time-capsule

Faliuers

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:28:07 +0100

In October 2009, several news sites reported that many Time Capsules were failing after 18 months.^[11] Users have alleged that this is due to a design failure in the power supplies.^[12]Apple has confirmed that certain Time Capsules sold between February 2008 and June 2008 do not power on or may unexpectedly turn off and has offered free repair or replacement to affected units.^[13]

Hardrive

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:26:35 +0100

The hard drive typically found in a Time Capsule is the Hitachi Deskstar, which is sold by Hitachi as a consumer-grade product (the Hitachi Ultrastar is the enterprise version).^[7] Apple labeled the drive as a server-grade drive in promotional material for Time Capsule, and also uses this type of drive in the Xserve servers. Apple states that the Hitachi Deskstar meets or exceeds the 1 million hour mean time between failures (MTBF) recommendation for server-grade hard drives.^[8]

The 500GB, 1st generation Time Capsule shipped with a Seagate Barracuda ES-series drive.^[9]

More recently, other hard drives such as the Western Digital Caviar Green series^[10], and the Samsung EcoGreen series have been reported.

Using Time Capsule as a backup device

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:25:49 +0100

One of the key features of Time Capsule is the ability to back up a system and files wirelessly and automatically, which eliminates the need for a separate external drive to be attached. This feature requires OS X 10.5.2 Leopard or greater as it is this OS release that enables backup over a network. The backup software is Apple's Time Machine, which regularly makes images of the files that are being changed every hour, condensing backup images as they become older, to save space. Even when using an 802.11n wireless or Gigabit Ethernet connection, the initial backup of any Mac to the drive requires significant time and Apple anticipates this process takes "overnight or longer".^[6] Subsequent backups will typically be quicker as they only back up the changed files. With the August 2009 release of Snow Leopard, Apple claims the initial backup will be up to two times faster. The backup disk can also be used by Windows-based computers, and the files on it can be managed by another OS such as Windows

Models by SKU

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:54:24 +0100

Apple Time Capsule SKU are constructed with the 5 first characters identifying the product version and the remaining ones indicating the localization (accessories and power supply vary according to the country the Time Capsule is sold in).

G1 (early 2008)

MB276LL/A 500GB Time Capsule
MB277LL/A 1TB Time Capsule

G2 (early 2009)

MB764LL/A 500GB Time Capsule
MB765LL/A 1TB Time Capsule

G3 (mid 2009)

MB765LL/A or MB765X/A 1TB Time Capsule
MB996LL/A or MB996X/A 2TB Time Capsule

G4 (circa 2010)

MC343LL/A 1TB Time Capsule (Europe: MC343Z/A)
MC344LL/A 2TB Time Capsule (Canada: MC344AM/A)

[edit]

Comparison to the Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:51:35 +0100

The Time Capsule is a fully featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station^[5] and supports all the same features as the AirPort Extreme Base Station, featuring the same set of ports on the back. Modifications upon the design of the AirPort Extreme Base Station include the addition of the storage hard drive for backups and NAS type file storage which will be available to both Macs and PCs (after installing supplied drivers) on the network. The Time Capsule measures 7.7 inches or 19.7 cm square and 1.4 inches or 3.63 cm high;^[5] slightly larger than theAirPort Extreme Base Station and closer to the Apple TV (previous generation model) in volume. This is partly due to the internal power supply which eliminates the requirement for a separate external power supply, enabling a direct connection between the household power outlet and the back of the Time Capsule.

Time Capsule

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:50:10 +0100

The Time Capsule is a wireless network-attached storage device combined with a wireless residential gateway router made by Apple Inc. It is described as a "Backup Appliance", designed to work in tandem with the Time Machine backup utility, introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard".^[1]

The device includes a full AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n wireless (now with Dual Band Support), an Ethernet WAN port, three Ethernet LAN ports, and one USB port. There is also a "Server grade" hard drive inside the casing. Time Capsule was introduced atMacworld Conference & Expo on January 15, 2008 and released on February 29, 2008, with pricing announced at US$299 (£199) for the 500 GB version and US$499 (£329) for the 1 TB version.

The USB port can be used for an external hard drive or a printer to be shared over the network.

In early 2009, Apple released a newer model offering simultaneous 802.11n dual-band operation to allow older devices to use the slower wireless speeds without affecting the overall performance of devices that can use the higher 802.11n speeds.^[2]

Also released in this new version is Guest Networking which allows guests to sign on with a different password to ensure your private network is kept private.^[2]

In July 2009, Apple doubled the hard-disk storage space that comes with each model. The $299 Time Capsule now holds 1TB (instead of 500GB) and the $499 configuration holds 2TB (instead of 1TB)^[3]. Also by reconfiguring the internal wireless antenna Apple reported 50% better performance and 25% better wireless range on the fourth generation model.^[4]

Time Capsule

Developer	Apple Inc.
Type	Backup drive Airport Extreme base station
Release date	January 15, 2008
Introductory price	1TB US$299, 2TB US$499
Website	Apple - Time Capsule