Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I'm new to networking but not new to macs. I have an older model dual core MacBook pro, two iPads, two iPhones and Apple TV. My MacBook pro is almost full and I want to purchase a TC2T and use on old 1T hard drive that I have been using as my time machine backup as an external drive. I want to move my iTunes and iphoto files to the external hd connected to the TC. is this a good solution?
MacBook Pro (17-inch), iOS 8.1.3
It is a solution that we don't encourage.
The reasons.
The TC can be pressed into service.. it is not designed for it.. and in fact is really poor mainly due to no backup..
You can plug in a USB drive which is slow but does work fine for wireless access.. ie wireless is even slower than the slow disk.
Take the following into account.
Store files on the TC.
This is asked several times a day.. obviously people are struggling with their latest SSD being too small.
The TC is not suitable for network file server.. but many people having no choice press it into service as such.
Major issues.
1. No backup.. no way Time Machine can backup a network drive. No place to backup to.. So all your files will be at risk. And you will need to buy a third party like CCC to do backup.
2. The TC cannot be partitioned and mixing TM backups and data is not great. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
3. The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no control. In fact the TC is so lacking in controls for even the router side.. that you cannot do more than the most basic of setups.
The following are controls on the hard disk side.
Reformat it. You can name the share. You can do a full archive of the whole disk. This will go at a speed of aprox. 30-50GB/Hr so calculate how long an archive of a full 2TB will take.
4. iPhoto in particular can easily corrupt its entire library with wireless networking causing a disconnection to one photo. Even if you do this;;; do not move your photo library... you have been warned!!
Even apple btw say don’t do it.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168 Although mostly about FAT32 it adds network drives.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198
5. iTunes can constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is slow to respond.. itunes on the computer will constantly spit out errors. Even in the midst of streaming the TC can spin down the disk due to caching.
6. Do not use any live files on the TC no matter what else you do.. if you edit files in whatever program the file must be on the local hard disk.
7. The only suitable location for most libraries is a computer. You can plug in an external hard disk.
Read pondini for some work arounds.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Your older dual core can be easily upgraded with a 1TB hard disk and an SSD kit.
See OWC for prices for upgrades. New models are pretty well locked up and cannot be changed but the old ones can be made to work really well as often Apple used slow and poor performance disks.
If you want to move your iTunes and iPhoto still then move it to a USB drive plugged into the MBP.. (actually a FW800 will work better if you can find a good one).
Local FW800 will be much faster and more responsive than the TC and will be able to have TM backup files.
It is a solution that we don't encourage.
The reasons.
The TC can be pressed into service.. it is not designed for it.. and in fact is really poor mainly due to no backup..
You can plug in a USB drive which is slow but does work fine for wireless access.. ie wireless is even slower than the slow disk.
Take the following into account.
Store files on the TC.
This is asked several times a day.. obviously people are struggling with their latest SSD being too small.
The TC is not suitable for network file server.. but many people having no choice press it into service as such.
Major issues.
1. No backup.. no way Time Machine can backup a network drive. No place to backup to.. So all your files will be at risk. And you will need to buy a third party like CCC to do backup.
2. The TC cannot be partitioned and mixing TM backups and data is not great. It was and is and ever shall be a backup device for Time Machine.
3. The drive is slow to spin up and quick to spin down.. there is no control. In fact the TC is so lacking in controls for even the router side.. that you cannot do more than the most basic of setups.
The following are controls on the hard disk side.
Reformat it. You can name the share. You can do a full archive of the whole disk. This will go at a speed of aprox. 30-50GB/Hr so calculate how long an archive of a full 2TB will take.
4. iPhoto in particular can easily corrupt its entire library with wireless networking causing a disconnection to one photo. Even if you do this;;; do not move your photo library... you have been warned!!
Even apple btw say don’t do it.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS5168 Although mostly about FAT32 it adds network drives.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198
5. iTunes can constantly lose connection to the library. The disk is slow to respond.. itunes on the computer will constantly spit out errors. Even in the midst of streaming the TC can spin down the disk due to caching.
6. Do not use any live files on the TC no matter what else you do.. if you edit files in whatever program the file must be on the local hard disk.
7. The only suitable location for most libraries is a computer. You can plug in an external hard disk.
Read pondini for some work arounds.
Q3 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Your older dual core can be easily upgraded with a 1TB hard disk and an SSD kit.
See OWC for prices for upgrades. New models are pretty well locked up and cannot be changed but the old ones can be made to work really well as often Apple used slow and poor performance disks.
If you want to move your iTunes and iPhoto still then move it to a USB drive plugged into the MBP.. (actually a FW800 will work better if you can find a good one).
Local FW800 will be much faster and more responsive than the TC and will be able to have TM backup files.
Setting up a wifi network with TC
