Time Capsule - 3 TB

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Can I use Time Capsule as 1) NAS and / or 2) iTunes server?

So I have a few devices which access the network at home:

- MacBook Pro
- MacBook Air
- iPad 2
- iPhone 4
- Apple TV
- Samsung internet-connected TV
- Playstation 3
- Xbox 360

I'm trying to decide on a single device which can act as an NAS, a single depository for files, and as an iTunes server to use primarily with Apple TV but certainly not limited to this.

Can the Time Capsule function as both, in addition to being the Time Machine back up machine? Neither? Maybe one? No one seems to have a clear answer on this.

Frankly, if it does only Time Machine back ups, I'll be looking elsewhere.

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    You can configure a TC to join an existing network as a client. However, it doesn't work (or least not for all intents and purposes). I bought it for the same purpose, but got shocking performance (< 1MB/sec). I called Apple support and was told that "a TC is not meant to be used in client mode". (If you configure the TC as the base station that provides the network, you get normal performance (better than 15MB/sec).) The recent firmware update (7.6) did not fix the problem, so you effectively cannot use a TC as NAS.

    You don't need to use all of a TC's disk for Time Machine. You can concurrently use it to store other files. (Obviously, the files on the TC won't really be backed up, seeing that they are on the same disk. If the disk dies, you lose those files, even if you back them up on the TC.)

    You can't use a TC as an "iTunes server". But you can tell iTunes to use a TC to store it's files on. Again, if the TC joins an existing wireless network, it will work only very poorly though.

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