Alternatives to the no longer available Time Capsule?

[hempomatic]

I guess Apple assumes everyone uses cloud storage for back ups ? My time capsule worked great for a several years, but hasn't worked at all since I bought this computer that was pre-loaded with Catalina. I've since updated to Monterey. I'm not a cloud user, so what are my alternatives now? I was considering a WD personal cloud. I don't need an NAS device (look at me, all techie and $#@%), but WD has a couple of options, a 4TB unit as well as a dual 4TB unit. I assume the dual 4 TB unit is more or less a RAID configuration with two 4TB drives? As I understand it, the only Time Capsules available are refurbs. I'm presently without any real back up, although I did copy some files to a 2TB internal drive that I'm using as an external, so if this computer decides to self destruct, I have at least SOME protection. I've lost so much important data in the past year, I'm just trying to avoid that in the future.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

There were some issues with Time Machine and Monterey early on (I was victimized by this myself), but those bugs should all be resolved by now. Are you fully up to date with Monterey? Current version is 12.4. And yes, I use an original Apple Time Capsule still, with an upgraded drive inside.

I'm disinclined to suggest using a WD MyCloud device. These types of things tend to be less reliable due to catering to low budget.

 

[Slydude]

Just a couple of thoughts/questions for you:
1. What issues are you having with your Time Capsule? Perhaps there is an easy fix for your issue?

2. There are some third-party routers available lhat allow someone to back up their hard drive in a way similar to the Time Capsule. An external hard drive is attached to the USB port on the router .Perhaps our members can be more specific, it has been a while since I researched this topic. Netgear routers used to support this.

3. Apple isn't necessarily forcing cloud backups. In fact, most people have more data to back up than the basic iCloud account provides though you can purchase extra storage. You can still complete Time Machine backups by connecting an external drive directly to the computer.

 

[IWT]

@hempomatic

May I suggest that you reconsider iCloud backups? Your Mac and all iDevices can BU to iCloud. Of course, if you have a large Music library and a large Photos library plus all the other bits and pieces, it can quickly exceed Apple's miserly 5GB free of charge.

But, consider, for $2.90/month you get 50 GB storage and for $9.90/month you get 200GB of storage. Neither sum is extortionate. How much does a good quality coffee cost?

In addition to two Time Machine backups and a Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) backup, I have iCloud BU which covers all my devices and libraries and documents etc. I fully understand the fiscal restraints that many of our members face, but I still think that for the cost of one coffee/month, you can get adequate BU to iCloud.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

As has been asked, what is it you want to accomplish? The Apple TC is just a wifi router with an internal hard drive that could be used for backup. You can get the same functionality with a USB drive that you attach to your present router (even, I think, the Apple TC). Or you can do a backup with the USB drive directly attached to the Mac, or to a hub attached to the Mac, or, or, or. Lots of options. I even think you can backup from Monterey to the TC itself, but I do have to admit I don't know that for sure. I think it depends on how the TC drive is mounted. You can use a NAS, if you want, for another set of options. And has been mentioned, iCloud is not a bad way to go. I think Ian got the pricing wrong, though. I found this at Apple:

iCloud+ plans and pricing - Apple Support

When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5GB of free storage. If you need more space in iCloud, you can upgrade to iCloud+.

support.apple.com

I have 2TB for US$9.99/month.

 

[MacInWin]

I found this article that implies you CAN use TC for backups of Monterey:

Time Capsule won't back - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

and Apple says it can be done:

Backup disks you can use with Time Machine - Apple Support

To make a Time Machine backup of your Mac, you need a storage device that is compatible with Time Machine.

support.apple.com

 

[lclev]

I back up my MBP running Monterey to a Time Capsule. I just looked and it completed one today 30 minutes ago. I have two Time Capules at work. One backs up a 2014 iMac running Catalina and the other one a 2019 iMac running Monterey. I did initially have issues with my MBP not backing up to it's Time Capsule but updates to Monterey plus wiping old backups off the TC fixed that.

I love my Time Capsules. When they die I will be very sad....

Lisa

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I guess Apple assumes everyone uses cloud storage for back ups ?

I think that Apple assumes that every Macintosh has a dedicated external hard drive attached to it running a Time Machine backup. It appears to be the only form of backup that their tech support notes ever mention:

https://support.apple.com/kb/index?...searchbox_psp&locale=en_US&q=macintosh+backup

My time capsule worked great for a several years, but hasn't worked at all since I bought this computer that was pre-loaded with Catalina. I've since updated to Monterey. I'm not a cloud user, so what are my alternatives now?

There are huge pros and cons to backing up to the cloud, no matter which service you choose. I tend to land on the side of not using the cloud myself, but since you seem to have already made that decision I won't talk about the pros and the cons.

If you don't want to attach a single hard drive to each Macintosh that you have, and then doing either a clone backup (using something like SuperDuper! or CarbonCopyCloner), or a versioned backup (Time Machine being most popular), then currently the next most popular way to do a local backup (especially to multiple Macs) is to use a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device.

I was considering a WD personal cloud.

That is, itself, a type of NAS....a very unreliable one that I never recommend. WD branded external storage products tend to be horribly unreliable.

There are a bunch of different brands of NAS, but most consultants recommend a Synology, as they are very reliable and come with excellent software. Check out this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077PJX8TH

See:

Using a Synology NAS to Escape the Cloud
https://tidbits.com/2022/04/29/using-a-synology-nas-to-escape-the-cloud/

If you need me to expand on why I recommend a local, instead of a cloud backup, or what a NAS is and how it is used, just let me know. But I think that the links that I gave should explain everything.

 

[hempomatic]

I guess I'll just go with a traditional remote drive back up. I rather liked the idea of a RAID type network back up, but Of course time capsule/time machine would have been the way to go.

 

[MacInWin]

I guess I'll just go with a traditional remote drive back up. I rather liked the idea of a RAID type network back up, but Of course time capsule/time machine would have been the way to go.

By "remote drive" do you mean online? That's kind of what "remote" means. Or do you mean just an externally attached drive with a USB cable, etc? That's a direct attached drive. You can use a RAID drive for that (I have two of them). Or you can use a drive with its own attachment to the network, a network attached storage or NAS. And that NAS can be a straight drive or a RAID array as well. And if your router has a USB port on it, you could attach the drive to that port and be kind of like a Time Capsule. Time MACHINE, on the other hand, is the software to make a backup to any/all of these options.

Frankly, the easiest thing for you is to get an external drive, either single or RAID, attach it to the Mac with the appropriate cable and use TM to make backups to it, either as a single or RAID drive. Keep it simple at this point.

 

[pm-r]

And if your router has a USB port on it, you could attach the drive to that port and be kind of like a Time Capsule.

Be aware, that some ISPs (such as ours, shaw.ca) disable the USB ports on most of the routers they supply as I discovered, and I have no idea why.

I just thought I should mention the fact and apparently it seems to be quite a common practice.


- Patrick
=======

 

[ferrarr]

Be aware, that some ISPs (such as ours, shaw.ca) disable the USB ports on most of the routers they supply as I discovered, and I have no idea why.

I found this out as well with my Verizon FiOS router.

 

[hempomatic]

@hempomatic


But, consider, for $2.90/month you get 50 GB storage and for $9.90/month you get 200GB of storage. Neither sum is extortionate. How much does a good quality coffee cost?



Ian

Hey Ian, no, I don't think that's an exorbitant price, but ...... I'm on a fixed income, walking a tightrope lately, and it becomes one of those "death by 1000 cuts" scenarios. I feel a lot more comfortable having things local in the event I become cash strapped. Losing 2 gig of data because I run out of funds is a scary proposition. My wife's job hired a lot of new people, and cut everyone's hours at the same time so they don't have to pay benefits. The times we live in. I'm not crying poverty, but I do have to be careful.

 

[hempomatic]

I found this out as well with my Verizon FiOS router.

My (non functioning) time capsule is connected via Ethernet. Perhaps THAT's why it doesn't work? My router does have a USB port. How can I test that to see if it's been disabled?

 

[ferrarr]

My router does have a USB port. How can I test that to see if it's been disabled?

Get the model number from the back of the router and do a web search. Some routers have multiple versions available, so you need to be specificin the model you search for.

 

[IWT]

Hey Ian, no, I don't think that's an exorbitant price, but ...... I'm on a fixed income, walking a tightrope lately, and it becomes one of those "death by 1000 cuts" scenarios. I feel a lot more comfortable having things local in the event I become cash strapped. Losing 2 gig of data because I run out of funds is a scary proposition. My wife's job hired a lot of new people, and cut everyone's hours at the same time so they don't have to pay benefits. The times we live in. I'm not crying poverty, but I do have to be careful.

Of course. Totally understandable. As I mentioned, everyone has their own fiscal constraints. My sole intension was to draw people's attention to an alternative option.

All the best you.

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

My (non functioning) time capsule is connected via Ethernet. Perhaps THAT's why it doesn't work? My router does have a USB port. How can I test that to see if it's been disabled?

Does the TC have a USB? If it is working, that could be a good option.

BTW, the newer versions of macOS mount network drives differently than older versions. We haven't explored why the TC stopped working. That may be worth checking out before spending anything for an external solution. I don't have a TC, but maybe somebody with one can give some hints on what to check.

 

[pm-r]

My router does have a USB port. How can I test that to see if it's been disabled?

I'm just taking a guess here, but I would think if one plugged in any working USB storage device and then opened Disk Utility to search for it, if nothing showed up, I'm guessing that the USB port was possibly disabled.

In your case, I would be investigating your TC a bit closer as to why it may not be working and the various ports you may have available to you, even if they have had a fairly High failure rate.

And maybe check this site out, and hopefully you can understand his English...

- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

I'm just taking a guess here, but I would think if one plugged in any working USB storage device and then opened Disk Utility to search for it, if nothing showed up, I'm guessing that the USB port was possibly disabled.

Not sure of that, Patrick. Networked drives don't show up in my Disk Utility, just the directly attached drives. I think the USB ports on the router would use a network protocol to connect. And from the video (which was for Windows, BTW) the router needs to be told to share the USB, and that it needs a user created for that share, which implies that the drive will need to be attached as a network drive, through Finder. The video specifically mentions the SMB interface.

 

[hempomatic]

The time capsule does in fact have a USB port. I plugged in a relatively blank thumb drive . When I go to the TM set-up, It seems I can choose THAT drive as my back-up. Does that make sense? I assume then if I simply plug in a large drive, I can use TM like I used to and have an effective back up?

WD does not seem to be a fan favorite, what do you guys recommend? Even if it's relatively unreliable, if I'm only using it a few minutes every day, any drive should hold up reasonably well, yes?

Also, as Jake mentioned, plugging into the router did NOT show the networked drive in disk utility.