Should I buy the new time capsule?

[Kylie]

I have a Samsung TV connected to an Apple TV and a Macbook Air laptop. I would like to use the time capsule as a wireless time-machine backup for my laptop but also for general storage. Lastly would I be able to use the time capsule as a general media server.

Would I always have to have my laptop open to do this and access the timecapsule through the network and then airplay the video through the apple tv? Doesnt seem like a great solution.

Other than what I have mentioned is there any reason to actually buy the time capsule? Would it also provide extra reach on my network (more so than the standard telkom wireless router)?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[JStrike]

Extremely easy backups are the main reason for the time capsule.
If you put your iTunes library on the time capsule, you can access it via your Apple TV without having to go through AirPlay. But your computer will need to be on. You can also quite simply jailbreak the AppleTV, install XBMC, and then you don't need to have the computer on

 

[bwana]

Extremely easy backups are the main reason for the time capsule.
If you put your iTunes library on the time capsule, you can access it via your Apple TV without having to go through AirPlay. But your computer will need to be on. You can also quite simply jailbreak the AppleTV, install XBMC, and then you don't need to have the computer on

Is there a JB for the ATV 3 finally?

 

[[)roi(]]

Is there a JB for the ATV 3 finally?

Nope.

 

[[)roi(]]

I have a Samsung TV connected to an Apple TV and a Macbook Air laptop. I would like to use the time capsule as a wireless time-machine backup for my laptop but also for general storage. Lastly would I be able to use the time capsule as a general media server.

Would I always have to have my laptop open to do this and access the timecapsule through the network and then airplay the video through the apple tv? Doesnt seem like a great solution.

Other than what I have mentioned is there any reason to actually buy the time capsule? Would it also provide extra reach on my network (more so than the standard telkom wireless router)?

Any help is appreciated.

I'm not a big fan of Apple's Timecapsule (the WIFI router part is ok, but for the rest you are better off with something either cheaper or more flexible); for example:
1. Buying an external drive and attaching it directly to your MBA (can be used by both iTunes and Time Machine)
2. Finding a 2nd hand Mac Mini to use as a dedicated iTunes media server (optionally add an external drive for both extended media use and/or Time Machine backups)
3. Using a low cost Windows PC as a iTunes media server (only restriction is that this cannot be used for Time Machine backups)

Btw this is how to get Time Machine to work with HFS network drives:
http://code.stephenmorley.org/articles/time-machine-on-a-network-drive/

 

[Way69]

While being a big Apple fan, I don't see the point of the time capsule... You could buy a router and attached a usb drive to it or you could attach usb drive directly to your machine. To be honest, I dont see the point of buying any of Apples networking devices as they don't offer anything worthy of the excessive price.

 

[Way69]

Extremely easy backups are the main reason for the time capsule.
If you put your iTunes library on the time capsule, you can access it via your Apple TV without having to go through AirPlay. But your computer will need to be on. You can also quite simply jailbreak the AppleTV, install XBMC, and then you don't need to have the computer on

How is this different from accessing your music on the AppleTv, which is being streamed from your iTunes library on your Mac?

 

[GreyBush]

How is this different from accessing your music on the AppleTv, which is being streamed from your iTunes library on your Mac?

Does seem a bit pointless.

 

[bwana]

How is this different from accessing your music on the AppleTv, which is being streamed from your iTunes library on your Mac?

If you have a mac running 24/7 then its a great idea. Some people don't like doing that though. Likewise if you're a laptop user chances are when you go to work your library will be going with you.

 

[Way69]

If you have a mac running 24/7 then its a great idea. Some people don't like doing that though. Likewise if you're a laptop user chances are when you go to work your library will be going with you.

Best option if you have uncapped is to use iTunes Match and just stream your music.

 

[bwana]

Best option if you have uncapped is to use iTunes Match and just stream your music.

Great for audio, but your video collection?

 

[Way69]

Great for audio, but your video collection?

Got me there... Only recently started encoding my video to a compatible format and playing via my appletv. What a revelation in terms of functionality.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Don't get a TC - I purchased the 2nd generation one and my experience is that neither the WiFi part nor the storage/backup options are really great. Also, the TC having only one hard-drive does not make it a reliable backup-device. I am not sure about the current generation TC, but the 1st/2nd generation had plenty of hard-drive failures before the MTBF of the drive. I would rather go with a raided HTPC (HP is a good option) or a NAS such as QNAP or Synology (but there go for at least a 4-bay). A TC will probably cost now about 3K, a barebone NAS (which then also works as a media-server/iTunes library server) will cost you about 4-5K (initial investment is extremely expensive, when you start adding storage).

 

[Kylie]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess picking up a 2nd hand mac mini is the best bet. I'll keep an eye out for one but no luck so far.

 

[bwana]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess picking up a 2nd hand mac mini is the best bet. I'll keep an eye out for one but no luck so far.

I bought mine in 2006 and I still ain't selling.

FWIW this year I finally had to replace the original hdd.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

I think 2nd hand mac minis hold value very well and I doubt that any mac mini owner would sell it (unless the device is giving trouble). Looking at the price of a new mac mini, I would rather purchase a full fledged NAS or a XBMC device such as a Xtreamer. My biggest concern with a mini or a TC is that it only caters for a single drive (so if that drive goes and you don't backup to multiple targets you are stuffed). I use a 5-bay Synology NAS which is primary storage and manages media and timemachine backups. A Xtreamer (XBMC) media player serves content (the rpi was too slow to play HD content properly).

 

[[)roi(]]

I bought mine in 2006 and I still ain't selling.

FWIW this year I finally had to replace the original hdd.

I upgraded to a new one in 2010; to which I have 10Tb of external drives attached; loaded with over 4Tb of movies, TV shows, Podcasts, Music, ... and on top of that it runs OSX Server to provide:
1. Shared network drives
2. Software update caching server (6 Macs, 4 iPads, 3 iPhones and 5 Apple TVs to keep updated)
3. Shared scanner, printers, fax, ...
4. Shared Time Machine network share (used for all Macs).
5. Squid web proxy.
6. Local DNS server with DNS caching.
7. DHCP server.

As a desktop PC they're nice (but most people could find some easy critiques), but once you have them as a server, they fast become very invaluable...

I loved mine so much I bought another one (dedicated for work stuff)

 

[[)roi(]]

My biggest concern with a mini or a TC is that it only caters for a single drive (so if that drive goes and you don't backup to multiple targets you are stuffed). I use a 5-bay Synology NAS which is primary storage and manages media and timemachine backups. A Xtreamer (XBMC) media player serves content (the rpi was too slow to play HD content properly).

Wrong... Aside from 2 internals, I have 4 external drives with capacity for another 2.

Look at my previous post; you'll soon see why minis are far more invaluable. Remember they can also serve as a NAS (older models via FW & USB, newer ones via Thunderbolt & USB3), also host a XBMC, Plex server, and pretty much anything you could imagine. I even have mine automatically bringing in TV shows additions (some coding required for this one)

Not the case with the Synology + your solution doesn't support Apple TVs i.e. His MBA would still be tied up as his iTunes media server.

 

[MagicDude4Eva]

Wrong... Aside from 2 internals, I have 4 external drives with capacity for another 2.

Look at my previous post; you'll soon see why minis are far more invaluable. Remember they can also serve as a NAS (older models via FW & USB, newer ones via Thunderbolt & USB3), also host a XBMC, Plex server, and pretty much anything you could imagine.

Not the case with the Synology.

I even have mine automatically bringing in TV shows additions (some coding required for this one)

I see your previous post - quite an impressive setup. I didn't know that the mini's could take in two drives (so you have raid-0/1 on the mini?). I guess for me the biggest issue would be to have individual drives with no redundancy attached to the mini (all USB or FW?) unless OS X server is somehow able to stripe across them (don't know how this would work). Do you then have all the external drives and the mini UPS'ed and if so, how do you avoid any storage issues, since a UPS would eventually run out of juice and pull power (I guess the OS X server would unmount file-systems properly and do a proper shutdown).

I treat the Synology as a server-/storage-tier - so the Synology does the Timemachine backups, Squid, DHCP, DNS, network shares, iTunes libraries as well as web applications for cloud services (photos/video I share with relatives via the web). I then run gigabit across the house (for media playback) and a number of wifi hotspots.

I guess the mini will scale out to a certain level but will never have true redundancy. With the current Synology I run 15TB of raided storage and go transparently (without major rebuild) to expansion modules or rackmount if I choose. I think it really just depends on the OP's budget and short/mid term plan.

 

[bwana]

I upgraded to a new one in 2010; to which I have 10Tb of external drives attached; loaded with over 4Tb of movies, TV shows, Podcasts, Music, ... and on top of that it runs OSX Server to provide:
1. Shared network drives
2. Software update caching server (6 Macs, 4 iPads, 3 iPhones and 5 Apple TVs to keep updated)
3. Shared scanner, printers, fax, ...
4. Shared Time Machine network share (used for all Macs).
5. Squid web proxy.
6. Local DNS server with DNS caching.
7. DHCP server.

As a desktop PC they're nice (but most people could find some easy critiques), but once you have them as a server, they fast become very invaluable...

I loved mine so much I bought another one (dedicated for work stuff)

Mine's got numerous external drives tucked in the cupboard - no space in my mini for another hdd - maybe if I removed the CD/DVD drive but then I wouldn't have a CD/DVD drive.

I just use mine for iTunes as well as all my downloading, streaming Netflix, ripping, encoding, etc. All our other machines are laptops so it's nice having at least one machine that's running 24/7. It's old but it gets the job done without a fuss.