Time Capsule

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Time Capsule

Developer	Apple Inc.
Type	Backup drive Airport Extreme base station
Release date	January 15, 2008
Introductory price	1TB US$299
Website	Apple - Time Capsule

The Time Capsule is a wireless network-attached storage device combined with a wireless residential gateway router made by Apple Inc. It was introduced at the 2008 Macworld Conference & Expo on January 15, 2008. The Time Capsule is described as a "Backup Appliance", designed to work in tandem with the Time Machine backup utility, introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard".^[1]

The device includes a full AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n wireless (now with Dual Band Support), an Ethernet WAN port, three Ethernet LAN ports, and one USB port. There is also a "Server grade" hard drive inside the casing. Introduced at Macworld Expo 2008 and was released on February 29, 2008, with pricing announced at US$299 (£199) for the 500 GB version and US$499 (£329) for the 1 TB version.

The USB port can be used for an external hard drive or a printer to be shared over the network.

In early 2009, Apple released a newer model offering simultaneous 802.11n dual-band operation to allow older devices to use the slower wireless speeds without affecting the overall performance of devices that can use the higher 802.11n speeds.^[2]

Also released in this new version is Guest Networking which allows guests to sign on with a different password to ensure your private network is kept private.^[2]

In July 2009, Apple doubled the hard-disk storage space that comes with each model. The $299 Time Capsule now holds 1TB (instead of 500GB) and the $499 configuration holds 2TB (instead of 1TB)^[3]. Also by reconfiguring the internal wireless antenna Apple report 50% better performance and 25% better wireless range on the fourth generation model.^[4]

Comparison to the Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station

The Time Capsule is a fully-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station^[5] and supports all the same features as the AirPort Extreme Base Station, featuring the same set of ports on the back. Modifications upon the design of the AirPort Extreme Base Station include the addition of the storage hard drive for backups and NAS type file storage which will be available to both Macs and PCs (after installing supplied drivers) on the network. The Time Capsule measures 7.7 inches or 19.7 cm square and 1.4 inches or 3.63 cm high;^[5] slightly larger than the AirPort Extreme Base Station and closer to the Apple TV in volume. This is partly due to the internal power supply which eliminates the requirement for a separate external power supply, enabling a direct connection between the household power outlet and the back of the Time Capsule.

Models by SKU

G1

• MB276LL/A 500GB Time Capsule
• MB277LL/A 1TB Time Capsule

G2

• MB764LL/A 500GB Time Capsule
• MB765LL/A 1TB Time Capsule

G3

• MB765LL/A or MB765X/A 1TB Time Capsule
• MB996LL/A or MB996X/A 2TB Time Capsule

G4

• MC343LL/A 1TB Time Capsule
• MC344LL/A 2TB Time Capsule

Using Time Capsule as a backup device

One of the key features of Time Capsule is the ability to back up a system and files wirelessly and automatically, which eliminates the need for a separate external drive to be attached. This feature requires OS X 10.5.2 Leopard or greater as it is this OS release that enables backup over a network. The backup software is Apple's Time Machine, which regularly makes images of the files that are being changed every hour, condensing backup images as they become older, to save space. Even when using an 802.11n wireless or Gigabit Ethernet connection, the initial backup of any Mac to the drive requires significant time and Apple anticipates this process takes "overnight or longer".^[6] Subsequent backups will typically be quicker as they only back up the changed files. With the August 2009 release of Snow Leopard, Apple claims the initial backup will be up to two times faster. The backup disk can also be used by Windows-based computers, and the files on it can be managed by another OS such as Windows.

Hard drive

The hard drive used in Time Capsule is the Hitachi Deskstar, which is sold by Hitachi as a consumer-grade product (the Hitachi Ultrastar is the enterprise version).^[7] Apple labeled the drive as a server-grade drive in promotional material for Time Capsule, and also uses this type of drive in the Xserve servers. Apple states that the Hitachi Deskstar meets or exceeds the 1 million hour Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) recommended for server-grade hard drives.^[8]

Failures

In October 2009, several news sites reported that many Time Capsules were failing after 18 months.^[9] Users have alleged that this is due to a design failure in the power supplies.^[10] Apple has not responded officially, in response to which a "Time Capsule Memorial Register" was started to track the scale of the problem.^[11] Apple will now replace dead Time Capsules, but refuses to assist consumers with retrieval of data from the dead machines, despite admitting a "manufacturing defect" which has "been resolved on newer models."^{[citation needed]}

Features

• Fully-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station^[5]
• Sleep Proxy Service^[12]
• 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports (3 LAN ports, 1 WAN port)
• USB interface for printer sharing
• Built-in hard drive (500GB, 1TB or 2TB)
• Built-in file server (AFP and SMB)

References

External links

• Apple - Time Capsule
• Video of Jobs launching Time Capsule at Macworld 2008
• Time Capsule Fails To boot
• The Apple Time Capsule Memorial Register