Time Capsule Questions

[PowerBook-G5]

I am looking to purchase a Time Capsule but have a few questions to ask:

1) Can one Time Capsule make two separate password-protected Wi-Fi networks?

2) When multiple Macs are backed up to the Time Capsule, are backups able to be encrypted so that a user can only see the contents of their backups (Such as user A only being able to see his backups, and not those of B or C)?

3) Are the settings for the Time Capsule protected by the same password as is used for the network, or does it allow for another password to be used?

 

[Fabian90]

I got an Airport Extreme "only" but once used it with a USB drive attached to use Time Machine.

1) On the AirPort Extreme you can use a "normal" network and the guest network, the later one only has access to Internet. I don't think you can have 2 full separate networks

2) Yes, you can encrypt backups and it asks for a password which you can choose yourself (so multiple passwords are working). Every device you back up has a separate bundle file with the backups which is then password protected.

3) No, you can set separate passwords for the device itself and the 2 Wi-Fi networks.

This is how I remember/know that stuff. So i hope it is all correct. If you have any more questions, just ask

 

[PowerBook-G5]

I got an Airport Extreme "only" but once used it with a USB drive attached to use Time Machine.

1) On the AirPort Extreme you can use a "normal" network and the guest network, the later one only has access to Internet. I don't think you can have 2 full separate networks

2) Yes, you can encrypt backups and it asks for a password which you can choose yourself (so multiple passwords are working). Every device you back up has a separate bundle file with the backups which is then password protected.

3) No, you can set separate passwords for the device itself and the 2 Wi-Fi networks.

This is how I remember/know that stuff. So i hope it is all correct. If you have any more questions, just ask

Thanks for this. You've answered almost all of my questions.

I read on Apple's website that the Guest network can be password protected. Would there be an issue with creating a "standard" network and then using the Guest network with a password to have a second network? Those on the Guest network would not need to access the Time Machine feature.

Finally, if what I just proposed will work, can a printer be attached to the Guest network and still function as planned? Edit: The printer only needs to work on the Guest network.

 

[Fabian90]

Well it basically is a second network as far as I know. It is just limited to Internet access only. If you connect to the guest network, you can browse the web, nothing else. And there is no option to change that.

I'm pretty sure you can't access the printer from the guest network either.

I guess you could use another AirPort Express to attach a printer and use it as a separate network.

 

[AppleNewton]

Well it does allow for encryption, but it does it using FileVault so its full disk encryption, the individual back ups are not "encrypted" by themselves. but you can additionally secure the disk with account users / passwords.

The printer won't be accessible since it will be a separate network altogether or plugged in via USB it could be possible to be shared across both networks.

 

[Fabian90]

Well it does allow for encryption, but it does it using FileVault so its full disk encryption, the individual back ups are not "encrypted" by themselves. but you can additionally secure the disk with account users / passwords.

The printer won't be accessible since it will be a separate network altogether or plugged in via USB it could be possible to be shared across both networks.

I think this sounds a bit misleading regarding the encryption. I guess he wants that a user can't access another user's backups. This is possible. But you can't protect single backups, just all by one user (it's always one big package)

 

[AppleNewton]

right, you can allow user access with an account and password, but that allows total disk access. the real only way to prevent this is just allowing the user to browse their back ups through the time machine portal...i don't understand the need to necessarily peruse through sparse bundles or anything of that nature..

 

[Fabian90]

Another solution might be different partitions for each user. Maybe just mount the one each user is assigned to.

 

[Weaselboy]

Well it does allow for encryption, but it does it using FileVault so its full disk encryption, the individual back ups are not "encrypted" by themselves. but you can additionally secure the disk with account users / passwords.

When backing up to networked drive like the Time Capsule the disk is actually not encrypted at all. What happens is Time Machine creates a separate, encrypted sparse bundle image for each computer.

 

[Weaselboy]

Another solution might be different partitions for each user. Maybe just mount the one each user is assigned to.

You can't partition a Time Capsule drive. Each Mac will be assigned its own spare bundle image containing only that machines backups.

 

[Fabian90]

Ah yes, this only works with an external drive attaches to an AirPort Extreme.

 

[Weaselboy]

Ah yes, this only works with an external drive attaches to an AirPort Extreme.

Yep... that would work. For some reason the TC does not like partitions. Last year I was chatting with a forum member here who even pulled the drive out of the TC to make two partitions on his Mac, then as soon as he put the drive back in the TC it wiped it back to one.