Customer Reviews

Apple Time Capsule MB277LL/A (AirPort Extreme Plus 1 TB Storage)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I purchased the 1 TB Time Capsule to replace my Linksys Router and an external Lacie 500 GB HDD. Setup took about 2 minutes - and I was up and running. It was extremely simple - insert the disk into a drive, install version 5.3 of the AirPort Utility, answer a few questions, and you are up and running - easy as pie.

That said, I have a warning for power users who want more security than a disk password - IE; you use user accounts for file sharing, etc. Instead of following the 'easy' path, you will want to use 'manual setup'. If you initially use the 'easy' setup and want to go back and change from a disk password for security to account security, you will lose any data you have transferred to the disk - that is correct, you will lose any data you have transferred to your disk - for me that was a 7 hour, 350 GB transfer - lesson learned.

I backup two computers via time machine on the Time Capsule - a Mac Mini, and a MacBook Air. They both averaged 25 GB on the first time machine backup, which took about 2.5 hours each via Ethernet - which is another point - you will want to use Ethernet instead of WiFi for your first backup - as the Time Capsule will truncate the transfer rate to allow others to keep using the AirPort.

That said, I am using the 802.11n (5Ghz) setting on the time capsule - and when I am surfing or downloading files via the internet on my MacBook Air, I honestly can't tell the difference between that and a direct Ethernet connection - when connected to the internet via cable Modem. It is absolutely incredible. To give you an example of the 802.11n transfer rate - I am sharing a single library stored on the Time Capsule for both my iTunes and iPhoto programs between the two computers - it used to take 45 to 60 seconds for the iPhoto library to come up when accessing via 802.11g (Linksys) on the MacBook Air - accessing the iPhoto library now via the 802.11n connection on the MacBook Air takes 5 seconds or less.

As you can guess from the previous statement, in addition to backup - I am also using the Time Capsule as an External HDD - I have about 350 GB of music and 100 GB of video stored on it. And so far so good!

Overall I am extremely pleased with this product and would recommend it to anyone!

I've been using Time Machine since I upgraded to Leopard. While Time Machine is great for backing up my iMac, its a pain to have to hook up my Mac Book Pro and new Mac Book Air to an external hard drive. The Time Capsule is great for that. So long as my laptop is open and running, a backup can happen.

Make sure you remember to do your first backup using ethernet. Otherwise it is going to be slow. Apple does not want to bog down your network with backups, so when you are backing up wirelessly, it will intentionally throttle the connection sped.

This device also functions as a wireless router. I was able to remove my pervious Air Port Extreme from the network. The terabyte model is nice because you are able to share one large drive and backup several smaller computers My iMac and two laptops all backup just fine.

Like most of you I buy Apple products because of the simple reason that they just work. No hassle. No fuss. Just plug and play. I use them in my office, at home, and always recommend Apple products to my friends, family, and clients.

Therefore, I don't take it lightly when I recommend that you DONT purchase Time Capsule. Unlike Apple's other wireless devices, Time Capsule just doesn't work the way it was intended. Yes, it will back up your computer; and yes it will provide wireless coverage in your house. However, when the device is backing up, it makes browsing the web or downloading email nearly impossible. There is "hang time" in which the browser or Mail will time out. I can't begin to tell you how frustrated you will become when in the middle of doing research or need to get to your email that you will be thwarted by that little clock in the menu bar going in reverse.

Life becomes even more complicated if you own a non-apple wireless device, such as the Logitech Squeezebox. The two just don't play well together, and what should be a great music enhancing device gets "sabotaged" by Time Capsule's inability to sync properly.

As much as I love Apple, this is one product I recommend you think twice about (I have never actually wanted to throw something against the wall before I used this device). If you are in need of wireless connectivity, buy the Airport Extreme--it works incredibly well, never cuts out, and supports third party devices.

Hope this helps.

Time Capsule is absolutely worth its price tag. It has a great design, which we always expect from Apple. Setting it up is a breeze. With 1TB of space, it serves both as a great backup hard disk (wireless backups without you ever realizing you are backing up) and external hard disk for extra storage. I haven't compared its Wireless networking speeds with Linksys routers, but is working perfectly with great speed.
Perhaps the best feature is to store all your data on it and be able to run things wirelessly i.e. you can see pictures, play music, movies all from Time Capsule's hard disk. I have exported my entire music collection to Time Capsule now, and Itunes plays it without any delay over the wireless network.
Every computer (windows or MAC) can access the Time Capsule, which makes home networking and file exchange between computers very easy. Printer can be attached to it, and any computer on Time Capsule network can use the network.
All in all, a GREAT product by Apple. Its sold out at most Apple stores, which speaks for its high demand too.

After five years of working exclusively on Mac laptops and never once backing up, this product arrived to silently inform me that I was out of excuses for this irresponsible lifestyle!

I bought the 1TB version and did have some issues getting it going (absurdly long "preparing backup" times) and returned it for a much more compliant unit. Finally got a full backup (took 20 hours wirelessly) and several incrementals done----and a week later, my Macbook crashed completely! Received a replacement computer, and was able to restore everything from my TC backups, effortlessly and perfectly (took 3 hours via ethernet). In fact Time Machine recreated my previous work environment so precisely it was almost creepy! If it wasn't for TC my career---and to some degree my life---would be a shambles right now.

Sad truth: Laptops fail, even Apple ones. Happy truth: Time Capsule can save your bacon. As the other reviewers have said, just do it. You're out of excuses not to.

I just bought the TB time capsule for my office. I am an attorney and needed a way for all the computers in my office to share files, and print to the same printer reliably. I tried setting up my Macbook to share files with my PC but it rarely worked. Decided to scrap the PC bought an IMAC and the time capsule as well as another Macbook, and everything just works. I just plugged everything in and with about 2 seconds worth of setup all 3 computers share files with each other, all access the timecapsule and all print to the same main printer. Plus the internet speed is awesome and the backup of each computer is great. It is so great to buy a product that is everything it claims to be. The adds are true Apple just works, and Leopard is fantastic. I will never waste time with a PC again.......

The print server in this product works fine via Bonjour for most printers, however, if you have an all-in-one printer that relies on bi-directional communication, i.e. scanner or FAX, it will most likely not function through this product.

The work-around is to pull the USB cable out and plug it directly into your MAC/PC.

Apple is quite careful in their wording on this subject, as they only mention "printer".

have been using the 1T version for awhile with the firmware update with both Leopard & Vista, here is my impression:

(+) cool design. no power brick. run silent.
(+) works well with Time Machine, wireless data streaming with "n", network printer.
(+) works very well with VISTA.


(-) can run very hot, especially if copying files & running continuously. gets hotter the longer it runs.
(-) TM back up is slow both wire & wireless. first back-up of 30G took literally more than one day. took it to Genius bar --> nothing wrong . . . . incremental back-ups are faster.
(-) TM back-up utility is questionable because: (1) slower than normal copying, (2) takes up more space, (3) who needs hourly back-up, (4) no catastrophic corruption with Leopard (or Vista for that matter).
(-) throttles internet speed.

*** because of the (-) and my network-enabled printer, i now mainly use it as a wireless back-up hard drive and for streaming video/music and only turn it on when need to.
i used Winclone & SuperDuper to back-up my newly installed Leopard & Vista partitions, transferred them to TC, then use TC as my wireless data back-up hard drive.
i know i haven't used TC's full potential. but Apple needs to maximize TC's full potential with either firmware or software upgrades.

Very slow, unpredictable, dangerously hot. No, I'm not talking about my ex-girlfriend, I'm talking about the waste of money time capsule I bought that worked for a while then stopped, then worked then didn't then worked then didn't. Wireless backup sounded awesome, I just didn't realize I would be long dead before such a backup could ever complete. Even with a direct ethernet connection the backup sucked. And it is a sub-par base station that did not enhance my existing wireless network in the slightest. However if you want to fry eggs it might work because it gets incredibly hot for something that just sits there and does jack squat.

Amazing disappointment. DO NOT BUY.

I purchased the 1TB version of the Time Capsule. I already owned an Airport Extreme and was replacing it with the Time Capsule. A nice setup feature allowed the Time Capsule to see the Older Airport Extreme and import all of the settings. This made setting up the Time Capsule extremely easy - by using the same settings, all of my Macs worked with Time Capsule right away.

Unfortunately, after 4 weeks, my Macs all reported that they could not see the Time Capsule Hard drive. When I looked closely at the Time Capsule - it was making a loud/repetitive clicking noise - hard drive failure. I have 5 macs running in my home. None of them have ever had a hard drive failure - but you never know (which is why I bought the Time Capsule). It's disconcerting to have the very device - that I purchased to ensure my data was backed up - fail.

I took it to the Apple store and the exchanged it - no questions asked. But - it took me a long time to back up all of my Macs (the first backup using Time Machine/Time Capsule takes a very long time for each Mac). Additionally, unlike my initial setup, I could not simply copy the settings from my existing Time Capsule - I had to set it all up from scratch. Also - the Time Capsule that I retuned to the Apple store had all of my personal information on it. Even though it was a failed hard drive - I'm not happy that all of my financial data, keychains, etc were on that hard drive.