Time Capsule End of Life, What to do

The Gen5 tower TC are horrible units construction wise. I am guessing yours is tower and not the Gen4.

The fan should be replaced not just cleaned.. but I think it is now old enough to have served out its time.

You must have bought it just after the tower was released if you have the age correct.

Most ISP supplied routers are frankly terrible. You can certainly give it a shot. Does not cost anything to try and I am a big believer in using what you have instead of buying more if it does the job. If all your devices get adequately fast wireless connections and it can handle the load of everything you are using by wireless.. stick to it. But test over several days to make sure it is stable and remains fast.

You do need to buy something for backup, unless you also have a desktop Mac which I don't see listed.

just connecting a Netgear backup drive to use with Time Machine

Which model are talking about?

Netgear have had issues keeping up with Time Machine.. it is not easy as Apple made major changes at Sierra and the latest, Catalina seems to be causing more issues than ever. If you mean their NAS range I would recommend Synology as better alternative. Cost wise you will need to see if it fits your budget. Synology and Qnap are the two big boys in the NAS scene and Synology is the winner for Apple with Time Machine especially.

If Arris is not up to the task, consider Asus high end routers or Synology. Both support Time Machine to USB3 drive. Synology being the better. I have issues with the Asus TM backup on long term but then so do lots of people using Time Capsule so it is difficult to sort where is the problem. Synology has limited model range so RT2600AC is the one. Asus has very extensive range .. I would go RT-AC86U.

If you would like better wireless a lot of people are moving to Mesh systems.. where you replace the main router (or WAP) with two or three that link by wireless or ethernet on some better ones. Netgear Orbi is top of the range there. No Time Machine on this sadly.

BTW

If you are a DIYer first class. (meaning more time than sense I think!! Or just no money!!)

Not for weak or feint hearted. I just finished a second one that went even better having used the first as test bench object of learning. The first one was really dead. ... I have instructions for FIXING the Gen5 TC.

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems/apple-time-capsule-repair/repair-ac-version-time-capsule-or-extreme

masonavery wrote:

Also, as far as the backup drive I was looking at the Seagate Backup Plus Portable 5TB External Hard Drive HDD USB 3.0, but now I am looking at the Synology as well.

The USB drive has to be plugged directly into the computer. Unless you buy a new router of the types I listed.

A bit of a nuisance with two laptops but possible. Time Machine works a lot better to local cf network drive.

Perhaps buying 2x2TB is a better choice.. for not so obvious reasons.. see below.

As a more general comment.

Make of this what you will.

Backup drives come in assortment of types. But there is one type to avoid.. Drives that use SMR format.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingled_magnetic_recording

Basically any portable (2.5") drive will use SMR if it is larger than 2TB. And any backup drive 3.5" desktop type larger than 4TB will use SMR. This is not hard and fast. When you look at the drives shucked from USB holders there is always a range of drives. (DIYer will know what shucking means)

AVOID SMR drives like PLAGUE. And a PLAGUE on the house of Seagate in particular for coming up with this horrendous idea.

I get the idea their popularity is waning. We can only hope. If a drive goes bad.. SMR will make data recovery near impossible.. that is assuming it even works the first time loading data onto overlapping tracks.

You must tell me what the Delta Quadrant is like.. if I remember my Star Trek Lore correctly.

Watch out for black holes.

what would you buy to use as an automated time machine compatible back up drive that would be unplugged from two laptops. So basically both laptops would back up over Wi-Fi like I’ve always had it. 3-4TB would be plenty of space. Thanks

This is the Goldilocks Paradox. You want just right.. not too hot.. not too cold.

If money is no object.. go hot.. Synology NAS. Plug it into router.. there you have it. Wifi or ethernet connect via your router to the NAS. It has several major advantages.. It is FAST.. much faster than anything USB hanging off a router. It is safe and reliable.

It can do loads of stuff on your network.. e.g.. handle security cams, video store, itunes server, photos store. file sharing.

Everyone would be using them if they didn't cost so much.

A very popular DIYer form of this is an HP microserver running Xpenology which is free version of Synology OS. Actually any old PC can do this job. This is a medium variation.. cold on money.. hot on time.

If money is seriously short.. Go too cold.. And this is with strong DIY skills.. I would buy a Gen4 A1409 Time Capsule from eBay. It must be in working condition but they sell here for $50.. I have bought and sold lots for people. Does not matter if it is 2TB or 3TB although 3TB is preferred if it is cheap enough.. don't pay a lot extra. They have WD Green that are now at least 6-8 years old. Even an earlier one the Gen3 A1355 which mostly used a 1TB drive. And it could sell here for $20-40 are basically the same with poorer wireless which you are going to turn off. Don't buy earlier ones.. they are crappy with poor power supplies.

I would replace the disk with 4TB if required.. immediately in the case of 1TB samsung.. but if 2TB is enough.. why not use the drive from your Gen5. Before you put the base back on drill some holes in it.. and be prepared for power supply failure. I just use external supply. Don't put the rubber mat back.. use some feet. Lots of info on my website if you go back to the main pages. These earlier ones are just as fast on disk access as the Gen5, much better built, and easy to modify. Plug it into the main router by ethernet and turn off wireless. Throw the Gen5 in the bin. The problem is long term.. this is going to keep you going a few years with luck but eventually it is going to die. Apple intend everything to be cloud based by then I think. shudder!!

The middle of the road method. Neither too hot or too cold.

Do not buy the ISP router. Buy Asus or Synology. If you need a modem buy a pure modem with no router.. cheap and easy.

Plug the 3-4TB USB drive into it and setup Time Machine according to the relevant manual or online instructions.

If you have issues.. be ready to dump Time Machine for a decent alternative like Carbon Copy Cloner. License covers all computers in your home. It works hugely better than TM for reliability. You do need to put it into your costings. Actually on any Mac OS since Sierra I would say the same to any network target.

Sorry it won't work.. Time Machine is fairly tricky to get working and the modem router manufacturers do not include it. Even if they did I doubt it would work very well. Just getting decent USB hard disk speeds is no fun.

No harm trying but I would say it is not going to get the results you want.

Wow.. that is great. Well done.

Goldilocks finds the happy medium.. not too hot.. not too cold.

I wonder if it got lost in the stock room or something. Apple has been sold out for ages.. and if they replace for warranty.. big if that now.. it is always refurbished.

Apple priced the TC very well. It was expensive mind you.. but cheaper than any other single item to do the job.

The big loss when they shut down router production was the express.. but IMHO the TC was also a very useful product, even if it was rather flawed. They removed the only product that supported network backups without offering any replacement. Airport Extreme was yet another wireless router without doing anything particularly well.. so it really was no big loss.