I am considering purchasing airport/timecapsule and want advice on how to create a wifi network

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Level 2

170 points

I am considering purchasing airport/timecapsule and want advice on how to create a wifi network

I have a mac desktop and air book. I want to create a wifi network so that I can literally use the airbook instead of the desktop and run everything off the time capsule. I have never done this before so I am literally starting from scratch and welcome any advice on how to do this. Ultimately I would like to simply have my airbook and the time capsule and clear out a lot of stuff from my apt. I have apple tv so I can stream the airbook if I want a larger tv.

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Jul 3, 2013 4:37 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 3, 2013 4:46 PM in response to JoanneD

Unfortunately a TC is not a NAS.. even if you can pretend and work like it is.

TC is a device designed to store files.. in particular Time Machine backups.

It is designed to save energy.. the disk is slow to spin up and fast to spin down. The speed of connection over wireless is fine for backups.. but to dynamically use files directly to the TC is not advisable..

TC has no backup mechanism.. other than a manually operated full disk archive.

So any files stored on a TC will be lost if the disk fails or corrupts.

What you need is a server. Your Mac desktop can be used in that role or for low power get a mac mini. Use the fastest possible drives and share them to the network.. this does come out more expensive than the TC.. you will still need a wireless router, but anything will do.

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Answer 2

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,624 points

Jul 3, 2013 7:21 PM in response to JoanneD

Have you heard Back To My Mac ?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3486

In fact, I can store my iTunes library and other files with my Time Capsule (via Back to My Mac) and any computer sharing the same network can share the files

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