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Time Capsule - 1 TB

Great...except for the short lifespan

Written by SG from Costa Mesa

Oct 20, 2009

I loved the function, wireless ease of use and simplicity, at least when it worked. Alas, mine died after approximately 18 months of service. Not what I'd consider acceptable for something you'd expect to be heavy-duty since it's advertised as having a "server-grade" hard drive.

C'mon Apple, we expect better.

695 of 796 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Unreliable

Written by LM from Oklahoma City

Oct 21, 2009

I used it as an external drive I had LOTS OF INFO in it and it quit working. i LOST EVERYYHING. If the internal drive crashes there is no way of fixing it

657 of 758 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Warning - check your part number.

Written by SW from Washington

Oct 21, 2009

I purchased TC last Sat (17Oct09). Got it home and couldn't get the main network to work but the guest network was ok. Reset machine several times etc. but finally called Apple Support. Was informed that this was a "known problem" with no fix except to DISABLE the guest network and then only use the main network. This worked. However, the TC would not backup my 2nd PC (MBP).

Further investigation online and I discovered that a NEW release of the TC Device on 20 October has a DIFFERENT part number than the previous Time Capsules and supposedly is faster and fixes some of the problems. The part number for the old TC Device is MB765LL/A, the new one is MC343LL/A. (Available on 20OCT)

Hey Apple - you really did a disservice to those of us who purchased the old MB765LL/A version of TC (defective) just 2 days before release of an "updated/upgraded" MC343LL/A device. Especially with the previous device having such a known defect. Who is making your business decisions these days? This wasn't handled well.

158 of 165 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Great idea but flawed design

Written by RS from Sidcup

Oct 27, 2009

Fantastic functionality but my 500Gb version failed recently after just 19 months. You would do well to search the web regarding dead time capsules before considering a purchase - you will see that I'm not alone!

143 of 148 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

14 months of solid performance - and then it died

Written by RH from Wilton

Oct 26, 2009

Easy to use, easy to set up and a good solution for my multi-mac household. But...

I was disappointed to see that my 500gb time capsule failed after 14 months of use.
This seems like terrible quality for a hard drive or a wifi router, in fact both of those are
probably fine. Likely the power supply is the problem

Having a backup device that is less reliable than your laptop isn't much of a safety net.

132 of 135 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

A rare thing from Apple: a poor product.

Written by BW from Woodside

Oct 23, 2009

I'm a huge Apple fan, and own many Apple products - I'm typing this in my new MacBook Pro, and my office is an all-Mac environment.

But the Time Capsule, as great an idea as it is, just simply isn't reliable. I've owned two - one at the office and one at home - and we finally gave up on both of them. We went back to a conventional WiFi router with a separate conventional drive for data backup.

Time Capsule is such a great idea, but if you surf around the various online forums you'll see that many of us have had similar disappointing experiences. I suspect that Apple will eventually re-engineer and re-release this product, because I have to believe that they are well aware that its performance doesn't live up to their own high standards.

141 of 154 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Great... at first!

Written by TS from Melbourne

Oct 27, 2009

I did order the original TimeCapsule (think this is the 3rd generation?) and loved it's ease of set up and the way it kept track of backups. But it died 2 months out of warrantee from power supply issues and the unit is non-serviceable! Not good enough Apple, sorry.

118 of 122 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Was great and usefull .. Now it's Junk

Written by AS from Encinitas

Nov 10, 2009

Woke up one morning .. And poof
no more timecapsule ..
It just stopped working
probably had it near 18 months
( just like everybody else )
masive FAIL ! Skip this product !
i love apple stuff .. But c'mon !
Get with the program apple !

113 of 119 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Dead TC 1TB

Written by HW from DAYTONA BEACH

Nov 12, 2009

Purchased my time capsule Mar 8, 2008. Went to check mail this morning and the TC was dead. Had to get my airport extreme out which is still working. Wonder how many thousands of units have failed. At least mine worked for 20 months! Apple needs to take care of this problem. $500.00 for 20 months of backup comes out to $25.00/mo and now I can't get the data if I needed it.

109 of 114 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Dead after 18 months

Written by DH from Cambridge

Oct 26, 2009

I would give this product three stars for doing what I expect it to;

- provide a secure wireless network for 10 computers
- attach a USB printer
- backup computers
- share files
- Gigabit Ethernet (for your first backup)

I would give it an extra star for making all these functions easy to use.

So why did I get it a single star ? Because it has been sitting on the floor slowly cooking (case temp of 70 Celsius, the case IS plastic...) and eventually giving up the ghost.

Apple will give me a new unit, but they won't recover my data from the old unit. Eventually, I popped the case and fixed it myself. I left the rubber base off and it now runs at around 50 Celsius.

I won't buy another unless Apple can guarantee they have updated the design to avoid this overheating issue.

106 of 111 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Your data WILL be lost!

Written by PD from Brooklyn

Nov 11, 2009

After approximately 18 month of use my 1TB TC just simply...died. I am one of the lucky few that purchased AppleCare along with the TC and a Macbook Air and was covered for replacement. But all the data that was supposedly secure on this "network server" is lost. This problem has been noted by over ONE THOUSAND TC owners. Buyer Beware!!!

104 of 110 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Another dead time capsule

Written by EH from Fort Wayne

Nov 3, 2009

My time capsule died the other day after 19 months. This is pretty dismal for a backup device which you would expect to be extremely reliable...

100 of 107 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Lasts only 18 months

Written by AS from New York

Nov 11, 2009

It seemed to backup fine, but after 18 months, the power supply died. Apparently it takes an electronics hobbyist to replace. Apparently this is a prevalent issue due to the lack of necessary cooling in the device. I haven't heard that they've fixed things in the latest model since they apparently have not decided to recognize that an issue exists. So you have to decide if it's worth $300 for 18 months of use.

96 of 103 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Another one bites the dust

Written by TL from San Diego

Nov 15, 2009

Just like the previous reviews my 1 TB Time Capsule has died, no warning, dead on 11/13/09. I have had this thing for just over 12 months. So that works out to be over $35/month and the data is lost!!! Not good for me and NOT GOOD FOR APPLE. APPLE needs to take care of this problem.
I expected reliability and performance from this product for many years. Not this! Very disappointed.

86 of 90 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Time Capsule died - RIP

Written by OK from Berlin

Nov 13, 2009

Mine died today...Friday 13th.....
This is the worst Apple Product ever !

102 of 123 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Died after 14 months

Written by JP from Huntersville

Oct 23, 2009

It is true. Mine just died. I liked it so much while it worked, that I am buying the 2TB model, so I hope it doesn't die too.
JP

94 of 107 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

another time capsule victim (think Logan's Run)

Written by GG from New York

Oct 26, 2009

If you touch this thing after it runs for a while you'll know somethings wrong...it runs very hot...very hot to the touch. So like that old frightful movie Logan's Run my light stopped blinking (in the movie it starts blinking and then you know your dead). My time capule died after a year and a half. Absolutely would not recommend this to anyone.

83 of 86 people found this useful

Time Capsule - 1 TB

Died after warranty expired

Written by EB from Park Ridge

Nov 3, 2009

I had some initial trouble setting up Time Capsule, then it started working. After about 13 months, backups stopped working altogether, but after restoring to factory defaults and reformating the internal drive using Airport Utility, it started working flawlessly—until a couple of days ago. Then it was hit by what looks to be a design defect that has affected thousands of Time Capsules, and it died. It won't power up and all of my backups are gone. Stay away from this product, at least until Apple acknowledges the problem and decides to do something about it.

85 of 92 people found this useful