Can I use two Time Capsules in our home with two Imacs?

[Streamliner]

We went "cold turkey" and dumped our two PC's and got two Imacs, one for me and one for my wife. We have hers set up in the kitchen, using a Time Capsule, which provides wi-fi for the whole house and back up for her Imac. I have mine set up in my office and I access the web via the wi-fi. I have a second Time Capsule, which I have not yet set up. I would like to use it to back up my Imac, ONLY. I would like her Time Capsule to back up her work, ONLY. Will this work? Do I need to do anything special? I want to access wi-fi from her Time Capsule, but I don't want my work backed up on her Time Capsule, only on mine. I'm brand new to Mac and would appreciate any help. Thanks.

 

[chscag]

Welcome to the Mac Forums.

I'm not sure I understand the need for the second TC unit if you're going to use the one in the kitchen to provide WiFi for the entire home and to only back up your wife's iMac?

You can use any external hard drive attached to your iMac for Time Machine backup purposes. If you're within two weeks of having purchased the second TC from Apple, you can return it for a refund. I don't know if you can use the TC as a stand alone unit for backup without using it that way with WiFi. The TC does have a USB port with which you can connect a printer or an external hard drive.

Of course you can always setup another WiFi network in your home with the additional TC and use it as it was intended. Just make sure you set it to a different channel and assign it a different network name.

 

[bobtomay]

I'm with chscag. If the existing TC gives you good coverage throughout the house and you're not planning to use the wifi capabilities of the 2nd TC, take it back and get an external drive.

But, you would set up the 2nd one exactly the same as you set up the first one except you'll connect it via ethernet to your Mac and make sure the wifi is turned off on it.