[wassimj]

Dear Glenn,
Thanks for the review. Can you please test attaching a printer to the USB port of a time capsule. Is it possible to attach both an external time machine disk and a usb printer (via a USB hub) for wireless backup and wireless printing? Thank you.

[stmike]

Glenn,
I am interested in the TIme Capsule. I want to use it to store files like by iTunes & iPhoto libraries. Can I do this and share the 2 libraries with the family computers? Is the backup done wirelessly?
Thanks
Mike

[elCapiton]

I hope someone takes it apart and compares the hardware to that of the AEBSn to see what the difference is. I find it hard to believe that there's really a problem with the AEBS that Apple can't fix. They even limited Time Machine network backups to Leopard hosted disks ONLY. Complete BS because with a simple terminal command you can enable "unsupported" network backups and I've been doing this for months without any problems. My network drive is connected to an old Sawtooth G4 running 10.4 Server and the backups over AFP work perfectly. No need for Leopard on this machine, it's just an artificial limitation.

[Glenn_Fleishman]

wassimj said:

Dear Glenn,

Thanks for the review. Can you please test attaching a printer to the USB port of a time capsule. Is it possible to attach both an external time machine disk and a usb printer (via a USB hub) for wireless backup and wireless printing? Thank you.

I'll try this, but it's exactly the same as with an AirPort Extreme Base Station: multiple USB devices are supported through a hub. Time Machine networked drives are just volumes shared over AFP.

[Glenn_Fleishman]

MrLizard said:

That's great Glenn, thanks for answering

With remote access, I was thinking is it possible for me to browse the contents of the time capsule drive from my macbook when I'm away from home, i.e. using the 'connect to server' option within Finder?

Yes, if the Time Capsule is given an externally routable IP address. Now, on a Mac, you can use Back to My Mac or Timbuktu Pro 8.6 or later + Skype to tunnel through NAT to get to computers, but I don't know of a comparable process for routers; they have to have a publicly routable IP address.

[Glenn_Fleishman]

stmike said:

Glenn,
I am interested in the TIme Capsule. I want to use it to store files like by iTunes & iPhoto libraries. Can I do this and share the 2 libraries with the family computers? Is the backup done wirelessly?

Man, this is one of those horrible problems. Yes, you can put iTunes and iPhoto libraries on a shared volume, but Apple doesn't make it easy. (I document how to do this in my book Take Control of Sharing Files in Leopard in a media chapter; it's involved.)

Backups can be done through however your computers connect to the Time Capsule: it has a built-in 3-port gigabit Ethernet switch (a fourth gigabit Ethernet port is the connection to a DSL/cable modem or a larger network if bridging); or via Wi-Fi at speeds up to the maximum supported by 802.11n, depending on your network's configuration.

[Glenn_Fleishman]

elCapiton said:

I hope someone takes it apart and compares the hardware to that of the AEBSn to see what the difference is. I find it hard to believe that there's really a problem with the AEBS that Apple can't fix. They even limited Time Machine network backups to Leopard hosted disks ONLY. Complete BS because with a simple terminal command you can enable "unsupported" network backups and I've been doing this for months without any problems. My network drive is connected to an old Sawtooth G4 running 10.4 Server and the backups over AFP work perfectly. No need for Leopard on this machine, it's just an artificial limitation.

There's nothing magic in the hardware: it's a software decision. There might be a different USB chip or something (unlikely), but it seems to me to be all about firmware.

In which case, Apple should be able to release an AirPort Extreme Base Station firmware update that would support networked-attached USB for backup just like with Time Capsule. But we'll see. Someone will disassemble Time Capsule and compare.

[bobf]

I believe the Leopard limitation has to do with the underlying filesystem
characteristics, specifically the linking of directories. Standard *nix has had file links forever, but for Leopard Apple has (I think they even patented it) links for directories. I've read that this is what lets Time Machine present its 'point in time' snapshots with minimum data transfer.

This is why normal, external NAS drives won't work properly and Time Machine disks need to be connected to a machine running Leopard. The new Apple Base Station must implement directory links, hence it works with Time Machine.

[nealp]

I would also like to know if it's possible to store iTunes and iPhoto libraries on TC and have other computers on the network access them and add to the libraries of each program.

Can this be done?

[elCapiton]

Nope, that's not why you need Leopard because on an AFP disk it creates a sparse disk image which has it's own file system and it works perfectly for me. My backup has been working over AFP to a Tiger machine since November 2007.

[hillstones]

lwdesign said:

I'm not one for class action lawsuits, or for suing anyone really. However, I'm sorely pressed not to start one due to the promises made by Apple on the previous Airport Extreme 80211n USB port drive backups mess-up. I was looking forward to getting a 750GB or 1TB USB drive and backing up my whole network of 4 computers--but then the functionality was never delivered by Apple!!!

I'd like to know why Apple reneged on its promise--and I'd like to see Apple extend some sort of rebate for purchasers of AE "n" routers within the last year to upgrade to the new Time Capsule that DOES have this capability.

Or how about a firmware update for AE"n" buyers so they can actually get what was promised. After all, the technology is obviously possible because they made it work on the new Time Capsule. Anyone agree with me? Please make your voice heard.

Boo hoo. So Apple decided to develop a new product with a built-in hard drive. You can't sue just because a company changed their mind. Am I going to sue Honda because they decided to add a feature to a car newer than mine? No. Are Windows users suing Microsoft for promised features that never made it to Vista? No. Have you ever heard of the term, "Specifications are subject to change without notice?" Sell the device you bought early, and buy a Time Capsule.

I wouldn't want to back up using Wireless or Ethernet, too slow. I gave Time Machine a try with my FireWire drive. I didn't like the fact that it filled my external drive to full capacity. I don't need hourly backups. They should offer more settings for maybe weekly or monthly, and just update the existing backup without duplicating it over time. I have gone back to my previous routine of backing up my Home directory whenever I want it backed up...every few weeks or so. I also back it up to my laptop and 2nd Mac as well as my FireWire drive.

[Felix001]

Glenn,
Can the initial backup be done via a wired connection? And then continue the incremental update process wirelessly?
Secondly, I didn't see that you answer the question further up about transferring an existing Time Machine file to the internal Time Capsule drive. Can that be done with Apple's Disk Utility? Or maybe SuperDuper 2.5? I've got about 110GB of Time Machine data on an external drive with FW 400/800/USB connections. Can I plug that drive into the Time Capsule USB port and transfer the file (using one of the two apps I already mentioned)? And then continue wirelessly?

[trodriguez]

I'm all for some type of action if Apple doesn't provide a firmware update for AEBS owners. I spent my iPhone rebate on one of these with the intention of using one of my USB drives for Time Machine backups. And as one of the posters mentioned its not even a reliable router in most cases.

[folklore]

stmike said:

Glenn,
I am interested in the TIme Capsule. I want to use it to store files like by iTunes & iPhoto libraries. Can I do this and share the 2 libraries with the family computers? Is the backup done wirelessly?

You can, but you really don't want to.

I tried doing exactly that with my iTunes library an the original (i.e., non-gigabit) 802.11n AEBS. The performance of USB drives attached to an AEBS is just abysmal. I couldn't reliably stream even a 128k AAC audio file - iTunes would spit and stutter. I was really disappointed, because I bought the AEBS just for the AirDisk feature so I could house a central iTunes library. It just didn't work well at all, even on 100mb wired connections.

And, FWIW, you can house the files there easily enough (even though it doesn't really work). But getting two computers to actually share a single iTunes library is not easy (and perhaps impossible). That is, if you add or delete a file from the library on one computer, the other computer won't know about it.