Time Capsule as a File Server - to replace existing Airport Extreme

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Time Capsule as a File Server - to replace existing Airport Extreme

Hi

I have a 4th Gen Airport Extreme connected to my cable modem. I was thinking of getting a 2013 Time Capsule to replace my existing 4th Gen 2009 Airport Extreme, to use for Time Machine Backups and also for storing other files which I can access from anywhere only.

Is Time Capsule just a great wirelsss router and backup device or is it any good as a basic file server / nas drive.

Thanks in advance.

Matt

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jun 16, 2013 12:39 AM

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Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Jun 16, 2013 1:35 AM in response to AppleMacCider

Is Time Capsule just a great wirelsss router and backup device

Yes, it is that.

is it any good as a basic file server / nas drive.

It is not a good NAS.. primary issue.. no internal backup. No way for the TC to back itself up.

No way for Time Machine to backup a network drive.

It still lacks any proper high speed connections for a second hard drive.. usb2 doesn't cut it.

The tools are poor.. actually almost non-existent. No partitioning.. so mixing backups and data is not a great idea.

See Q3 Pondini. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html

Nothing has changed with this new one.

There are no media servers. no ftp, http, or any other access method for files such as is common to the basic NAS of the world.

To say nothing of rsync and all those kinds of things.

It is still slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. fine for data.. not so great for streaming media.

Remote access can be difficult if you cannot get the TC as the main router in the network.

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