Apple Timecapsule replacement

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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Years ago I bought a TimeCapsule as a dedicated Time Machine backup and WiFi repeater. It was 2nd hand and surprisingly cheap. Now it has failed. So I've kind of lost every backup ever (again - cheers Apple) and also have some dead hardware.

Any recommendations for a replacement? I don't fancy paying £349 for a pretty one since it will go in a cupboard.

Must haves:
  • Gigabit port
  • NO fan - really I can't stress this enough - it must run silently
  • min 2TB storage
  • Not made by LaCie
Should haves
  • 3TB storage
Could haves
  • WiFi extender
  • Dual drives with RAID 1
Obviously I want it to cost less than £349 as I don't think Apple's new one is actually a bad product just overpriced ;)
 
ecoleman said:
Any external hard drive/NAS as long as you don't need the router part of it
Click to expand...

Yep. Apart from the fanless think (which is really rare). Any recommendations?

Oh, I should also add "not Buffalo". Hate Buffalo.....
 
Once every while, you can get a good deal on Apple Time capsule in their refurbished store for £149 for 2TB version. The HD inside can be easily upgraded to 5TB or so. I think at that price the value is good.

Or check on eBay. I bought a seller refurbished TC in like new condition for about £100 in auction.

The current gen. hasn't been refreshed for a while, but it is till vey good, rock solid and it still gets security patches unlike many Chinese brands that leave your network insecure as they keep putting millions of new models every year without properly maintaining old ones. There are about two-three grave critical security bugs in Linux every year, so getting a properly maintained device is very important.

The old time capsules had a design issue - inadequate cooling that eventually lead to power supply failure. That's what probably happened to you. The new model (802.11ac tower) is free of that.
 
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Thanks @mpe some really good points there. Apart from the fact that I always knew it was going to die because of the heating fault I've been very happy with the TC. It always powers on after a power cut and has great wifi - it's just been rock solid for years until it died. CEX will sell me a warrantied 2TB for £160 so if they really have fixed the heat problem I'll probably go for that.

slt_roopan said:
just curious...why did you say no LaCie ?
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I've suffered with their HDs before. Very pretty designs at a high price (like an Apple wannabe...) but often with cheap components and internal issues such as gluing connectors in place. If an external drive fails then the odds are good I can get the data off it (unscrew, drop in new caddy and if it isn't the drive I'll be up and running). If it's a LaCie then in general the odds are bad.
 
So now I'm utterly sick of Apple.

TimeCapsule arrives - looks pretty. Obviously no instructions. Hook it up to the network and follow Apple's patronising online instructions "just plug it in and we'll do the rest! If you need any more help see the guide." Well, it doesn't do the rest and they didn't bother to tell anybody where the guide was. So I have to go hunting on the internet.

Do a factory reset (srsly, you have to push a button on the back with a paperclip while plugging a wire into the back and then watch for a little light ON THE FRONT to change colour - idiots). Plug it into the Mac - AirPort finds it but it won't allow me to add it to the existing network - every time I try it says it's going to, I click next and then it tries to create a new network. Plug it directly into the router and AirPort can't even find it. And if it can't find it, I can't configure it. Sweet.

Really, all I ever wanted to do was back up my Mac. Now I have an expensive paperweight, less money and a business machine that hasn't been backed up in 18 days. Oh and no time to fix it, obvs.
 
Ah, an hour or so of getting downer and dirtier with DHCP and network settings than I ever thought I would need to since abandoning PCs and it practically works! I mean, one of my Sonos devices won't stay on the network but I guess that's a small price to pay..... /irony.

As a hint to anybody following this path, all that advertising hype that you can use a TC to extend a network is "pure advertising hyperbole and in no way to be taken literally". Basically, if you have a Apple only network (srsly, apart from Tim Cook - who does?) then you can use this to embiggen it. For the rest of us, it's just a tease......
 
JonathanRyan said:
Ah, an hour or so of getting downer and dirtier with DHCP and network settings than I ever thought I would need to since abandoning PCs and it practically works! I mean, one of my Sonos devices won't stay on the network but I guess that's a small price to pay..... /irony.

As a hint to anybody following this path, all that advertising hype that you can use a TC to extend a network is "pure advertising hyperbole and in no way to be taken literally". Basically, if you have a Apple only network (srsly, apart from Tim Cook - who does?) then you can use this to embiggen it. For the rest of us, it's just a tease......
Click to expand...
You've just expressed all my frustrations over the last week. I've had a time capsule for about 18 months and never got it working for the reasons you stated. Last week decided I was being daft and would set it up, but it's far from simple and the extended network is a complete marketing fallacy. Its working on my Macbook air now, but whereas I thought it was also backing up my iMac (with all my photos and the reason I bought it), turns out it still isn't connecting, so need to investigate that now. I'm a massive Apple fan, but my patience is being tested.
 
TL;DR: Apple really suck at networking stuff. They have many incredible strengths but they really really suck at networking. Most of the biggest fubars in new OS releases recently have been in the network area.
 
BTW @Giles2373 the way I eventually got it to work was to set it up wrongly so it works - that allows you access to a different config panel. Then you can tinker with DHCP and all sorts of fun stuff that the initial wizard hides from you.
 
JonathanRyan said:
BTW @Giles2373 the way I eventually got it to work was to set it up wrongly so it works - that allows you access to a different config panel. Then you can tinker with DHCP and all sorts of fun stuff that the initial wizard hides from you.
Click to expand...
Yep ,the initial wizard seems to give you nothing!
 
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