Reviews for Time Capsule - 2TB

These boxes are "pretty good".

High notes:
- Very easy to setup
- Flawless Wifi usage. Fast too.
- Built in Hard disk is very convenient.
- Apple Time Machine backup software works perfectly with it.
- Super Quiet and very small footprint.

Low notes:
- Very slow for network storage, even wired via Ethernet.
- Sealed unit with no vents. Why? These things get HOT!
- 1 died, but Apple replaced it without needing the old one back (Free 1TB HD!)

I highly recommend these boxes for Wifi + Backup + Ease + HD Convenience, but if you want a fast external hard disk the G-Technology boxes sold from Apple are better and faster, but of course you pay for that speed.

I had two Iomega network drives that each died after about a year. When the 3rd was DOA, I decided to spend the extra money and try the time capsule. Setup was much easier and so far (one year later) its still working fine. I wish it was possible to add a drive to incrase capacity, but so far no complaints. I can see the drive from all my devices (laptop, desktop, iphone and ipad). Perfromance is not great, but as good as the Iomega. Wireless range is much better than my previous G router and I like the guest function. I would recommend and will but another when this one dies.

I bought this product 4 months ago. I've been extremely pleased so far ;) . I got multiple deviices like iPads, apple Tvs, Mac books and they work great around the house. Even the 2 Nest thermostats access without a problem.

Now, I will restore a backup to a new MacBook Pro tomorrow so we will see how it goes.

The Time Capsule (2nd gen.) power supply went belly up one month short of th 3 year anniversary. Apple did replace the failed unit with overrnight delivery. That's the good news. The bad news is the 3 years of backups went out the window because Apple has no service for moving the data between the two units. I am using an external disk for my backups for now on. I'll use the internal disk for typical use and backup to the external USB drive.

I just installed my Time Capsule. The initial setup didn't go as smooth as I expected. following the instructions I connected all my ethernet items and the ethernet from the modem then plugged in the power. I elected to use the wireless to complete the setup. I had de-powered the modem as directed and there is no modem battery.

Initially, the router worked but no internet connection. I replaced the cable from the modem (which had worked a few minutes earlier with my Linksys router). I could get internet and wireless connections but no ethernet connections. The setup onscreen prompted me to set up the airport extreme but no the time capsule? I did a soft reset then I could get ethernet internet but no wireless. Just the opposite from the original power up. I finally did a hard reset, started over and got the time machine setup.

Then it went more smoothly. I did notice a check box if I wanted to name the 5GHz connection separate from the 2.4GHz connection. I elected that but there was no supporting documentation about making the selection.

So I have 2 networks available - the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz. There is still a open network for setup that I have not setup. When I choose it, the setup wants to setup Airport Extreme but I don't have Airport Extreme - Only time machine? Anyway, once setup it works well. Doing I get very good speed checks on both my iPhone and Mac Book Pro.

I have a mixed Mac/PC environment. I wanted something simple for the Mac users, and a better wireless network, so I went with this instead of separate devices. The unit works very well, the wireless is pretty fast, and it's easy enough to set up. Having one box on the counter top is pretty nice, compared to three boxes that I had before. The wireless router has gigabit ports, which would cost you around $80-100 in a separate router. Some people mention limited setup options for the wireless network, but I was able to set up the features I needed fairly easily.

Now for the limitations:
1. The drive is formatted as FAT32, not NTFS. I know this is due to limitations of the MacOS, but the result is that a lot of small files will take up a large amount of disk space, due to the drive addressing. You may find that your 2TB drive may only be able to store as much as a 1 TB drive formatted with NTFS, but YMMV depending on the file size. Large files (like media) will not be much of an issue.
2. You have to put the AirPort Utility software on each PC that you want to connect. I know it's not that big a deal, but nowhere in the setup instructions is this little tidbit mentioned.
3. There is no automated backup software included with PCs. Of course, you can use many other software backup solutions and configure the Time Capsule drive as the backup destination, so this is not that big a deal.
4. The wireless router does not offer WEP as a security choice, so if you have an older device that does not support WPA or WPA2 (for example, some Nintendo Game Boy and DS models fall into this category), then you are basically hosed. You would have to attach a second wireless access point to your network and configure it for the WEP parameters you want. It has been argued for some time that WEP should be dropped due to insecurity, but this may just push everyone to replace their older devices more quickly.

I have only owned this for a short while, so I can't comment on whether it can be used as a DLNA server or other stuff like that.
If you like simple stuff, with easy setup (like most Apple products), then this may be a good choice for you. If you like going under the hood, or like to experiment, and you have some PCs or other devices on your network, then there may be better choices for you.

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.

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.

The Time Capsule, in combination with the Time Machine software, works well for keeping all your Mac files backed up. I've been using it for just over a month, and twice I have been able to restore files (from an hour before) that I couldn't have before. The wireless router works well too. I have the unit on the top floor of a two story house that also has a basement. Signal is good on all levels, although the outside patio comes and goes sometimes. I could probably solve that by relocating the unit and my cable modem. There may be a cheaper way to accomplish these two tasks, but there are probably none this easy.