Time capsule replacement

Just completed a fairly long post here.

Re: Will Time machine backups, wireless and hard wired, be supported on 3rd party routers?

How easy or difficult it is to setup Time Machine depends what you buy and how it talks to the network. There is no one size fits all answer. I setup Time Machine on a very cheap NAS ages ago.. and the NAS setup guide has a fairly long set of instructions on how to do it.

On a much more recent version of Synology NAS.. dead simple.

The test setup of the Asus router with USB3 hard disk is actually extremely easy.. It ended up not being reliable enough yet for me to promote as a cheap network backup plus wireless router combo.

What gets messy is not all USB disks work.. this is complicated and confusing.. Some USB drives read and write to the drive using a different method.. This non-standard caused problems with my most liked USB external drive.. Touro Desktop.. so I now would not recommend them. But most of the standard cheap portable USB drives from WD, Seagate, LaCie will be perfectly fine.

I would add that since Sierra Time Machine has not been reliable to any network target.. even a Time Capsule.. but is definitely worse to the Asus.. So I am still trying to find all the exact settings that will make this easy.

Problem is time.. I cannot speed up testing as I care about long term viability of the backups.. they ran fine for two months and I was feeling pretty happy.. after figuring out the USB drive issue.. since then I have wiped twice as backup target got lost or corrupted.

Let me add.. for reliability now.. get your family on Carbon Copy Cloner. I have no links to the company. But have looked at the options.. CCC is reasonable price.. once license covers all computers in the house, excellent reliability and functionality. That will also help you use other targets that Time Machine does not like.

I use a 3rd party wireless router and a 3rd party USB external drive and Time Machine (as well as Mozy online backup and Carbon Copy Cloner). Using Time Machine with an external USB may not be quite as convenient as Time Capsule but for me it only involves attaching the external drive for a short time once a week.

After connecting the third party equipment, do you set up the time machine backups from your Mac as usual (Preferences - Time Machine - Select Backup volume ...) and then it works as before? I am asking for a family that relies on the convenience of never having to worry about losing data...

Thanks! For professional reasons, I do keep a separate backup archive of my files, but the family wants to rely on some automatic process, where presentations or texts that have been accidentally deleted can be restored easily -- even with versions.

More like a dropbox for home use. They work on their machines and the rest happens in the background. As soon as someone finds out they need a file from last week, they start up time machine and get them back. There should not be any additional steps involved.

The setup process should be as dead simple as plugging in a new disk in a time capsule, selecting it as target, and done. I am using LaCie disks plugged into an older TC, so my initial idea was to replace the TC with a Mac mini and mac OS Server as soon as it fails, but I don't like the idea of yet another computer I have to manage...

The Time Capsule is the best priced Time Machine network target on the market.

No third party is going to beat every aspect of the TC.

I could NOT recommend the latest TC unless they get a very substantial discount in the refurbished store. If you buy one second hand it might work and might not.. even brand new ones do not have a great QA record. Apple cannot replace it once they run the stock out.. will they give you your money back after 2week return period??

My first TC Gen5 dead in a week. Second one.. ie replacement worked but the wireless was poor. I got rid of it and went TCless for a while.. bought a third one second hand cheap to play with. Has worked perfectly.. upgraded the disk.. excellent. Got a dead one for repair.. terrible.. hard to work on.. wired like iPhone.. not like the old Gen4 TC which was heavy cables and near indestructible to DIYer. Has stupid firmware options (not to outside world but internally they have used too much iphone code).

3rd party routers.. hmmm.. could be good.. but will work like my Asus.. is pretty much plug in and works.. you simply set the Asus to use the disk for TM.. and even better it appears then on the network as Time Machine target you can select in any computer.

However I keep having issues around 8 week mark.. something goes wrong.. not even the same thing.. I have to wipe the disk and start over.. not good for family.

You can buy a small synology NAS.. extremely easy to turn on Time Machine functionality. Has been very reliable.. but it will cost you a 2012 Mac Mini.. (you don't need Mac OS server app additions now as Time Machine server is built into High Sierra).

Either can act as file server for the network.. The Synology is excellent and is easy to open and change disks. It is FAST.. and works for all clients.. PC or Mac. Absolutely brilliant and highly functional firmware.

Do the sums and work it out.

I have not finished testing the Asus.. (or Linksys which I also got and is supposed to support Time Machine).

But my guess is they are not sufficiently dedicated to Mac OS and sold to Apple market.. so will never match your TC.

tboett wrote:

After connecting the third party equipment, do you set up the time machine backups from your Mac as usual (Preferences - Time Machine - Select Backup volume ...) and then it works as before? I am asking for a family that relies on the convenience of never having to worry about losing data...

If they are looking for a solution using a connected USB hard drive, yes, Basically just connect the drive and turn on Time Machine from Preferences and select that drive as the destination.

After the initial backup the drive does not need to be connected all of the time -- but keep in mind if there is a failure of the drive that is being backed up, any changes since the last time the USB drive was connected would be lost. That isn't a problem for me. I connect the external once a week. I also have Mozy online backup.

No problem for a USB drive. But I need to connect multiple machines wirelessly. So I plug my USB drives into TimeCapsule to expand the storage space. Since my TC is a bit outdated, I am planning ahead for the time it fails me as I don't want to start making an informed decision once everybody is panicking...

After connecting the third party equipment, do you set up the time machine backups from your Mac as usual

Are you asking about Time Machine backups to a USB drive connected to another router?

or

Are you asking about Time Machine backups that will go to a USB drive attached directly to a Mac?

Big difference. A drive that connects to a router will be a "network" drive. A drive that connects directly to a Mac will be a "local" drive.

There are very few 3rd party routers......(some Arris and Netgear routers may have this capability).....that will support Time Machine backups over the network to a USB drive connected to the router.

In other words, just because a router might have a USB port....that does not necessarily mean that Time Machine backups will be supported on that device. Check with the router manufacturer's support team if you are interested in this type of capability.

I am asking for using TimeMachine for sending data via a wireless device like TimeCapsule to an internal or external storage that is connected to the device for backing up multiple users' volumes. The dives are not a problem, however, but once TimeCapsule fails, I need a replacement.

Currently, any Mac in the network regularly starts TimeMachine, looks for the TimeCapsule and wirelessly sends its data there. TC then starts the external USB drives (multiple), and loads the data to the drive associated with the user account. But once TC fails, the chain breaks.

tboett wrote:

No problem for a USB drive. But I need to connect multiple machines wirelessly. So I plug my USB drives into TimeCapsule to expand the storage space. Since my TC is a bit outdated, I am planning ahead for the time it fails me as I don't want to start making an informed decision once everybody is panicking...

I understand that -- but you asked a second question (or at least I thought so) "for a family" and that was my response to that question.

Then, you are looking for a router with a built in USB port that will support Time Machine backups to an attached USB drive....or....a network attached storage device (NAS) like Synology that will support Time Machine backups. The NAS connects to your current network router via Ethernet, like the Time Capsule.

LaPastengue and Tesserax, two top contributors here on the forum, both use a Synology NAS for Time Machine backups over a network, I believe. Perhaps if they see this post, they will offer some comments.

Personally, I am looking at a Synology NAS for Time Machine backups as well, but have not decided on a given model.

I was thinking about Synology (LaPastenague mentioned it), so I am quite contend with that. By "family" I was thinking about multiple users that do not want to fiddle around settings by themselves, but let daddy take care of it...

😉

If you have been happy with the Time Capsule, you will likely be able to buy a new one very soon at a big savings while they last.

A new Time Capsule should be good for another 4-5 years.