules no longer show up anywhere in the Finder.

I have two older Time Capsules and one new Airport Time Capsule. They show up nicely in the AirPort Utility, but do not show up anywhere in the Finder—neither on the desktop nor the sidebar.
The Yosemite software is all up-to-date on my iMac5, and I have employed all the suggestions offered on this website—including adjustments to “Back to My Mac” and trying to adjust the router (both of which have made no difference). I have successfully shifted my Time Machine backups over to three Drobos, but I would like to employ the Time Capsules for ™ backups, if at all possible. I would appreciate anyone’s help—thank you.

Some things are going to be necessary .. and you are going to hate me but I must insist..
You have used the pipe symbol in a name.. Some characters are illegal .. I think pipe could be one of them.. ie |
Your setup now seems to have even more issues.. so I am going to need to get you do some fixing up and network rearranging..
If I confused you with the comment to connect the TC directly to the computer I am sorry..
Here is what I would do for a full manual setup of the TC.
Airtport Utility can't find Airport Time Capsule on either of my 2009 Macs
The older Mac running Yosemite won't help..
Here are some other details of getting this to work.. ie this is my standard setup under yosemite bug heaven.
A factory reset of the TC is the start.. it is required so you can find it again.
Factory reset universal
Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.
N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.
Setup the TC again.
ie Start from a factory reset. No files are lost on the hard disk doing this.
Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite.
1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.
eg TCgen5 and TCwifi for basestation and wireless respectively.
Even better if the issue is more wireless use TC24ghz and TC5ghz with fixed channels as this also seems to help stop the nonsense. But this can be tried in the second round.
2. Use all passwords that also comply but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.
3. Ensure the TC always takes the same IP address.. you will need to do this on the main router using dhcp reservation.. or a bit more complex setup using static IP in the TC. But this is important.. having IP drift all over the place when Yosemite cannot remember its own name for 5 min after a reboot makes for poor networking. If the TC is main router it will not be an issue.
4. Check your share name on the computer is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. but this change will mess up your TM backup.. so be prepared to do a new full backup. Sorry.. keep this one for second round if you want to avoid a new backup.
5. Mount the TC disk in the computer manually.
In Finder, Go, Connect to server from the top menu,
Type in SMB://192.168.0.254 (or whatever the TC ip is which you have now made static. As a router by default it is 10.0.1.1 and I encourage people to stick with that unless you know what you are doing).
You can use name.. SMB://TCgen5.local where you replace TCgen5 with your TC name.. local is the default domain of the TC and doesn't change.
However names are not so easy as IP address.. nor as reliable. At least not in Yosemite they aren't. The domain can also be an issue if you are not plugged or wireless directly to the TC.
6. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only.
There is a lot more jiggery pokery you can try but the above is a good start.. if you find it still unreliable.. don't be surprised.
You might need to do some more work on the laptop itself. eg Reset the PRAM.. has helped some people. Clean install of the OS is also helpful if you upgrade installed.
Tell us how you go.
Someone posted a solution.. See this thread.
Macbook can't find Time Capsule anymore
Start from the bottom and work up.. I have a list of good network practice changes but I have avoided Yosemites bug heaven.
This user has had success and a few others as well.
RáNdÓm GéÉzÁ
Yosemite has serious DNS bug in the networking application.. here is the lets say more arcane method of fixing it by doing a network transplant from mavericks.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/01/why-dns-in-os-x-10-10-is-broken-and-what-yo u-can-do-to-fix-it/
There is a few other things to be aware of.
When you have a whole chain of TC.. it can be a lot better to use static IP instead of bridge.
But the setup for this is pretty tricky.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/25135547?ac_cid=tw123456#
The one thing I think is important is to turn off all the TC.. and start from just one.. get that one working then add the next one.. either in bridge or static IP and work from there.. but the first one to setup off network if you need to as the setup looks rather complicated.. a laptop or something could be used..
Perhaps even test using the iOS version airport utility which can work better than utility in Yosemite.
I think I am failing to give you cookbook.. but some of the sections I hope are pretty close and you need to fix the parts to get the whole to work.

Using time capsule to backup FCP files on External Lacie drives

Has anyone done this with any measure of success? I have my FCP projects on 3 to 4 external Lacie drives and I want to back them up onto my 1 TB TC. It seems TC only backs up the internal HD and not external HD's. Is my only option to drag the data onto TC without any hope of a regular back up?
Any suggestions would be helpful
Thanks

Unfortunately I won't be able to tell you too much about time machine. I don't use it. I use another utility to clone my internal HD once a day. I use Carbon Copy Cloner which is scheduled to do an "incremental backup" (only what's changed since the last sync) every day at 4 pm. You could do this same sort of thing via Time Machine. It's just a slightly different paradigm as far as back up strategies go. So it's sort of an either/or: Time Machine vs. CCC.
Then, you'd use ChronoSync to handle the external to Time Capsule. Actually you could use ChronoSync to do the internal to Time Capsule as long as you're, basically telling it to, "make this folder look just like 'this other' folder". ChronoSync can do it all as long as you're NOT talking about making and preserving bootable clones. If you're only trying to do a bunch of "mirroring" then ChronoSync could be "one-stop-shopping".
Hope that makes sense.
Not sure about "drobo"? Google search leads me to believe it's an external Hard Drive? If so, no. I haven't used it. But there's no reason why ChronoSync wouldn't talk to it and function just fine.

Can I add a NAS via ethernet to the Time Capsule network?

"I'm a PC," but am sick of spending all my time with Windows/Network conflicts and am getting ready to take the plunge into the Mac world (insert applause here).
My router/switch is old, and I want "n" wireless capability, so my plan here is to go whole hog and buy a Macbook Pro, an iMac, and a brand new network infrastructure including the 2TB Time Capsule. This way I will stay completely within the Apple family.
I have a Netgear ReadyNAS 2TB that I would like to have available as a second back-up drive on the network. It can only be on the network via ethernet (LAN). It cannot be plugged into the Time Capsule's USB port.
Will I be able to add this drive and get Time Capsule (and even Time Machine) to "play nice" with it? Can I even set the Time Machine on each computer to back up to this drive?
Or should I just sell the ReadyNAS and get a USB drive that will work with the time capsule?
Finally, there are only 3 ethernet ports on the TC. Can I add a switch?
Thanks for any help anyone can offer,
Shawn

BroncoCountry wrote:
Will I be able to add this [NAS] drive and get Time Capsule (and even Time Machine) to "play nice" with it? Can I even set the Time Machine on each computer to back up to this drive?
It's reasonable to expect your NAS drive to work when connected to your Time Capsule network. However, it will be difficult for you to use it for Time Machine backups. Apple only supports Time Machine network backups to the disk in a Time Capsule.
It's easy to have multiple computers backing up via Time Machine to the same Time Capsule.
Or should I just sell the ReadyNAS and get a USB drive that will work with the time capsule?
That's up to you. Keep in mind that Apple still doesn't want you to use that USB drive for Time Machine backups.
Finally, there are only 3 ethernet ports on the TC. Can I add a switch?
Yes.

Wish List for Time Capsule

Ok - its not working well at moment.
Lots of people are having problems - part of the fun of trying new stuff - it will hopefully get better though mobileme runs the risk of not being all its made out to be
I do like - the dual bands, the guest wireless etc and in the excitement of trying to get these all working i've forgotten why i didnt buy the old time capsule and wonder why i bought the new one when what i really wanted was:
1. centralised always on iTunes Server for my network with UPnP connection as well so i can use an old netgear player i got off ebay
2. a wake on lan function so that i didnt need to leave my mac on all the time and could sleep it - i could then connect to my TC and wake my mac (hopefully mobileme would do all this automatically for me perhaps without even waking the screen)
3. remote FTP access
4. personal webserver
5. access to the files on my TC from the web version of mobileme and from my iphone a la mobile files app
6 possibly some sort of integration with an apple tv (may do this already havent looked into)
Strangely a lot of this appears possible from a drobo or a linksys media hub etc
will firmware upgrades enable TC to do these????
Feel free to comment or add wishes

anybody thought about nr 3 vs. mobile me
Ein Schelm wer Böses dabei denkt...

Any way to back up Time Capsule with Time Machine?

Im now using my time capsule as a normal external drive and using a drobo for time machine...but it isnt backing up everything on my time capsule. Is there a way of making it do so? Cheers

also its a bit of a pain when time machine is supposed to back up everything automatically
Time Machine does do a pretty decent job of backing up "everything" BUT it was only designed to do so from either the Mac's internal hard drive or an external USB/Firewire drive attached directly to it. Unfortunately, it was not intended to backup from other sources (including network drives.) Apple did include the Archive feature so that you could "archive" the Time Capsule as an additional backup safety measure.

Time Capsule? Drobo, ReadyNAS???

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