Best wireless solution Time Machine for MBP

lrd


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My first mac was a MacBook Pro. MyTime Machine drive was a Firewire800 external drive that eventually failed. I ten bought a Netgear NAS that support TM, so that was my next solution. I then bought an iMac with 1TB Fusion Drive. I used the NAS to as the TM for the iMac as well. Now the TM for the iMac is full and it has started overwriting data, so I bought a 4TB external USB 3.0 drive to take over those duties (decided against a NAS solution as I wasn't happy with the previous device).

History done, now my question. What's the best solution for TM for a laptop? I'm sure the NAS TM partition is going to be full soon, looking for the "next" solution. I'd prefer a wireless solution so I don't have to hook a drive up routinely. Can I hook one into my Airport Extreme, or hook it into the iMac and share it? If I choose the latter (space issue near my router), does it work regardless of which user is logged into the computer? Or do I need to share it from all accounts to be accessible at all times?
 
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See signature block :)
Hello lrd,

2 years ago I bought a 3TB Time Capsule because I wanted mass storage and the availability to access it wirelessly. My iTunes library which is roughly 2.5TBs is sitting in the Time Capsule. It's great because I can access it with any mac and it doesn't fill up my Macbook.

Obviously that is not what the Time Capsule is there for. But I will be doing exactly the same thing in roughly 3 months time as I will buy the 2013 iMac maxed out. Like yourself, I will purchase a 4TB but I will use it for my iTunes library which was previously used on the Time Capsule. I will then use the 3TB Time Capsule to backup my Macbook Pro and iMac and use it as it should have been used 2 years ago when I bought it. My Macbook pro has 240GB SSD and the iMac will have 1TB SSD. My wife has 500GBs in her macbook pro so all together, the 3TB Time Capsule will be more than enough for these tasks and plus it's wireless.

The new one is pricey and if your looking for a cheaper variant then I would suggest the 3 or 2 TB Time capsule from last year. I've been seeing the 3TB version from last year go for about 150$ and because it's apple it's wireless and long lasting :)

If you have money to spend then I would get the 3TB Time Capsule from 2013.
I've got the Airport Extreme 2013 and am very happy with it.

Again it's up to you and I hope this helps a little,

regards,

Robin
 
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lrd


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Thanks, but not really interested in spending that kind of money as my old Airport Extreme is working fine. Can I just attach a drive to the usb port and do the same thing?
 
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I believe so because I can attach a HDD via USB to my 3TB Time Capsule and use that as a secondary hard drive for my 3TB Time Capsule.

I hope this helps. I have not tried to connect a hard drive via usb to my airport extreme but this is something I will test out in a couple of weeks when I come home.

regards,

Robin
 
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Yes you can attach a USB drive to an AEBS although it works for some I did experience a problem twice in the 2 years I had it and Apple will not support it currently.
The TC is fully supported and seems to work without issue so far.
I can't explain it but there is a speed difference between the TC and a AEBS with a drive connected via USB
the TC seems to write at a higher Mbps.
 
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Sadly I won't be able to test this theory with my AEBS 2013 until I get back in december. If no one posts anything about it then I will let you know when I'm back from work overseas. May make a video to it too.
 

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