Time Capsule - 3TB

Back up a lifetime's worth of memories with Time Capsule, a wireless hard drive that works seamlessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard. It's also a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station with simultaneous dual-band support. Choose from 2TB and 3TB models.
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3.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 33 reviews

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Purchase Information

$499.00

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Features

Automatic backup with Time Machine.

Time Capsule works automatically with Time Machine in OS X Leopard or later to create the perfect no-hassle backup solution. There are no cables, and you can back up all the computers in your home to a central location. New technologies in Time Capsule and refinements to Time Machine make backing up to Time Capsule using Snow Leopard up to 75 percent faster than before.2

Server-grade storage.

The massive 2TB or 3TB server-grade hard drive gives you all the capacity and safety you need for backing up all your Mac computers.

Easy wireless networking.

Connect your DSL or cable modem to Time Capsule, then quickly set it up with the easy-to-use AirPort Utility, which is available as download for both Mac OS X and Windows. In minutes, you and up to 50 others can use your Mac computers or PCs to surf the web, stream video, share photos and more — without wires.3

Simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi.

For maximum range and compatibility, Time Capsule works simultaneously on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, allowing all the devices on the network to use the most efficient band automatically. It uses the latest 802.11n wireless technology, so you can enjoy up to five times the Wi-Fi performance and up to twice the range of 802.11g wireless networks.4

Guest networking

Set up a separate Wi-Fi network with a separate password for your visitors. Simply enable the guest networking feature, and your guests can use the Internet but can’t access other parts of your private network, such as your computers, printers and attached hard drives.

Wireless drive sharing.

Time Capsule also works great as a wireless hard drive, whether you have a Mac or a PC. It sets up in a snap, giving you a networked hard drive you can use for storing and sharing all kinds of files. If you use iCloud Back to My Mac with OS X Lion or later, you can even access the files on the drive over the Internet.

Print without wires.

Print documents, photos and more from any room in your home or office to a central printer connected to Time Capsule via USB. (See system requirements.)

Strong security and access controls.

Protect yourself with the built-in firewall and industry-standard encryption technologies including WPA/WPA2 and 128-bit WEP.

Works with iPad, iPhone, Apple TV and more.

Time Capsule works with Mac computers, PCs, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Apple TV and virtually all 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi wireless devices — all at the same time.

What's in the Box?

  • Time Capsule
  • Printed documentation
  • Power lead

System Requirements

For shared printing:
  • USB printer
  • Mac with Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later
  • PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista; Bonjour for Windows included with AirPort Utility available as a download via Software Update.
For shared hard drive:
  • Mac with Mac OS X v10.4.8 or later
  • PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista; Bonjour for Windows included with AirPort Utility available as a download via Software Update.
For wireless client access:
  • Any Wi-Fi-enabled device that uses the 802.11a/b/g/n specification
For setup and administration:
  • Mac OS X v10.8 or later
  • Windows XP (SP2)/Vista
For Time Machine Backup:
  • Time Machine Backup: Mac with Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard
From an iOS device:
  • An iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 6 or later and the AirPort Utility app

Technical Specifications

Connections
  • Ethernet
  • USB 2.0

Manufacturer

  • (1) 1TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual formatted capacity less.
  • (2) Testing conducted by Apple in October 2009 comparing preproduction Time Capsule (Late 2009) with shipping Time Capsule (Early 2009) units. Testing was conducted on preproduction 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo-based iMac (Late 2009) systems. Performance will vary based on system configuration, network, file sizes, data sets, wireless interference, and other factors. Performance tests are conducted using specific systems and reflect the approximate performance of Time Capsule.
  • (3) Wireless Internet access requires a wireless-enabled computer, a base station or other access point, and Internet access; fees may apply. Some ISPs are not currently compatible with Time Capsule.
  • (4) Performance is based on a comparison with Apple’s 802.11g products.

Ratings & Reviews

3.5

Based on 33 reviews

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Most Useful Reviews

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Easy Setup

    • Written by from FORSYTH

    Just installed mine today. It replaced a two year old 2nd generation time capsule. Set up was a breeze. The initial backup is a bit slow, but I am backing up over 521 gigs. Signal strength appears to be better. …More

    504 of 568 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    A Year ago I gave it one star, but now...

    • Written by from Portland

    A year or so ago I gave the Time Capsule one star because I had a really hard time setting it up for the first three months I had it. I was on the phone with Apple Care people roughly four times to get it all figured out.

    Apple must have changed around the software somewhere because it's way easier to set up now. For about the last year it hasn't given me any troubles, even if the power goes out.     …More

    415 of 469 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Good

    • Written by from New York

    I Just bought it it is really good and easy to be set up , but it was quite expensive ...

    380 of 503 people found this useful

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Most Recent Reviews

  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Review AND Response to Roger J from Black Creek

    • Written by from Desertville

    First the review - Excellent product for seamless simplicity and back-up. It advertises itself as back-up appliance and nothing more or less.
    HOWEVER having a user changeable option would be awesome, something a little larger that has a removable bottom plate to swap out drives and set them in various RAID modes RAID 1, RAID 0 or JBOD for Time machine back-up and be able to use one as a iTunes Server would be awesome!!

    Now to the response:
    Roger J from Black Creek -- it really depends on your router and the configuration you have them set-up in.
    The TIme Capsule is completely capable of extending various networks. you're router needs to be set-up to be extended and the time capsule will need to JOIN that network and then you are able to extend it.     …More

    2 of 3 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Time Capsule 3TB

    • Written by from sherborn

    Apple is losing the war. 4TB drives are common, USB 2.0 is so passe and where is the Thunderbolt for a shared drive? Drag this product, kicking and screaming, into 2012 with some better shared drive capability and some real capacity …More

    12 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Good so far but still lacking some functionality

    • Written by from Black Creek

    Love having a dedicated backup device on the network which is seamless.

    Really not impressed that you can't use it to extend a wireless network with a non-Apple compatible product, at least without having to use an ethernet cable. Now Time Capsule has to live beside my router, negating any wifi usefulness. …More

    14 of 18 people found this useful

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Does the TC store photos in their events or individually?
  • Asked by Kim P from Gold Coast
  • Feb 21, 2013
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