So I will have 2 17" macBook pro laptops and need to access an external hard drive. Does anyone have experience with the time capsule, or is there another hard drive that would work better or less expensive. I'm on a fios line and don't have leopard yet so time machine is not a factor in this. really i just need anoth 500gbs for next years weddings and would like to know my best bet

You can use pretty much anything. As long as there's a connector for it (FireWire 400 or 800, USB, etc) on both the drive and the laptop.

nah I want it wireless

I don't think you do.... wireless speeds still aren't fast enough for transferring large amounts of data (ie: high-res photos).

Look at the review for the Apple Airport Extreme: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/80...r-roundup.ars/3

Assuming you have a 802.11n card you can "theoretically" connect at 300Mbps, but in my experience with wireless, you will NEVER get the full speed listed (due to network overhead, etc... you really don't want to go down that road)

Anyways - on that review the highest average speed was 44Mbps(Megabits per second) -- which is equal to 5.5MBps (Megabytes per second) -- so it would take 12Minutes to transfer a 4GB CF card over wireless. Not terrible, but not a speed demon either...


And for those without 802.11n network capabilities, your speeds will be even worse. Firewire, USB, or Gigabit Ethernet are the best options for speed. Wireless is convenient, but slow....

Scott is right, wireless is too slow for lots of data. I have a time machine for my editing, and then all final edited raw and final jpegs go into my Buffalo Terrastation. It's a mirrored raid, so if a drive crashes which they will it is always backed up. Well worth the money and security. Also Drobo makes one, but I haven't used that.

I have the time capsule. It may not be fast but it's meant to run in the background, backing up everything without you having to think about it. I don't use it to edit off of, just to back up files.

The time capsule is a great idea but it just isn't fast enough (wirelessly) for photographers storing tons of RAW files etc. However, if you are connected to it using the gigabit ethernet ports (wired) you'll see much faster data connections and that is really the way to go if you MUST use the time capsule.

Honestly, I wouldn't buy one. Yes, that's coming from me, the apple fan boy. Time Capsule is great for home use but I just don't see the feasibility of writing thousands of RAW files over a wireless network - no matter what kind of signal you use, current wireless networks (even 802.11n) just aren't fast enough for that type of transfer to go quickly.

John & Lovina, I would highly suggest that you not waste your money on the time capsule as you could spend the money on a few other items (An eSATA card for one of the laptops, a 1TB studio edition mybook drive, an airport extreme with gigabit ethernet and a few network cables) and have your macbooks on a wired network sharing files to a drive connected to either one. If you'd like some more info or if you have any questions about how to set up such a system I'd be happy to chat with you guys at some point.

Really what it comes down to is that, for the money, the time capsule really limits the expandability of your storage solutions and you're stuck with a whole wireless router PLUS hard drive that you'll just have to buy another one of when it fills up. Seems really silly to me.

yea what he said

Tim, I took the liberty of adding that to my signature line, so you can effortlessly endorse everything I say on OSP lol

I like that effortlessly part of the equation lol!

As president of the OSP UN myself as well as other delegates have met with the sofaboy and declared him good. Though his wording may be sometimes harsh, strong, controversial and otherwise unpleasant lol - he means well and is a pretty cool guy to hang out with.....and I hang out with a lot of guys. No wait thats not what I meant.... Anyway stop by if your ever in his slightly middle of nowhere town lol - he'll show ya a good time and u may just learn something too!

your guys are funny and stuff
but thats what I had heard about the wireless transfering system, I just figured I would ask anyhoo
thank you so much
JJ