I have a 500 gig time capsule. I have used with a Macbook. The Macbook has a 500 gig hard drive which is about 3/4 full. Now we just purchased a new MacBook pro with a 1 TB hard drive. Do I need to buy a larger Time Capsule?

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I have a 500 gig time capsule. I have used with a Macbook. The Macbook has a 500 gig hard drive which is about 3/4 full. Now we just purchased a new MacBook pro with a 1 TB hard drive. Do I need to buy a larger Time Capsule?

Time Capsule 802.11n (2nd Gen), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 23, 2012 9:16 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 23, 2012 9:21 AM in response to RobCHS

Do I need to buy a larger Time Capsule?

Probably yes. You might be able to get the full backup of the new MacBook Pro on the Time Capsule, but it will not be long before the Time Capsule is out of space.

Better to add a new Time Capsule and backup the new MacBook Pro to the new Time Capsule, and keep the old MacBook backing up to the old Time Capsule.

If you do not want to add a new Time Capsule, another option would be to erase the Time Capsule disk and start over again with new backups of both Macs and move forward.

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Answer 2

Dec 23, 2012 11:36 AM in response to RobCHS

Although you can buy USB disks and plug them into the TC, as well as replace the TC hard disk with a 2TB or 3TB disk, it is getting towards endoflife.. EOL.. in fact most have already died.

The latest TC runs cooler and is considerably faster as well as dual band.. so retire the old TC whilst it still works.. wipe the disk and ebay it.

IMHO the 2TB TC is good value.. the 3TB much less so.. for the new one, to add capacity in the future just get a USB drive.

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Answer 3

Dec 23, 2012 11:42 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Attaching a USB drive to the Time Capsule is an option, but one that I prefer to avoid since backups are much, much slower with this type of setup.

Expect backups to take at least twice as long to the USB attached drive, as opposed to normal backups on the Time Capsule.

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Answer 4

Dec 23, 2012 11:46 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Bob Timmons wrote:

Attaching a USB drive to the Time Capsule is an option, but one that I prefer to avoid since backups are much, much slower with this type of setup.

Expect backups to take at least twice as long to the USB attached drive, as opposed to normal backups on the Time Capsule.

Would that still be true from wireless??

Yes, definitely from ethernet the USB is slow.. but I would say from wireless.. since the OP is using MBP and I would guess, wireless, the speed to USB should be no worse.

But I have already stuck my neck out too far today.. I deserve some loping.. !!

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