Alternative to Time Capsule

Question

Alternative to Time Capsule

Hey guys,
I would love to get Time Capsule but its too expensive for me to get and I cannot afford it. So I am looking at alternatives to it, I have 2 macs here and I would like to use 1Tb Time Machine HDD (at the moment its connected to G5 as main computer and it has 320gb time machine and looking at upgrading to 1Tb partitioned thinking about 500gb each.)
I've heard of Ethernet hard disks and was thinking about it - are they any good? would it be a good buy/help?
Any comment would be appreciated - it'll help me to decide..
Thanks
Tristan

Message was edited by: Tristan Merritt

PwrMacG5 1.8ghz, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Dec 13, 2008 5:20 AM

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Answer 1

Woggledog

Level 4

1,870 points

Dec 13, 2008 6:04 AM in response to Tristan Merritt

How about an airport extreme with an external usb disc? pretty much identical to the TC, but you get to chose the disk you use time machine with?

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Answer 2

DonH49

Level 6

16,704 points

Dec 13, 2008 7:16 AM in response to Tristan Merritt

I think you'd be disappointed with an ethernet external. Do some research about how user must configure it to use it. http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10994 choose one of the pdf files.

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Answer 3

VA2020

Level 4

3,455 points

Dec 13, 2008 12:06 PM in response to Tristan Merritt

If you have two Mac and they are networked and are running Time Machine, they can use each other's internal HDD as backups (i.e. Mac 1 will backup onto Mac 2 and vice versa). Just a thought.

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Answer 4

cavery

Level 1

0 points

Dec 15, 2008 6:18 PM in response to Woggledog

May I camp my question here?

I've been searching these forums to see if I can use an Apple Express with a 1TB drive in place of purchasing the Time Capsule? I already have a Linksys Wireless router for my local network so I don't need a new Aiport with an expensive 1TB drive included. And I have an Airport Express that I use as a wireless print server on my Linksys network. I'd like to add a USB dock to the Airport Express and a 1TB drive and use the Time Capsule/Airport Utility software to back up the 4 machines on my network.

Will this work? And assuming so, how come I can't find anything written about this?

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Answer 5

VA2020

Level 4

3,455 points

Dec 15, 2008 11:29 PM in response to cavery

christopheravery wrote:
May I camp my question here? I'd like to add a USB dock to the Airport Express and a 1TB drive and use the Time Capsule/Airport Utility software to back up the 4 machines on my network.

Will this work? And assuming so, how come I can't find anything written about this?

No. It can work with the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule, but NOT the Express. The USB port is for printers only.

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Answer 6

cavery

Level 1

0 points

Dec 16, 2008 5:21 PM in response to VA2020

Thanks so much VA2020! After reading this I stumbled on apple.com/wifi/ and see that specification. I kinda thought a usb port was a usb port (not a "printer-only" usb -- and I am aware of USB 2.0) so I'm glad I asked and appreciate your kind response.

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