Advice: which storage?

[odisseo]

Hi all -
it came the time i knew it was going to come when i bought by MAB rev.1: I need more storage space. So far, I have been burning all movies on DVDs, but now i need space for music and pics.

What is your advice? I do not want to buy a wired device, because MAB has only one USB port. At the same time they told me that the Time Capsule does not really work very well, and i do not really need another wireless router anyways. Would you guys reccomend another wireless HD? Which one?

Or, put differently, what solution did you go for?

Thanks a billion!

 

[Insulin Junkie]

I've never had any problems with the time capsule, and I don't know anyone personally who did either, so I'd go for that option.

However, if you're looking into a cheaper option, this one sounds pretty cool too: http://www.povdirect.co.uk/Inu_products/INU_ProdDetailsL21.asp?ref=07782478

 

[jimboutilier]

First make the most of what you have:
- Do a reformat/reinstall of OS X using custom options to leave off any software, utilities, drivers etc you are not likely to use.
- Purchase XSLIMMER and run it on all your applications (this will not only save space but improve application startup time considerably)
- Get the SmartSleep pref pane and set for sleep only deleting the sleep file
- Use a utility like Disk Inventory X to see whare your remaining space is being used
- Use a utility like DupeGuru to eliminate duplication

This can easily get many people 10gb or more of space freed up which is not a lot of movies but is a lot of music and pictures.

As to actual additional space:
- TimeCapsule/AirportExtreme works great for me adding lots of storage, but its only available in one location of course. Performance and reliability is quite good.
- There are remote disk services like MobileME that can add lots of storage, but its only available when you have internet access and may not be acceptable for streaming data like video or music.
- There are remote backup services like MOZY that work well for backing up you MBA
- There are many photo sites like Flickr that allow you to remotely store and access all your pics.

Hope this helps

 

[Scottsdale]

I had an MBA, and the AEBS worked flawlessly with it. I wouldn't recommend any other solution for the MBA (other than Time Capsule). Although the AEBS with attached drive is cheaper than a Time Capsule, both are perfect for the MBA.

All other wireless routers I have used dropped connections and often required rebooting the router or computer to work. The AEBS just works, always.

 

[Testify]

@ScottDale: Do you have another Mac or your MBA is your primary computer ?

FOr the info, I might get a MBA and I was wondering how it would work with my iMac.

 

[Scottsdale]

@ScottDale: Do you have another Mac or your MBA is your primary computer ?

FOr the info, I might get a MBA and I was wondering how it would work with my iMac.

My rev B MBA was my primary computer. It was stolen three weeks ago. As soon as the next MBA is released, it will probably be my primary computer again. For now, I am stuck with a unibody MB that was cheap to get me buy ($900). I refuse to pay full price for a rev B MBA right now when a rev C MBA may be weeks away. Or, it could be a long wait, but I have decided to stick with this unibody MB until a new MBA comes out. I hate buying 6+ month old technology for full price with Apple's pricing/update system.

I will always want to stick with a one Mac system. I used my MBA 1.86/SSD with a 24" LED Backlit Apple Cinema Display. With SSD the MBA is really fast and feels like a desktop plugged into the 24" ACD. It really is like a perfect docking station for all of the Mac notebooks.

I would stick with a Mac notebook and 24" ACD before I would buy an iMac and a Mac notebook. I don't like transferring files between Macs nor not having the right app on the Mac I am using.

 

[r6girl]

I had an MBA, and the AEBS worked flawlessly with it. I wouldn't recommend any other solution for the MBA (other than Time Capsule). Although the AEBS with attached drive is cheaper than a Time Capsule, both are perfect for the MBA.

All other wireless routers I have used dropped connections and often required rebooting the router or computer to work. The AEBS just works, always.

I second this. I have a Western Digital drive attached to my AEBS and it's partitioned to act as my Time Machine back-up and "overflow" for media that I don't want to keep on my MBA.

Thanks to one of the recent Airport updates, I'm able to easily access this drive while I'm away from home, which is absolutely excellent. I highly recommend the AEBS + a hard drive and I have to think the Time Capsule will be just as good, though I chose the AEBS + hard drive combination so I could more easily update or swap out the hard drive in the future.

 

[netdog]

I have a little LaCie 250GB that I keep my portable library and picture library on, as well as keeping both libraries on a NAS drive when I am at home.

I seldom pack my LaCie unless traveling, but when I do take it along, it's light as a feather and very small.