[X4U] Pros and Cons of Time Capsule?

[Jeff Carruthers]

On Dec 3, 2008, at 8:02 PM, Mark Des Cotes wrote:

> It's time to replace my aging 80Gb USB1 and 60Gb Firewire backup  
> drives with something a bit bigger, say a 1Tb drive. Right now my  
> backups consist of dragging important files to the USB and FW drives  
> and using Backup along with my iDisk for my personal data and  
> settings. I'd like to automate the backup process using something  
> like Time Machine. I like the fact that  Time Capsule is from Apple  
> but is it really worth looking at or am I better off purchasing  
> another brand of drive? Right now I'm backing up the 250Gb HD on my  
> iMac but I'm looking into getting a MacBook for my wife that would  
> need to be backed up as well. What are the pros and cons of Time  
> Capsule?
>
> Mark Des Cotes
> Owner-Graphic Designer
> Marksman Design
>
> Mailing address:
> 7-841 Sydney Street, Suite # 338
> Cornwall, Ontario  K6H 7L2
> Canada
> 613-936-6876
>
Mark: time capsule is great and has saved my wife's bacon on several  
occasions. Couple of thoughts, based on our experience to date.

Ideally, you need a drive that is several times as large as the main  
drive you are backing up. Otherwise, Time Capsule will eventually run  
out of space and will start deleting the oldest files (first in, first  
out).

Second, if you really want to be safe, you should have a clone of your  
main drive, as a complete backup. Depending on the options, the Time  
Capsule backup will not save everything. A clone will get you up and  
running quickly should your main drive fail.

Third, if you have files on a second internal or external drive, they  
would not normally get backed up by Time Capsule. I have my iTunes  
Library on an external drive and my wife has several external drives  
with photos on them. For these, you would need clones.

Finally, for reasons unknown, Time Capsule will sometimes fail to  
complete a backup. When I see it happen, I immediately do a Back Up  
Now and things seem to be OK. Not sure why, but it does make me wonder  
how reliable the system is.

If you bought a MAcBook, a 1 TB external hard drive would be ideal.

Hope this helps.

Jeff
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