Product Description

Introducing Time Capsule. Automatic wireless backup for your Mac. Time Capsule is a revolutionary backup device that works wirelessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. It automatically backs up everything, so you no longer have to worry about losing your digital life. Time Capsule is also a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station. Every computer in your house can work off a wireless network at blazing speeds. And they can back up wirelessly to the same Time Capsule.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #270 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Apple
• Model: MB276LL/A
• Released on: 2008-02-01
• Platforms: Macintosh, Windows
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• CPU: PowerPC G4 2.10 GHz
• Memory: 8000MB SDRAM
• Hard Disk: 500GB
• Processors: 1

Features

• A revolutionary backup device that works wirelessly with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard
• Time Capsule can back up and store files for each Leopard-based Mac on your wireless network
• 500 GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA server-grade hard drive gives you all the capacity and safety you need
• More than just a wireless hard drive, Time Capsule is also a full-featured AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n technology
• Works with Mac and PC

From the Manufacturer

A Leap Forward for Backup
Introducing Time Capsule. Automatic wireless backup for your Mac. Available in 500GB and 1TB models.

One Click. Continuous Backup.
Backing up is something we all know we should do, but often don't. And while disaster is a great motivator, now it doesn't have to be. Because with Time Capsule, the nagging need to back up has been replaced by automatic, constant protection. And even better, it all happens wirelessly, saving everything important, including your sanity.

Built for Time Machine. Time Capsule includes a wireless 500GB or 1TB hard drive designed to work with Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard. Just set Time Capsule as the designated backup drive for Time Machine, and that's it. Depending on how much data you have, your initial backup with Time Capsule could take overnight or longer. After it completes, only changed files are backed up--automatically, wirelessly, and in the background. So you never have to worry about backing up again.

Backup for everyone. Have multiple Macs in your house? Time Capsule can back up and store files for each Leopard-based Mac on your wireless network. No longer do you have to attach an external drive to each Mac every time you want to back up. Time Capsule spares you the work.

Room for it all. Time Capsule is your one place for backing up everything. Its massive 500GB or 1TB server-grade hard drive gives you all the capacity and safety you need. So whether you have 250 songs or 250,000 songs to back up, room is the last thing you'll run out of. And considering all that storage and protection come packaged in a high-speed Wi-Fi base station starting at $299, data isn't the only thing you're saving.

The Ultimate Wireless Base Station More than just a wireless hard drive, Time Capsule is also a full-featured AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n technology. Experience a high-speed wireless network and a breakthrough way to back up all the Mac computers on your network. All in one device.

Fits your Wi-Fi lifestyle. Time Capsule uses the 802.11n draft 2.0 specification, so you can rest assured that it works with certified 802.11n draft 2.0 products. And it's compatible with Macs and PCs that use 802.11a, b, or g technologies, as well as wireless devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple TV.

Print command central. The included USB port is great for sharing a printer throughout your wireless network. Time Capsule and the Bonjour networking technology let everyone in the house or office — Mac and PC users alike — take advantage of one centrally located printer. And if you want to share both a printer and an additional hard drive, you can. Just connect a USB hub to Time Capsule. Whatever the combination, Time Capsule divides and conquers.

Works with Mac and PC.
Time Capsule with Time Machine in Leopard is the ideal backup solution. But that doesn't mean Tiger, Windows XP, and Windows Vista users can't enjoy the benefits of Time Capsule, too. Because it mounts as a wireless hard drive, Tiger and Windows users simply access Time Capsule directly from the wireless network for exchanging and storing files quickly and easily.

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Customer Reviews

Excellent Product - Worked Instantly and Very Configurable
I'm a big Apple fan, but was a little weary about buying Time Capsule because some of the negative reviews I read here. I did, however, end up purchasing the 500 gb version and am extremely happy with it. The wireless network worked instantly, and it was very easy to add MAC address filtering and encryption. Using a USB printer was also simple and works reliably.

I limited the space available for Time Machine backups to 250 gb by using a sparse image (the technique is discussed in many forums) and used the rest to store files I don't necessarily want to keep on my computer. It's too bad that this is not a configurable option, but only a little technical knowledge is necessary to accomplish this task.

My first backup over ethernet went very smoothly. I disallowed my computer from going to sleep or turning off the display and was able to easily finish my first 80 gb backup overnight. Since, subsequent hourly wireless backups have been very smooth and worked well. They don't seem to consume much computer memory either.

I definitely recommend this product to everyone running Leopard who wants to wireless backup. You won't be disappointed!

FAST, helpful, but not as robust in configuration.
Let it be know that yes, I am a snobby Apple user. I am very demanding that my environment be very intuitive but also lets me tweak it at a low level. This router does NOT do that.

The good points of this are obviously the automated backups built into an airport extreme. If you do the math you also find you are getting quite a good deal, as an Airport Extreme router and external HD will run you a bit more than this configuration will. Yes, it does have a deathstar---wait I mean--- Deskstar HD running in it, but the issues surrounding those HD's are pretty much gone. The HD is solid. The value here is an intrinsic one too, it's a less complicated setup.

The backup system is a little quirky because it's not a direct connection to your system but rather a network. This means if you do things like restart, sleep, etc in the middle of a backup it considers this a failed backup and skips until the next designated time (1hr). The initial backup will take forever, this being a network connection you only have so much bandwidth, even with a gigabit network (which is what I have). All the systems in the house (4 clients) took about 12 hours to get the initial done. Subsequently, however, you won't notice the bandwidth getting used. If you're on a wireless, make sure you have an 802.11n device if you're doing backups, it's going to be horrid otherwise. With 4 clients and being post-initial backup I've not noticed a network slowdown or a problem. I try to keep the intervals different for each client so we're not trying to backup more than one system at a time.

The configuration of these routers, however, is a bit strange if you've experienced many other configs. These routers don't configure via a web interface, there's a dedicated client. This brings up a few oddities, because the advanced menus aren't really as intuitive as other routers I've configured in the past. Things like blocking a particular domain aren't even possible (!?!?). Traffic filtering will be odd. The other weird aspect is that I just use plain MAC address filtering to keep people off my network. If they can get past that, they can get past the WAP/2 encryption as well.

The router's speed and stability, however, are unparalleled. Whatever I throw at this router it just stands there and takes it. I somehow suspect its even asking for more, and without a much larger network I don't know what to give it. I have a 16mbps internet connection at home with 1mbps upstream and I have hosted some gargantuan games online, all the while I'll also have my desktop system streaming an HD movie file to the PS3 on another TV while another system is probably doing its backup, I notice no slowdown. This router handles heavy load and it does it like a champ. Other routers have faltered and stuck or reset themselves by this point but this thing just smiles and chugs on through. The only wireless clients is the laptop, the rest can be doing all kinds of heavy loads maxing out their bandwidth to the router and it manages all the traffic just fine. I could not be more impressed.

In short, great router, great backup system, but could use a hand in robust configurability. Otherwise I'd have no complaints whatsoever. If you balk at the price at all, remember, you get what you pay for. If you get this router/backup system it will give you peace of mind and a rock solid router. You can find other rigs, but they won't offer what this does. I guess Ferris Bueller put it succinctly, if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

Ethernet/wireless router + quiet hard drive, potential configuration trouble in mixed PC/Win network, lacks some usability
Good:
- quiet!!!
- single box for both router and hard drive, compact
- nice design
- works nicely with Leopard TimeMachine, providing automatic backup

Bad:
- any non-trivial setup make take a while (I had trouble while upgrading to Leopard which refused to see TimeCapsule, while it was working ok with Tiger; my Win notebook never saw it even after Bonjour installation)
- heats up even when hard disk is idle
- any configuration change (like turning on/off wireless network) resets device with service interruption (so my iMac doesn't have Internet for half a minute)

Most wanted improvement is to add physical switch on the box, that can turn wireless network on/off without interrupting ethernet connectivity - that would be good for occasional wireless network users that have wired connection for main computer and need wireless network only a fraction of their time.