[folklore]

hillstones said:

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.

While you're right that specs are subject to change - which would probably sink a lawsuit - you have to admit that it's a pretty raw deal. If the only difference is the firmware, it seems rather silly to not release a firmware update to address it. Particularly since they were advertising the functionality until very shortly before the release of Leopard. What is surprising is that, so far, I've not seen any reporting that actually asks Apple representatives about this issue. (Hint, hint)

Even if an update to the AEBS comes, I'd be surprised if Apple doesn't charge for the update, as they have with other updates recently that added functionality (e.g., the iPod Touch update, the 802.11n enabler). I'd be willing to pay for the functionality.

[chrissy]

TC has already arrived?? How come my pre-order is still not shipped.. >.<
Can't wait to lay my hands on them!!
Thanks for the review!

[thewill]

USB2 is rated at 480 mbps, but that's just at burst speed. Sustained transfers are a lot slower. Firewire 400 is actually a lot faster than USB2 because transfer speeds are about the same between burst and sustained. I wish the iPhone would go back to firewire. Doing a data sync after every new firmware jailbreak is getting to be tiresome.

I'm interested in having TC as a central iTunes/iPhoto server too. My current network is composed of a PowerMac, Mac Mini, AEBS, and External hard drive. The Mac Mini is always on and connected to the external hard drive via a eSATA 150 gbps connection. Both Macs connect to the AEBS via gigabit ethernet. I don't notice any delays in reading and writing to the iTunes and iPhoto libraries stored on the external hard drive from the PowerMac.

My previous post on this thread was about the TC internal hard drive connection. The hard drive is rated for SATA speeds, but I bet its connected to USB2 (same bus for TC external hard drive) before going to the ethernet or wireless. If I'm correct, TC will be slow as a server. I hope I'm wrong.

[DavidCar]

I am interested in the difference in speed tests when writing to a Time Capsule -- 16 Mbps vs 80 Mbps. I wonder if the cable makes any difference, a CAT5 cable vs a gigabit CAT6 cable.

[kevinv]

The gigabit standard is written for gigabit on CAT 5 so you're aren't going to see a difference with CAT 6 cable. Especially over short distances.

[MrLizard]

Cheers Glenn,

My ISP gives me a static IP address, so I assume that, if I leave my TC plugged in and I take my MacBook away with me somewhere, I should be able to connect to it back home and browse it via the Finder

-Mr Lizard

[HalanR]

"I hope someone takes it apart and compares the hardware to that of the AEBSn to see what the difference is"

There's a teardown report linked on TAUW.COM. I'm not real happy with what they found in the 1TB model (which I currently have on order). It's shown to have a Hitachi Deskstar 1TB drive installed, which is definitely not a "server-class" hard drive. Another person reported a Seagate Barracuda? ES SATA in his 500G TC, which is a better drive.

So, what gives? I want to give Apple the benefit of the doubt here, but I'm not going to be happy with a drive that is not as advertised.

[Glenn_Fleishman]

Felix001 said:

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?

First: Yes, you can connect either via the wired LAN, wired WAN (if it's shared via the WAN), or wireless LAN for initial or subsequent backups. If I were buying a Time Capsule, I'd hook my machine up via Ethernet for the first backup to speed the process up.



Second: Time Capsule as well as networked Leopard AFP shares used for Time Machine (essentially the same thing) use sparse disk images, which are a kind of bundle, and aren't organized in the same precise way as a local Time Machine backup--one made through a physically connected drive. Some other comments on this article spell out some of the technical problems.

[Glenn_Fleishman]

MrLizard said:

Cheers Glenn,

My ISP gives me a static IP address, so I assume that, if I leave my TC plugged in and I take my MacBook away with me somewhere, I should be able to connect to it back home and browse it via the Finder



-Mr Lizard

That's right. You have to check Share Disks over Ethernet WAN Port in the Disks pane in AirPort Utility for the given base station or Time Capsule for that to work. But otherwise it's precisely like AFP over IP has been for a long time. Which is nice. Of course, if you're trying to access Time Machine backups, they are stored in the sparse image format, which have to be mounted, and I'm not sure if that happens quickly over a remote connectioon.

[lenny]

I was wondering about that too. Is it possible to just copy folder "Backups.backupdb" from the existing Time Machine HD to Time Capsule?

[lin2log]

Oh come ON people... even toying with the idea of SUEING over the (currently) missing USB functionality??! LOL... how american can you get?? Pathetic.

Maybe try whining less and waiting more, since I think anyone with half a brain will realize, that a firmware upgrade for older "n's" is a (eventual) shoe-in! Just let Apple sell a few hundred thousand Time Capsule's and you'll be next in line. Ya gotta give a new product a small heads-up the first few weeks!

In fact, maybe someone should try using the new Admin Tool on an older "n" Airport and see if it doesn't offer to upgrade the station... :-)) since you wouldn't need more than that to get there. TC is nothing more than a "normal" Extreme station with a "USB" disk already attached...

l2l

[lin2log]

{quote:title=hillstones wrote:}{quote}

Quote

Boo hoo. [?] 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.

I'd say BOO HOO to YOU, since you obviously don't even vaguely grasp the TM concept. Why, therefore, it quite obviously ISN'T your best option. No idea what it is you do, but if I were to lose more than half a DAY'S worth of data, due to a sloppy backup scheme, wow... no thanks.

cheers
l2l

[folklore]

lin2log said:

In fact, maybe someone should try using the new Admin Tool on an older "n" Airport and see if it doesn't offer to upgrade the station... :-)) since you wouldn't need more than that to get there. TC is nothing more than a "normal" Extreme station with a "USB" disk already attached...

In point of fact, I have checked for a firmware update using the Airport Utility for my not-gigabit 802.11n AEBS. No update is available as of this writing.

Your point about the TC being mostly indistinguishable from an AEBS is exactly why those of us that have an AEBS feel aggrieved. Because we "wouldn't need more than" a firmware upgrade, which you seem to agree is a relatively minor thing, we're sorta upset about there not being a firmware upgrade for the AEBS that coincided with the release of the TC. :)

[Felix001]

HalanR said:

There's a teardown report linked on TUAW.COM. I'm not real happy with what they found in the 1TB model (which I currently have on order). It's shown to have a Hitachi Deskstar 1TB drive installed, which is definitely not a "server-class" hard drive.

Glenn provided some additional information about the drive quality in a TidBITS article:

http://db.tidbits.com/article/9479

And here's the Hitachi spec sheet:

http://www.hitachigs.../Deskstar7K1000010307final.pdf