Apple Time Capsule MB277LL/A 802.11n 1TB Network Backup Hard Drive Reviews

• An easy to setup, great product!

  
  By A1B29AAROKKQOE on 2008-03-08
  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 liked my 500gig model so well i got the 1TB model as a shared drive

  
  By A2WM1KL9DQSQ18 on 2008-03-04
  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.
  
  

• Sounded great - failed after less than a month

  
  By AZJLLX60Y3ROI on 2008-04-13
  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.
  
  

• Please remember one thing

  
  By A23XBL8TSB649A on 2008-03-08
  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".
  
  

• Does What It Says, But...

  
  By A1G5REVTFF653A on 2008-03-16
  It's easy, wireless backup of all your Macs running Leopard. Yep. My only complaints are with speed - you may be able to convince me this is because it's taking it's time making sure the backup is done properly. Whatever. Anyway, I would certainly recommend this to people running multiple Macs. The good and bad:
  
  Pros:
  EASY - I followed the default settings from the setup assistant and was up and running in 5 minutes.
  Syncing with my Apple TV and copying files via "n" wireless is great, about 9MB/sec. My "g" router was about 2.6MB/sec.
  
  Cons:
  Some Speed issues -
  File copying via gigabit Ethernet was slow too - 12MB/sec through Time Capsule vs 25MB/sec when my MacBook was directly connected to my Mac Pro.
  Backups via gigabit Ethernet were slow to - about 5 MB/sec. Maybe the Time Capsule was doing other things to ensure my backup was properly done, don't know.
  Wireless backups from laptops do work except I was disappointed to discover it only backs up when the laptop is plugged in. Not a deal breaker, but a disappointment.
  
  Apple recommends you let the first backup run uninterrupted. Something hard for me to do because I like to fiddle with it as it's running. But it did work as expected, just slower than expected.
  
  It's still the easiest and best backup tool out there. Just do it.
  
  
• Another winner from Apple
  By A3UM9GUOUCC90T on 2008-03-13
  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.
  
  
• Overpromised, Underdelivered
  By A13JZ1WIEZMJXX on 2008-08-12
  I had very high hopes for this product when it was announced earlier this year. I'm quite a fan of Apple in general, and so I'm surprised at my utter lack of satisfaction with the Time Capsule.
  
  After all, it promised so much!
  
  - 1TB (or 500 MB) of network-attached storage
  - 802.11n base station for blazing fast wireless connectivity (with compatible computers)
  - Gigabit ethernet ports to help you establish or expand a blazing-fast wired network
  - Seamless setup process, not with a clumsy web interface, but using the Apple AirPort setup tool
  - USB port for sharing additional drives or printers
  
  After a week of working with this beautiful looking device, I have decided not to keep it. How did the promises stack up?
  
  CAPACITY (1 TB of storage): yes, it has nearly this much storage space available. Nice big drive.
  
  WIRELESS (802.11n base station for blazing fast wireless connectivity): I was not able to make this work after a reasonable amount of futzing. I expect a few phone calls with Apple support might have solved this, but it wasn't a priority given the other problems I had with the unit.
  
  PERFORMANCE (Gigabit ethernet ports): yes, I was able to connect it to my gigabit network. But the fastest I could get data from it was 25 megabytes per second. This is respectable, but the three-year old home-built Linux server in my garage is 40% faster. Much worse, my write speed test maxed out at 9 megabytes per second (merely a quarter as fast as my garage server), which should give you pause if you're hoping to use this device as a backup tool.
  
  EASE OF USE: The setup and updating process was not entirely seamless, but I have to admit that the Apple configuration tool is decent. Unless you are running Windows or Linux, that is: Windows users have to install the Apple AirPort Utility, and I don't think Linux users have any option (forget them, they're probably building FreeNAS servers anyway!).
  
  EXPANDABILITY (USB port for sharing additional drives or printers): This turned into a major disappointment: USB drives have to be formatted for Mac only, with a single partition, on a Mac, before connecting to the Time Capsule. There's no way to set up any kind of access control on USB-connected drives; it's all-or-nothing. Multiple drives can theoretically be connected to one Time Capsule using a USB hub, but if it's not a powered hub, expect trouble. Taken together, these difficulties killed my enthusiasm for this product.
  
  RELIABILITY: I didn't mention this as an initial promise, because it's natural to expect that a product will be reliable. The device runs quite hot (unavoidable given Apple's preference for ultra-quiet equipment), and I expect this to dramatically shorten the life of the drive. Additionally, during the past week I have had to reset my Time Capsule many times, and I experienced several very weird behaviors from my computer while working with the Time Capsule, which I am--fairly or not--blaming on Apple. No doubt some of the reliability problems I experienced were caused by my trying to get the very most out of the unit, but a broken promise is a broken promise.
  
  For this price, if you need all (or most) of the features I listed above, this product seems like a slam dunk. My experience was that the promises didn't come true.
  
  There are surprisingly few alternatives at this price point. You can opt for a USB/Firewire external drive like this fine specimen from Western Digital, but it's not network attached. You can try the entry-level Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives from Linksys, but it lacks gigabit speed and appears to have speed and reliability issues. Ditto the higher-end Linksys product. Netgear makes a promising product, but it's more expensive and doesn't include wireless. Drobo looks neat, but it's also priced higher (drives sold separately, and you need an extra module for networked storage).
  
  So when you look at what Apple's Time Capsule is competing with, it's not hard to be tempted by the shiny logo and all those promises. But if you are counting on using this product to its fullest, you may find it was too good to be true after all.
  
  
• Go Mac and never go back
  By A16ZE369BLT6BD on 2008-03-08
  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.......
  
  
• Poor performance and not worth the expense
  By A2XUP99JPS2MTH on 2008-07-24
  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.
  
  
• Not yet ready
  By A2C4J4CLBO2E4B on 2008-03-11
  I love apple products. Have a MacBook Pro that works wonderfully. Same with airport extreme and airport express. Was excited to try the new time capsule but it couldn't perform. I returned it after two days. The reset switch didn't function. The drive suddenly stopped working after the initial backup and wouldn't run unless the unit was connected via ethernet (which sort of defeats the whole idea). While at the same time providing a "green light" that everything was fine. The unit also runs extremely hot,which I found is a commonly reported problem. The support for the product isn't in place either. Perhaps after this has been out for a while it may be worthwhile but it isn't ready for prime time yet.
  
  
• THIS THING IS FREAKING COOL!!!!
  By A20PP23SWRWZQU on 2008-03-23
  Alright. I hardly ever write a review but I had to write one for the Time Capsule.
  
  This device is really cool because:
  
  1. Automatically Backs-Up all my Hard Drives without having to think about backing them up. Every Hour. Every Day. Behind the Scenes.
  
  2. What else is really cool... is that I am able to HAVE ALL MY HARD DRIVES WIRELESS. I am able to plug in a USB port and have all my hard drives accessed wirelessly. This is great because I have a laptop and now I no longer have to sit where the hard drives are located in my house.. I can now roam... Store minimal stuff on my laptop HD's and access the files wirelessly. It's a feature that really sold me.
  
  3. Yeah the initial Bkup took a minute, but the daily happens so face u dont even know it.
  
  4. It's great to print wireless too.
  
  
  5. You dont need to connect it to an Ethernet/DSL line for it to work... it works on it's own without any internet service necessary.
  
  6. Its pretty quiet too
  
  7. It's a huge break through.. imagine all your files now acessed wirelessly... this is a beautiful thing and I no so happy I dont have to be stuck to area of the house when I want to be connect to my music HD's and the rest of my media.
  
  8. Go Get it... atleast the 500GB is definitely worth it... you can always hook up larger HD's to the 500GB one..
  
  
  I am still yet to experience the full capabilities of this device. I am wondering if it could be accesed from outside the local network for example if I go travelling I am assuming this product may let me access all my files from another location. I am not sure yet.. But I have a feeling it will.
  
  
• Lifesaver
  By A1WK7MLFBRIRXI on 2008-08-15
  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.
  
  
  
• Pretty Good actually
  By A4UGLTN5ZPRPD on 2008-03-03
  It is a pretty awesome device. We have 2 macbooks(air/pro) and 5 Windows/linux based laptops in our house. we did the first backup through the ethernet(for the macs). Note that the time machine does incremental backups, which means it only records the "Changes" and hence, subsequent backups are pretty good.I use a linksys 802.11n router and my Time Capsule is connected to the linksys via Ethernet. No complaints so far. Could it have been faster, the answer is yes, but then I am not backing up gigabytes of data every day.
  
  For the PCs, I used the only USB port available to hook up an external HDD(used by my windows/linux laptops) and am continuing to backup into the same location (using 3rd party software of course).
  
  
• just like a pretty woman . . . hot, makes you wait & looks > function
  By AK4HKI46S49NA on 2008-06-24
  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.
  
  
• Need more patch(es) to make this product work
  By AP05Y854Y3LYZ on 2008-04-11
  I have been using the time capsule for a few days and can never get this thing to work properly. The first back up of 16 GB takes forever (more than 2 days) and it finally crashed the computer. After updating the new firmware, the time capsule cannot restart properly. Since the update nothing works at all even after several resets. I can no long connect to the time capsule.
  
  In replacement unit works fine for storing regular files and only work after updating the new firmware. However, the time machine can never successfully backup mac book air and eventually crash the operating system despite a few attempt of 1GB of backup data. The successful back up on a regular mac book worked properly for a few days and was unable to mount after that. I need to perform many workarounds to get this thing to work again.
  
  
  pro:
  - wireless backup
  - straight forward setup user interface
  - high speed file transfer
  - nice package design
  - good customer support
  
  con:
  - no easy way to migrate the old time machine backup data to the time capsule
  - unreliable when using it with the time machine
  - can freeze the entire operating system when trying to backup the data
  - slow time machine backup speed
  - need to install apple software on the window PC to enable file and printer sharing function over LAN
  - fail to remount the backup drive after a few days of usage
  - has computer naming issue
  - expensive
  
  
  Wireless backup is a very good idea if Apple can make it works more than 95% of the time. I do not recommend this product to anyone at this point until Apple release a newer stable version. This current time capsule has proven to be unreliable and you will spend more time fixing it than enjoy using it.
  
  
  
  
• Amazing
  By A3ADT0NTBKT0M0 on 2008-08-08
  I was reading a lot of reviews online before buying this Time Capsule. On the Apple site they have quite a few negative reviews, but I decided to give a try and buy here on Amazon, since you can return with no problem (not like Apple, sometimes gives u a hard time for returning items). Now about the product. I love it, I love it I love it. My Time Machine makes automatic backups couple times a day to the time capsule. It's fast and I do not need to worry about it. Also, I just recently changed the PowerBook to MacBookPro. The Migration Assistant on new Mac helped to move all applications and user account to new MacBookPro (overnight, direct ethernet connection with ethernet cable) from my Time Capsule. It works with no problem. I truly recommend to buy one, especially for those who can not afford loosing data and down time.
  
  
• BEWARE - Timecapsule is worse than no backup at all!
  By A7P63840YMJEC on 2008-08-27
  The problem with using a Timecapsule is that it provides you a great--but FALSE--sense of security. I had one for months and it always seemed to be working great, backing up my data every hour. Then it began to fail, unable to connect with my computer. The problem is that Apple techs really have no understanding of this product themselves--it's the ultimate black box--no one knows really what its doing or how long it should take. Tech support will tell you to wait for hours and try backing up again, but if Time Machine doesn't "fix itself", they only have one solution: reset the time machine, which means ERASE all your data. Apparently this happens quite frequently. So all along you have been operating with a false sense of security, which may have kept you from making smaller, reliable backups onto hard disks. This product is therefore really a menace, worse in many ways than not backing up at all!!
  
  
• A cop out for prior Airport Extreme with external Drives
  By A2W2J6PF5XKZMB on 2008-07-01
  What a cop out to not support Time Machine backups to Airport Extremes with external drives.
  
  I for instance have the newer Airport Extreme (draft-n) with a 1 TB drive on it that I can send files to and stream from.
  
  But I cannot use it for backups.
  
  Apple's solution: junk it and buy the Time Capsule with "internal" 1 TB hard drive.
  
  
• A life-saver
  By AX2VQ1E7OJ9E4 on 2008-05-09
  Last week I thought I was deleting tracks from several playlists in iTunes; turns out I wasnt paying attention & actually deleted from the library hundreds of songs, about 1 gig worth ( & emptied the Trash before I realized what Id done.) It couldnt have been easier to enter TC & restore everything in less than ten minutes tops. Hourly backups can drag the system a little, but I'll never complain again!
  
  
• Don't Buy Unless You Are An IT Professional!
  By AJU9FS732QU29 on 2008-09-22
  I am the proud owner of this $485 paperweight. I tried to set up today; converting from a Linksys Wireless Router connected to cable modem. Following the poorly written directions did not result in a connection. I spent an hour on the phone with a distracted support person who got it working. Thirty minutes later it stopped working. Another hour on the phone with support whose answer for everything is a reset and closing and opening the Airport utility, I gave up and tried to revert back to my Linksys router. Now the Mac won't recognize that anymore either. So, not only did the Time Capsule fail to work as advertised, it poisoned my connection with my old wireless router. If you are not an IT Pro who can troubleshoot complex things yourself, don't buy this because it doesn't talk to Macs very well and the support people are not helpful. I will now be checking what my return options are.
  
  
• 1TB Time Capsule - Home Office Upgrade
  By AJD4Q8RX1KT6Q on 2008-10-10
  I upgraded the OS on my iMac 21 and my wife's iMac19 from Tiger to Leopard (10.5.3) then immediately removed my old Linksys wireless router and installed a new 1TB Time Capsule. I then shutdown the Comcast modem (it carries VoIP, Cable TV and Broadband) plus Time Capsule, and both iMacs - completely. I made sure the Comcast modem back-up batteries were removed as the internal electronics have to be completely drained... for at least 5 minutes. Then, I powered up the Comcast modem and allowed all lights to sequence on. Waited 5 minutes, then powered up the Time Capsule and waited about 5 minutes for the front panel light to turn green. Then I powered up one iMac. At this point Airport 5.3 recognized the Time Capsule. I turned TC off, the powered up the second iMac - did same and turned TC off on it. At this point I went back to my iMac21 and turned TC ON and allowed it to backup the drive which took about 8 hours. The iMac19 took about 4 hours. All is running perfectly. I am very pleased with the product!!
  
  
• Getting connected to Comcast was a bit challenging, but otherwise fine
  By AABH31PCKVX2E on 2008-03-12
  Getting this setup was fairly straightforward. The one challenge was getting Time Capsule to connect to the Internet using Comcast and the standard-issue Arris cable modem. If you are having similar challenges, check out the following forum: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6811634
  
  
• Awesome product
  By A2FOCRW1A75A35 on 2008-07-02
  I does what it needs to do... and yes, the first backup takes forever. I took me almost 5 days in a row to complete the first backup of 297GB (that's why is 4 stars) After that you don't even need to look at it... I also have it as a router and it works fine. I have a USB hub since it only has 1 port (also 4 stars for that) and there I connect my other external disks which are now share within my network (and you have the option of prompting for a password to open the disk) I only wish my stupid printer Lexmark X1270 was compatible with Mac.
  
  
• A Frustration Exercise
  By A3GCBBXKTB2P51 on 2008-08-17
  Can never get the laptops to backup to TC...yes it will work as a g compatible router, but if the laptops decide to sleep they can no longer find or back up to the time capsule. It is a total waste of money and time...
  
  
• Apple Time Capsule
  By A3BVYYRBSQGJMR on 2008-07-10
  Little hard to set up, but once it is going it does the job well
  
  

• Windows Live OneCare 2.0 (Up to 3 Users)
• Norton Internet Security 2009
• Adobe Photoshop Elements 7
• Quicken Deluxe 2009
• Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Standard

• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home & Student Edition
• Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive - MB189LL/A
• Apple Airport Express
• Apple Mighty Mouse Wireless Kit
• Mac OS X Version 10.5.4 Leopard