is this something I should definitely look into. The guys post about losing everything made me start wondering. Should I get one or what? I mean I will be using it for nursing school so i dont wanna be losing important documents. Are these hard drive failures a common problem with apple?
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Time capsule?
- Thread starter FFTWarren
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apple doesnt make the hard drives, the subcontract it out to other companies like samsung, toshiba, etc.
most feel as though it is not a question of if a hard drive will fail, but rather when. like a car, some last longer than others.
furthermore, the small size and dimensional constraints of laptop HDs make them more prone to higher failure rates.
as for if you should back up your data, it is completely your choice but IMHO i think people are crazy when they do not back up their data on a spare drive.
all of that being said, the time capsule does a lot more than simply back up data. you can get a wired portable HD for cheap, configure it with apple's time machine program, and achieve the same result. but if you like the additional features of the TC (automatic wireless backups, wireless printing) then its a useful item to have.
best of luck in RN school. i highly advise working as a tech/NA in an ICU during the summers to get additional experience. pays off big time after you graduate, and often gets your foot in the door as far as getting hired at the hospital you work at.
most feel as though it is not a question of if a hard drive will fail, but rather when. like a car, some last longer than others.
furthermore, the small size and dimensional constraints of laptop HDs make them more prone to higher failure rates.
as for if you should back up your data, it is completely your choice but IMHO i think people are crazy when they do not back up their data on a spare drive.
all of that being said, the time capsule does a lot more than simply back up data. you can get a wired portable HD for cheap, configure it with apple's time machine program, and achieve the same result. but if you like the additional features of the TC (automatic wireless backups, wireless printing) then its a useful item to have.
best of luck in RN school. i highly advise working as a tech/NA in an ICU during the summers to get additional experience. pays off big time after you graduate, and often gets your foot in the door as far as getting hired at the hospital you work at.
Hard drive failures are just as common (or uncommon) in Apple products as in any other cause they're using same hard drives from Toshiba, Seagate or Samsung.
I have had my Air since the day they came out and the Time Capsule a week after they came out and I love the combo. Knock on wood, I have never had either drive fail and don't see them both going down at the same time. They work seamlessly. Every hour I hear the disc start spinning and look at the tool bar and see Time Machine's little clock spinning and I know it works. I have gone back 6 months in the past when I realized I trashed a file I needed and it was right there and recovered it.
Brilliant!
Brilliant!
In addition to worrying about your hard drive dying, what's your plan for recovering your important documents should someone steal your Air?
IMO, it's crazy not to have a backup.
If you're not feeling the Time Capsule, buy a cheap external USB drive and let the Time Machine feature of OS X do the backups automatically for you. You just don't get the Time Capsule convenience of having backups run hourly without having to remember to plug in an external drive.
I think im goin to get one. one question. we have a dell desktop that uses the internet cable. am I going to have to keep switching between the desktop and the time capsule to get teh wireless internet or will the desktop pic up the wireless from the time capsule. the desktop was purchased about 6 months ago. also if it wont pic up, does it have an out ethernet port on the time capsule so i could just run one to the desktop and not have to keep unplugging.
Your internet cable (I'm assuming that's coming from a modem) will plug into the Time Capsule.
The Time Capsule will share the Internet connection over the wireless network that it will broadcast. It also has 4 wired ports on the back so you can plug in non=wireless things.
The Time Capsule will share the Internet connection over the wireless network that it will broadcast. It also has 4 wired ports on the back so you can plug in non=wireless things.
thanks. also how close does it have to be in order to work good. I mean i want to put my printer and time capsule in my living room. so would my MBA pic it up good in my room. thats about 30 feet away through about 4 or 5 walls? should i run into any issues or should it work fine
I wouldn't think you'd have a problem getting a signal 30 feet from a wireless router (even through 4 or 5 walls). It all boils down to what your walls are made of (hopefully not lead 
) and how much interference you get from things like cordless phones, neighbors, etc. But 30 feet isn't far at all.
) and how much interference you get from things like cordless phones, neighbors, etc. But 30 feet isn't far at all.I think so.
Time Machine is pretty smart about not wasting space on the backup drive, so it skips over system files and focuses pretty much on just your data, and 500GB is a lot for user data.
FWIW, if you're not familiar with how it works, once the backup drive (Time Capsule in your case) runs out of space, Time Machine starts removing the oldest weekly backups to make more room. You don't have to worry about managing the backups yourself.
Time Machine is pretty smart about not wasting space on the backup drive, so it skips over system files and focuses pretty much on just your data, and 500GB is a lot for user data.
FWIW, if you're not familiar with how it works, once the backup drive (Time Capsule in your case) runs out of space, Time Machine starts removing the oldest weekly backups to make more room. You don't have to worry about managing the backups yourself.