Time Capsule - 2TB

Reviews for Time Capsule - 2TB

Customer Reviews and Ratings

3.0 out of 5 stars

Based on 250 reviews

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    My iMac was stolen

    • Written by from northfield

    I have had the time capsule for a while and it worked fine as a wireless router. Two days ago we had a break in and my iMac,iPhones and several other items were stolen. I was very concerned that family photos were lost and that I would be spending countless hours getting everything back to where it was. The time capsule saved me. I was able to get my new iMac and iPhone back to where they were with minimal effort. Be sure to put it somewhere where it won't get stolen with your computer.

    3201 of 3407 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Time Capsule hits the sweet spot

    • Written by from Pembroke Pines

    I've been through external hard drives and USB flash drives, but they just weren't doing it for me. I did not want a hard drive connected next to my computer all the Time for automatic Time Machine backups. If I just wanted to drag and drop my files to a USB flash drive (or hard drive), I would have to do it after every iTunes song I download or after every picture I upload.

    It just felt highly impractical, so I decided to go with Time Capsule for the above reasons. Setup is very quick. It recognized my previous Airport Extreme configuration and passwords, so I really did not have to set up anything. Initial backup took about 45 minutes for about 20GB. After that, it's seamless. I really don't use Time Machine, because I primarily wanted a device that backs up for me in an easy-to-use way. Although having Time Machine is great for those times where you need to recover something you lost.

    Time Capsule also has a great design. I love the silver Apple logo.

    I have not noticed any jump in range or performance with this new 2TB Time Capsule compared to my last-generation Airport Extreme. The range may be slightly better, but if it is, it isn't that noticeable.

    You cannot beat this setup for backing up.

    As with all Apple products, 5/5

    1442 of 1586 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Time Capsule is Great

    • Written by from Aliso Viejo

    Almost everything works like you would imagine it would... back up's are stored perfectly, and Time Machine makes finding back ups soooo simple! The only 2 negative things i have to say our...

    1. If you don't back up in the last 10 days (example, going on a trip, visiting a relatives house, or what ever)... so if you don't back up in 10 days your back up is going to be hard to reconnect with your Mac, for some reason if you don't back up within 10 days, you must verify the entire Back Up, and during this process you might be prompted to start all over (which means you loose all your previous back up, and you have to create a fresh one from your existing mac).

    2. You can only back up through your own Time Capsule wifi network. It would be so much better if you could back up over the internet, from anywhere (If you fix this problem, this would solve problem 1). There are work arounds, but that requires you have DNS.... I don't want a complicated work around, I want it so it "just works".

    1358 of 1535 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Awesome until it wasn't

    • Written by from Deerfield

    Review is for the 1TB model.

    I raved and raved about how awesome this product was...until it just died. Checked Apple Forums to discover the problem was very common. Less than three years old with plenty of space remaining on the hard drive. Now cannot access any of my backed up documents.

    VERY DISAPPOINTING FOR AN APPLE PRODUCT! Just unacceptable for an external backup drive.

    257 of 283 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Short lifespan

    • Written by from Gilbert

    I paid the extra money for a Time Capsule because I do not like junk. I am very disappointed. The Time Capsule began powering off on its own a year ago, it would then need to be manually restarted. Now it has powered off and will not restart. After searching on-line for a solution it appears that this is a major issue for all Time Capsules. I am now outside the warranty period, and I am stuck with a Time Capsule paper weight. It is very disappointing! Research the Time Capsule before spending the money.

    234 of 258 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Awful. Do not buy.

    • Written by from BRAY

    It was nice while it worked. However, my Time Capsule stopped working after about 18 months. Apple refused to replace it or fix it.

    249 of 289 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Dead after 18 months

    • Written by from Mililani

    This is my second time capsule that has died after 18 months. Apple needs to do something about this product. I don't think it is a coincidence. It is annoying that is dies just out of warranty. I have had a linksys router for over 7 years and it is still running strong with heavy daily use.

    215 of 241 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Two Stars for 2 Years!

    • Written by from Aventura

    This morning, my Time Capsule (where I keep all of my music files) stopped working. No noise no explosion, no talking message, the TC just stopped. That was after only 2 years. I had 380 GB of commercial music that I produced, wiped out! Wait, it gets worse.....THAT WAS THE SECOND TIME! Almost like clockwork, I had a first generation which crapped out after 26 months, and this morning, a 500GB 3rd generation TC bit the dust; which was replaced under warranty. My mother always told me "First Time, shame on them" , "Second time, shame on ME!". Do I roll the dice with a 100 dollar coupon that Apple was nice enough to email me? Or 2 years from now I write another paragraph about how it failed and I'm a moron? Somebody please give me your opinion? Please?

    198 of 224 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Best solution for backups, period. Not as great for networking.

    • Written by from Sherman Oaks

    I purchased this because (1) I wanted to use it to back up my laptop wirelessly and effortlessly, and (2) I needed a good solution to store my iPhoto and iTunes libraries. For option (1) there is really no better solution. You plug it in, it shows up immediately on your computer. Click a few buttons and overnight (a few hours) it completes the first backup. After that, it's essentially a set it and forget it device which will always have me up to date. Awesome.

    For option (2), I wanted to take advantage of the "wireless drive sharing" feature which is advertised right on the page in the apple store. I wanted to put my iPhoto and iTunes libraries on the Time Capsule and access them remotely so they wouldn't hog up space on my older Mac Book with a small hard drive. Here is where the Time Capsule is not-so-awesome. Despite the advertisement, it is not really setup to do this. Some issues to be aware of:

    1. You cannot partition the hard drive to use part as a backup and part for storage. (There is a workaround to this but it is not a true partition).
    2. It will not backup that data! (It doesn't back up to itself, if that makes sense.) If you use it in this way, your photos and music will not be backed up!
    3. There are some potential risks with accessing the iPhoto library remotely which could corrupt (i.e. ruin) some of your photos (or even the library itself).

    If you want for only backup, it's the best. If you are also looking to access it routinely as a remote drive, there are possibly better solutions.

    174 of 183 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Stopped working right after warranty was up

    • Written by from Westbrook

    So right after the warranty is up, the drive quits, won't backup the computer, can't access files anymore, etc. I thought I was the only one, but after reading the reviews below, I think this is one of Apple's mistakes....Now I have a $300 wireless adapter and no workable drive. Don't buy it.

    177 of 194 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Older generations shouldn't review!

    • Written by from BROOKLYN

    The only bad reviews I see on here are from people with older generations of time capsule. This time capsule (5th generation) has only been out 5 months or so. So everyone saying it only last 12-18 months are talking about older versions. Those reviews do not apply to here. I understand the frustration but I would hope Apple has addressed this issue with this new version. I will report back in a couple of years to let you know if there are any problems with this version.

    Oh yeah, BTW: Time Capsule is awesome!

    170 of 201 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Best investment in computer equipment...

    • Written by from SHEBOYGAN FALLS

    Money well spent...I have had my Time Capsule 500GB since early introduction and I LOVE it. It has worked flawlessly and effortlessly in the background since purchased. I recently purchased a new MacBook Pro Retina and after 2 weeks with the new computer it had some kind of an issue and it dumped all the files I had worked on for the last 2 weeks, including fonts I had installed, emails and some other stored data. I was so simple to retrieve the information I needed from my Time Capsule. I plan to purchase a new, 2TB Time Capsule this week and give my old one to my son. Thanks Apple!

    143 of 153 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    The best investment I made since buying a computer!

    • Written by from Charlotte Hall

    I've owned Apple computers since the old Mac Classic days and have gone through many operating systems. Suffice it to say that I've also experienced a number of crashes requiring reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling everything either from a backup or one-by-one. It's always been a horrible experience. A little more than a month ago I upgraded my iMac to Mountain Lion. Short story there is that the install caused a catastrophic loss of data and, again, I was forced to wipe the drive and begin again. I always found excuses not to use Time Machine and not to purchase a Time Capsule, but after my last upgrade disaster, I decided to take the plunge. A week ago Apple issued a product recall on my iMac because the boot drive suffered a manufacturing defect and was likely to fail, so I was faced with another experience of starting from scratch. Today I picked up my iMac and when I booted it at home I used the Mountain Lion recovery partition to access Time Machine, restoring everything to my computer from my Time Capsule. Four hours later, voila! It was as if nothing had happened. I didn't have to reinstall anything, and everything worked perfectly. It was as if nothing ever happened! It was the easiest and best experience I've had with a critical computer problem. I highly recommend the Time Capsule. Buy it. Use it. Don't be without it. I'm using it to back up my Macbook Pro and my iMac. Now I definitely have peace of mind.

    136 of 142 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Longevity an issue

    • Written by from Greensboro

    Worked well until it died. Did not make it 2 years. Unable to recover data now.

    147 of 166 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    I hate to write a BAD review about apple....

    • Written by from Miami

    ... but here it goes. I loved my time capsule. I got a new mac and the process of uploading all my info (250 GB) was flawless and wireless. Of course this process took place before it stopped working. I took it to the apple store and the genius person there told me that unless mine qualified for a recall (due to a problem in the power supply) there was nothing he (apple) could do. It didn't qualify. So now I'm stuck with a huge white paper weight. So I'm thinking of getting myself a Airport Extreme (I'm still an Apple fan) and connecting a HD to it.

    137 of 150 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Don't expect Longevity

    • Written by from Ellicott City

    This was a great product until the power supply stopped working all together. Expect it to last a year or two.

    159 of 194 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Don't buy this product, it will break

    • Written by from Brooklyn

    The power supply broke on me after about 12-14 months and now I'm stuck with a $400 brick (and no router!). Apple can't perform any data extraction - they'll only replace the broken gear. This is apparently a more-than-common manufacturing flaw and I would avoid Time Capsule at all costs.

    157 of 192 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    New Purchase

    • Written by from Dutch Harbor

    I cannot speak to longevity/service life of this device at this time since it is brand new. What I can say is that I was extremely impressed with how easy the setup was. I was able to extend my wireless coverage by asking it to mimic my current Airport Extreme. I could have chosen to do it via wireless or via cat5... i chose cat5, but it looks like wireless would have been just as easy. I now have better wireless coverage, as well as 4 switch ports in the bedroom for wired devices. I have set it up to serve up my USB printer as well. Again... very easy. Lastly, both my Macs are now backing up to the device, which was by far the easiest backup solution I have ever seen. I have been in IT for 15 years and setup and managed Backup Exec servers. I have never seen anything as easy as this.

    The only reason why this device does not have 5 stars, and this is more of a general gripe with Apple than issue with this product...
    I bought the 2TB version because I could not justify a 66% cost increase for 50% more storage. 3 TB drives are NOT $200 more expensive than 2TB drives. Apple really screws us on these types of upgrades; be it RAM, solid state capacity, or HD capacity. This happens across all their product lines, and it is my only complaint with Apple.

    129 of 137 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Fool Me Twice

    • Written by from New York

    Second time capsule to break down after ~18 months, limited warranty only extends for 1 year. Very frustrating experience. Not doing it again and wouldn't recommend it over cheaper, more reliable alternatives.

    135 of 151 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Incredible Value & Extremely Fast!

    • Written by from Olive Branch

    I'm a professional photographer with three Macs in my studio and a pc. Before I purchased the Time Capsule I was using an Airport Extreme dual-band. Since my place is two stories, I was also using an Airport Express to expand my network downstairs, basically because my old Airport Extreme did NOT send signal through both floors. The 4th Gen Time Capsule absolutely covers both floors and I no longer need the Airport Express. That's pretty impressive in itself. I currently have the 4th Gen Time Capsule connected to two quad-core iMacs with Cat6 gigabit cables, and the connection is fast! Super fast. Basically as fast as USB 2, not quite as fast as Firewire 800. The 2TB hard drive inside the Time Capsule allows me to share huge galleries between all the computers in my studio. It's certainly a lot more convenient than moving external hard drives around between computers. With my old Airport Extreme I tried hooking up a 2TB hard drive to the USB port on the back, but the transfer rate was abysmal. The transfer rate from the 4th Gen Time Capsule is soooo much faster and has really solved all our problems.

    I want to take a minute to talk about value. First, think about how much a good dual-band wireless router costs. You can get an average router for $50, a decent one for $100, and a super fast router for $150. The range and speed of the 4th Gen Time Capsule are both comparable to the fastest routers sold by Netgear or Linksys, which by themselves would cost you $150. Now think about how much a 2TB external hard drive costs. You can get one on sale for like $70-90 sometimes, but you often see them for $150. So to reproduce what you get with the 4th Gen Time Capsule, you would have to spend anywhere from $200-$300. Now, how much is the Time Capsule - $300. As you can see, the Time Capsule is an incredible value! But it also gives you some advantages that you can't get if you buy alternative products. For example, the Time Capsule is an all-in-one product so it saves space and looks good sitting on your desk out of the way. Even better, the Time Capsule syncs as a Time Machine with ALL the Macs in your house. Last night my MacBook Pro's Time Machine synced wirelessly with Time Capsule in about 90 minutes, sending a little over 50GB. That's pretty quick for wireless. Over a Cat6 gigabit cable Time Machine basically runs as fast as a USB2 hard drive. The final advantage the Time Capsule gives you is a network hard drive available to all the computers in your home/studio. One hard drive to rule them all. And don't forget, because it's an Apple product, the Time Capsule is incredibly easy to setup. So it's an incredible value: a dual-band router, an external hard drive, a Time Machine for all your Macs, network storage for all your Macs, all-in-one form factor, and easy to setup.

    118 of 121 people found this useful

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