Time Capsule (1TB) has arrived
from AntBlog701

Time Capsule (1TB) has arrived

Just before I start about this exciting Time Capsule product, there's an update about the car that broke down on Wednesday afternoon. The car was fixed this morning. The cause: gear box was damaged. They also 3 whatever smaller items. Fixing the car is not cheap, but I have to car to drive now.

I think I shall talk about the Time Capsule first, and postpone my exciting new backpack to tomorrow.

This afternoon after iChatting with Don, I decided to try to luck again for get Time Capsule. Time Capsule was first announced during MWSF08 (Macworld San Francisco 2008) in January, but it only arrived in Australia last Friday to those who ordered on the first day. I've been calling my usual Apple reseller Academy Store, but they only had very limited numbers and are all pre-ordered. I then called Next Byte, same story. Sam (samelf) told me that Mac1 has quite a few Time Capsules in stock. I called Mac1 Burwood and they have two 500 GB models and a number of 1TB models in stock. I then rushed to get an 1TB model for myself. Thanks Sam, I wasn't expected to get Time Capsule this quick. (Sam works in Mac1 Wollongong.)

(photos of the Time Capsule follow...)

Time Capsule is basically an AirPort Extreme Base Station with a hard disk built-in. It does all the wireless networking as in AirPort Extreme Base Station, it has 802.11n wireless networking, a USB port for external hard disk or printer (can use a hub to connect more than one device), one Gigabit Ethernet WAN port and three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports. Time Capsule comes in two models: 500GB or 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA server-grade hard disk drive storage. Since I have an iMac and a MacBook Pro that need back up (and possible adding PowerBook G4 in the future), I decided that getting a 1TB (1 terabyte = 1024 gigabyte) model makes sense for me. (To Don, I am poor.) Plus, I can use the HDD space on Time Capsule for non-backup usage.

Here are the photos of my new Time Capsule (1TB):

Just for the comparison. Although Time Capsule looks similar to AirPort Extreme Base Station, it is in fact a lot larger than AirPort Extreme Base Station, which is understandable as a hard drive is fitted inside the Time Capsule. It is also interesting to note that Time Capsule does not have an external power brick.

AirPort Extreme vs Time Capsule 1TB:

In my setup, I put Time Capsule in my office, and the AirPort Extreme in the front room (living room), therefore I can use wireless networking anywhere in the house. There's currently one external hard disk connected to the AirPort Extreme Base Station as a network shared drive. I will enable Time Capsule's internal hard disk as shared disk (beside being used for Time Machine backup) when I need more storage space. The previous "TimeMachine" external hard disk will now be revert back to a normal external hard drive. (see this blog entry) Finally, I can switch on the Time Machine backup on my MacBook Pro. It is cool to back up wirelessly without the hassle of attaching an external drive to each Mac (as required previously).

Just as AirPort Extreme Base Station, Time Capsule works for both PC and Mac. However, the Time Machine automatically backup feature requires Mac with Mac OS X Leopard.

So far, the Time Capsule has been working well together with AirPort Extreme Base Station, and it is surprisingly quite. (None of my external hard disks are quiet.) I guess it is time to sell the D-Link's Xtreme N Gigabit Router (DIR-655) and D-Link RangeBooster N 650 Desktop Adapter I bought mid last year.

Again, thank Sam that I can get the Time Capsule much earlier than I expected. Mac1 seems to be much easier to get to compared to Academy Store in Bondi Junction.

This entry has Lightbox effect enabled. Click on the thumbnails for larger photos.

related blog entries:
AirPort Extreme Base Station (8 December 2007)
my Time Machine is switched on (8 November 2007)
802.11n and gigabit ethernet! (21 July 2007)
802.11n part 2 (22 July 2007)