Time Capsule backs up your Macs

Apple has released Time Capsule, a NAS (network-attached storage, I'll admit I'm so far from an IT guy that I had to look it up) unit that will wirelessly sync with multiple instances of Time Machine, all the while also working as an 802.11n base station (there are three included ethernet ports as well). Time Capsule has wireless backup, wireless networking, and even a USB port for networked printing, a networked hard drive, or both with a USB hub.

And perhaps most amazing is the sheer size available-- it's $399 for a 500gb hard drive, and $499 for a 1 TB hard drive. Sure, that's a little pricey if you've got only one or two computers at home, but $500 for a complete (and completely wireless) backup solution for a house full of computers is a pretty nice setup. This definitely won't cause as much of a stir as the iPhone updates or the MacBook Air today, but for someone who's been seeking a backup solution for a whole house of computers, Time Capsule has to be pretty good news.

It's available for preorder right now, and will release in February.

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Source: http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/

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Apple has released Time Capsule, a NAS (network-attached storage, I'll admit I'm so far from an IT guy that I had to look it up) unit that...

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Nick

Hi, I must buy an external disk to install a heavy (45Gb) piano plugin. Is it possible to use TimeCapsule as a secondary disk? plus connect it to my MBP through Ethernet (obviously I can't use the plugin through airport. it's too heavy). Any ideas? Thanks

January 21 2008 at 10:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Danny Perez

Question? Can you use it as a normal wireless hard drive?
I'm thinking that it will only work as a backup. You can't access the drive and store things on it like you normally would if the drive was a normal external hard drive. Anybody know?

-d

January 16 2008 at 4:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

James R Grinter

The specs page under "System Requirements" - http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/specs.html - implies some form of use as an "Airport Disk" (for both Mac and PC with Windows), but specifically with a "USB hard drive", which implies that won't work for the internal drive. But the Wireless marketing page says "Because it mounts as a wireless hard drive" suggesting that it can.

(For a Mac Pro - why would you be likely to do anything other than plug it into a Gigabit Ethernet switch? You're not going to be moving it around, much.)

January 16 2008 at 1:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

mpez

Smells of gouging to me. Apple needs to enable time machine to airport disks.

January 16 2008 at 1:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

SoloMalee

Sure this is great for Macs, but I have to ask...Windows support?

January 16 2008 at 6:11 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Thierry

With Apple going full-speed wireless (Time Capsule, Remote Disk, AppleTV), how comes the new Mac Pro (standard config) still comes without wireless networking?

January 16 2008 at 5:00 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mark

So I'm not 100% clear on one point: This thing can do Time Machine backups -- which is awesome -- but can it also act as an actual external wifi hard drive? Or is backing up the only thing it can do? And if it can't (or even if it can), can I still plug in yet another external drive?

January 16 2008 at 4:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

akira

Does anyone know the difference/similarities between 802.11n4 and 802.11n2. As much detail as possible thanks

January 15 2008 at 10:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Big John

Figures, literally a week after I buy a 500GB external to Time Machine my iMac. Oh well, don't really need to Time Machine my MBA.

January 15 2008 at 6:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Mark 2000

I already wrote an angry email to sjobs. Its ridiculous that I was tricked by apple marketing AND techs into buying an airport ex and a 500 gig usb disk to backup wirelessly with leopard just be told I need to buy another $300 devise. Apple can go to hell at this point. They owe me a free one of these and reimbursement for the other equipment because of false advertising. I've never even been mad during a keynote.

January 15 2008 at 5:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply