Apple announces Time Capsule backup appliance
As one of its first orders of business at the Macworld Expo on Tuesday, Apple introduced Time Capsule, a backup appliance that automatically and wirelessly backs up everything on one or more Macs running Leopard, the latest release of the company's Mac OS X operating system that includes the Time Machine automatic backup software.
Time Capsule combines an 802.11n base station with a server grade hard disk in one small package. Simply plug it in, then easily set up automatic wireless backup for every Mac in your house to a single Time Capsule with just a few clicks, Apple says. Time Capsule offers the benefits of a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station, and comes in two models: a 500 gigabyte model for just $299 and a 1 terabyte model for just $499.
?Bring Time Capsule home, plug it in, click a few buttons on your Macs and voila?all the Macs in your house are being backed up automatically, every hour of every day,? said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. ?With Time Capsule and Time Machine, all your irreplaceable photos, movies and documents are automatically protected and incredibly easy to retrieve if they are ever lost.?
Built to work seamlessly with Time Machine, Time Capsule lets users wirelessly back up all of the data on their Macs, find lost files and even restore all of their software. In the event a file is lost, users can wirelessly search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. If it?s ever necessary, Leopard can also easily restore an entire system from the Time Machine backup on Time Capsule.
In addition to being an ideal way to back up a Mac, Time Capsule is also a full-featured Wi-Fi base station with the latest 802.11n technology. Delivering up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g, 802.11n is built in to Apple?s iMac desktop and the entire Mac notebook line up, including MacBook, MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air. Time Capsule features a sleek design with a built-in power supply and connections to print wirelessly to a USB printer. With Time Capsule, it?s very easy for users to create a secure, wireless network for up to 50 users and set security restrictions such as Internet access limits for children?s computers.
At $299 for a 500GB model and $499 for a 1TB model and a fully integrated 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station, Time Capsule can serve as a backup solution for multiple computers as well as the backbone for a high-speed, 802.11n wireless network, making it effortless and affordable for everyone at home, school or work to protect their digital files.
Additional Time Capsule features include:
dual-band antennas for 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequencies;three Gigabit LAN ports;one Gigabit Ethernet WAN port;one USB 2.0 port;Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption; anda built-in NAT firewall supporting NAT-PMP for features like Back to My Mac.
Pricing & Availability
Time Capsule will be available in February through the Apple Store, at Apple?s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) for a 500GB hard drive and $499 (US) for a 1TB hard drive.
Time Capsule combines an 802.11n base station with a server grade hard disk in one small package. Simply plug it in, then easily set up automatic wireless backup for every Mac in your house to a single Time Capsule with just a few clicks, Apple says. Time Capsule offers the benefits of a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station, and comes in two models: a 500 gigabyte model for just $299 and a 1 terabyte model for just $499.
?Bring Time Capsule home, plug it in, click a few buttons on your Macs and voila?all the Macs in your house are being backed up automatically, every hour of every day,? said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. ?With Time Capsule and Time Machine, all your irreplaceable photos, movies and documents are automatically protected and incredibly easy to retrieve if they are ever lost.?
Built to work seamlessly with Time Machine, Time Capsule lets users wirelessly back up all of the data on their Macs, find lost files and even restore all of their software. In the event a file is lost, users can wirelessly search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. If it?s ever necessary, Leopard can also easily restore an entire system from the Time Machine backup on Time Capsule.
In addition to being an ideal way to back up a Mac, Time Capsule is also a full-featured Wi-Fi base station with the latest 802.11n technology. Delivering up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g, 802.11n is built in to Apple?s iMac desktop and the entire Mac notebook line up, including MacBook, MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air. Time Capsule features a sleek design with a built-in power supply and connections to print wirelessly to a USB printer. With Time Capsule, it?s very easy for users to create a secure, wireless network for up to 50 users and set security restrictions such as Internet access limits for children?s computers.
At $299 for a 500GB model and $499 for a 1TB model and a fully integrated 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station, Time Capsule can serve as a backup solution for multiple computers as well as the backbone for a high-speed, 802.11n wireless network, making it effortless and affordable for everyone at home, school or work to protect their digital files.
Additional Time Capsule features include:
dual-band antennas for 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequencies;three Gigabit LAN ports;one Gigabit Ethernet WAN port;one USB 2.0 port;Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption; anda built-in NAT firewall supporting NAT-PMP for features like Back to My Mac.
Pricing & Availability
Time Capsule will be available in February through the Apple Store, at Apple?s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) for a 500GB hard drive and $499 (US) for a 1TB hard drive.
Comments
I wonder if it's any faster than a USB disk connected to the current Airport Extreme.
That's what I was wondering- is this just a nice way to charge even more for an airport extreme by throwing a marked up hard drive inside?
Does a current Airport Extreme with a usb hard drive hooked up allow PC's to interface as well?
I wonder if it's any faster than a USB disk connected to the current Airport Extreme.
I'm not worried about speed - I wonder if it will work at all.
TimeMachine doesn't work with an external (Airport Extreme) hard disk. I am hoping that the new software will allow me to use my existing hard disk and Airport Extreme.
In its adds Apple promised Time Machine would work wirelessly. I bought a base station, I bought a USB harddisk, I bought Leopard. Only to find that Apple had withdrawn support last minute.
And now they are selling this 'alternative'. Why would we trust Apple that this actually does work?
OUTRAGED
In its adds Apple promised Time Machine would work wirelessly. I bought a base station, I bought a USB harddisk, I bought Leopard. Only to find that Apple had withdrawn support last minute.
And now they are selling this 'alternative'. Why would we trust Apple that this actually does work?
Indeed.
Unless Airport Extreme + External Disk will now do the same as TimeCapsule, then I really don't think this issue is over for apple.
The key question is why is this product any different to that setup. Even if the mac has to more actively verify what Airport Extreme has accomplished with the backup on the disk, it should be possible to do this with the original kit.
OUTRAGED
In its adds Apple promised Time Machine would work wirelessly. I bought a base station, I bought a USB harddisk, I bought Leopard. Only to find that Apple had withdrawn support last minute.
And now they are selling this 'alternative'. Why would we trust Apple that this actually does work?
Easy now... there'll presumably be an OS update sometime this week that might finally restore wireless Time Machine backups for those of us with external USB drives. Wouldn't be the first time Apple did something like that. I, too, bought a base station, external drive, and Leopard with wireless backups in mind.
And if they don't give us that ability? Then I'll join you among the outraged, and patiently wait for a hack. Apple won't get my money on this one, that's for sure.
Indeed.
Unless Airport Extreme + External Disk will now do the same as TimeCapsule, then I really don't think this issue is over for apple.
The key question is why is this product any different to that setup. Even if the mac has to more actively verify what Airport Extreme has accomplished with the backup on the disk, it should be possible to do this with the original kit.
True. The other issue is you can attach a drive to the USB port on the Time Capsule so I wonder if that has the same problem.
They wanted to introduce a new products and make the money themselves. I see the light!
True. The other issue is you can attach a drive to the USB port on the Time Capsule so I wonder if that has the same problem.
That's for the next update, old airport extreme owners can update their software for $45.
Does a current Airport Extreme with a usb hard drive hooked up allow PC's to interface as well?
Yes. I still have a PC in the house, and it has no troubles seeing my airport disk. In fact, because of the way the airport shares the disk, it sees it despite being HFS formatted.
I really hope this doesn't mean that they are giving up on Time Machine support through AirDisk on Airport Extreme ...
That's my worry, that Apple withdrew Time Machine support for Airport disks on purpose, requiring a Time Capsule disk instead. That would really chap my hide, considering I just bought an Airport Extreme six weeks ago...
I really hope this doesn't mean that they are giving up on Time Machine support through AirDisk on Airport Extreme ...
I agree. I am perfectly content with my Airport Extreme Base Station (10/100) and two NAS drives. I do not wish to shell out $300 more, only to have the NAS work "officially" with Time Machine (I used an app called iTimeMachine to get it to recognize my NAS drive)
That's what I was wondering- is this just a nice way to charge even more for an airport extreme by throwing a marked up hard drive inside?
The price of the hard drive included isn't that bad, retail on a bare 1TB drive is $300, making the TC 1TB model a little cheaper than buying a separate enclosure + drive. It might be faster and more efficient this way than having an external hard drive.