Reviews for Time Capsule - 2 TB

I read all of the bad reviews but my experience is different. I had one of the older 500gb units in service for 3-4 years of continuous use in a homne office environment with lots of users. It failed today, probably a power supply, and I freaked when I saw the reviews about speed and other problems. I was using my first Time Capsule for back-ups of a MacBook and a MacBook Pro, as a network for internet (including a hard-wire to my BluRay DVD player), a networked printer, and a network drive to share files between my MacBooks and an old Dell Dimension B110 that I still use. I also had the Time Capsule networked with an AirPort Express and an AirPort Extreme to extend my network around my property. I never had any problems until it just suddenly died--probably a power supply.

I bought the 2TB Time Capsule at the local store, brought it home, hooked it up just like my old TC, plugged it in and it immediately re-created my network complete with all passwords and settings. All of my computers logged in without a problem, the network printer worked immediately from all computers with no tweaks as if nothing had changed. I even have a security cam on the network wirelessly (that was almost impossible to get connected initially since it was made for a PC environment and has a kazillion little settings that must be set perfectly). The only issue I had was with the Dell not accessing the network drive (though it logged onto the network with no problems), but this was because the shared folder name was different on the new TC than it was on the old TC so the Dell did not recognize the new folder--that was an easy fix.

My old TC was a bit slower for internet (I have Exede Satellite with 12 mps down) than with the modem connected directly to my MacBook Pro (a difference you could notice, but not enough to outweigh the benefits of a network but it did slwo my speeds), but I never had problems with dropped connections. I was able to compare speeds on the new TC by surfing with a direct connection and then a few minutes later connected to the TC and there is not a noticeable difference in speed from a direct connection so the newer TC is noticeably faster than my old one. It is true with my old TC that if there is a back-up going on in the background speeds slow since the TC is in use, but I haven't been able to check this out yet on the new TC.

I know from experience that almost every problem I have ever had with any of my AirPorts or TC's has been settings that I had wrong or firmware updates that needed to be done via my computer with the utility software. This is especially true if you have more than one unit in use as part of the same network like I do--they must all match firmware versions or they are buggy. I have had this network with Panther, Leopard, Snow Leopard and now Lion and have no problems at all. I also have lots of house guests who use PC's and none of them have any problem getting onto or staying on my network which is secure with a password and not open.

If you have a small business like me and need to be able to install or get back up and running quickly and easily without hiring someone who knows what they are doing, then Time Capsule is classic Mac--just plug and play. I do wish my old TC had lasted longer, but given that it ran 24/7/365 for at least 5 years I can't complain (and the Airport Extreme I am using is what I had before I bought my first TC--I didn't want to throw it out so I just used it to extend my network--and it is still running.

45 of 54 people found this useful

I read a dozen reviews and a lot of them said negative things about how the box drops the connection. I decided to try out the Time Capsule for myself and within TWO days I'm already starting to have issues. If anyone reading this has one PC in their home then do NOT BUY THIS ITEM! I have almost all Mac computers but my Fiance has a Dell, when she connects she can barely get online half of the time. I have spoken with Apple and there is nothing they can do about the issue, the posts online that I have found about the issue all say Apple has to update the firmware to fix the issue which they have not done since 2011. Please Please Please take my advice and do your research first, you don't have to go much further than just typing in "Time Capsule drops internet connection", you will see how many issues they are having. Another thing, god forbid you try and backup your computer or transfer a file to the Time Capsule, it KILLS the internet!

77 of 112 people found this useful

I got my 2TB time capsule about a month ago for my 64GB MacBook Air 2011 and it saved me I got all my files on the time capsule so I don't really worry about running out of space with all my stuff on the time capsule I can delete big apps without having to download them again if I needed to use them

0 of 1 people found this useful

Have the 500gb version for 4 years ...still working and very useful as a wireless bridge in a 4 story house.
Easy to use and setup .

23 of 26 people found this useful

Excellent and seamless use with set up and time machine on OSX Lion as well significantly improved internet speeds over old Linksys router

31 of 34 people found this useful

I bought one of these but it died after 18 months. It was an expensive purchase and it did offer a fairly seamless operation with my other apple products. Value for money has to be just 1 star. There are cheaper alternatives these days. The other limitation I found is that this does not grow with your needs and once you have out grown the internal storage, then you need to purchase an external drive, which then makes your time capsule obsolete. Given that storage capacities grow so quickly, it makes the time capsule a short term backup solution.

35 of 46 people found this useful

This product worked for a week, and then all my backups started to fail. It is the worst Apple product ever made. Total headache. If you want to safely backup your MacBooks, I go with a non-Apple product on that one.

52 of 117 people found this useful

Bought a time capsule last year to work with my mobile/wireless/broadband and had to return it as Time Capsule MUST BE PLUGGED IN via Ethernet cable. Hopefully one day they will design a unit that's wireless as well. Since upgrading my modem to a gateway after that, I decided to buy a 2nd Time Capsule as my devices were bogging up my internet and had to reset my modem every 2nd day! Once I configured my new gear and hooked up via Ethernet cable, I can now run all my devices without any interference in the internet and I'm able to back up my whole computer (software and all) for future transfers to a new laptop or peace of my mind for my small business. Well done Apple, however looking forward to the wireless version.

Also, in future it would be great to watch movies or listen to music via my Apple TV by wi-fi connecting to my Time Capsule with out having to run a computer at the same time! Let's see what they make next...

4 of 5 people found this useful

Hardware and software both riddled with flaws that apple never seem to address. Buy something else

4 of 4 people found this useful

The idea of having a wireless router and a NAS in one device is pretty compelling, I thought of buying one and carry my home network whenever I travel from place to place.

In reality it doesn't work as a wi-fi bridge with non-apple devices. So if you move into a hotel or a condo with wi-fi only network, you're out of luck. Yes you can join it to the same network, but as hotel networks usually quite slow you can't normally access the time capsule via it.

Also doesn't support 3G modems and so on.

Better by some linux based zyxel router + USB disk. that will be much more flexible and cost you less.

1 of 3 people found this useful