Accessories

Very pleased with this product
I purchased the 1 TB version from Amazon. Usual great Amazon delivery.

As for the product, I have a mixed network with a PC and a Macbook Pro. I have been thinking about upgrading the wireless to N from G and had a need for more network storage. Plus I needed a workgroup switch up to hook up the Blu-ray disk player and Directv box through a single ethernet jack. And I wanted to get serious about backing up that Macbook.

In other words, this product was made for me - addresses four needs with one product.

I consider myself an advanced novice when it comes to networking and I found setup to be pretty simple. The wired switch aspect of things worked without any action on my part other than plugging in the cables. (I am not using the TC as a router per se, the router is in the basement and is connected to the TC through another switch and a long run of CAT5e cable, all without glitches.)

Getting wireless going was a bit of learning experience. The unit worked perfectly throughout, but figuring out exactly what I wanted was a bit of an effort. Ultimately I decided to ditch the wireless I currently had (a wireless G access point from Linksys) and use the TC exclusively. TC can work with other wireless routers/access points, but I didn't need it because the TC covers our entire medium-size house with ease (from the upstairs down into the basement). It also took a little doing for me to "get" the way WPA security works when you have WEP only devices to connect as well, but it is actually pretty simple (just use 13 character keys and check the "WEP transitional" box and you are okay).

The hard drive worked easily from the start. It can be seen from both the Mac and the PC (I ran the included software on both to set it up). It seems pretty fast, both when accessed wireless (from the Mac) and via ethernet, again through multiple switches (from the PC). Time Machine works flawlessly.

All of my random wireless devices - ipod touch, Wii, old Soundbridge M500, Blackberry Curve - linked up no problem once I got the wireless password thing worked out.

In sum, this is a great product for just about anyone who wants a "home wireless network with backup in a box," which I imagine is most people. I suppose the clincher is the ability to back up OS X/Leopard machines with Time Machine, which as I understand it otherwise requires an attached USB drive or, to use network storage, some fairly esoteric tinkering. In other words, if you are a pure PC user, there may be cheaper solutions out there, but, price aside, I doubt there are much better ones.

Enjoy!

Great Product!
This is a great product from Apple. Very easy to setup. I am using the airport piece and the hard drive for Time Machine backup on my MBP.

Not quite as advertised...
Got this to serve as network-attached storage and backup for several computers with an existing wireless network. I read some critical reviews, but decided to try it anyway, because the other network attached storage solutions were reputably even harder to administer ([...] or too expensive (Data Robotics DR04DD10 Drobo 4-Bays USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 Fully Automated SATA Robotic Storage Array and Droboshare, Network Attached Companion for Drobo). I didn't consider a USB external drive because I want to be able to access my files from my notebook computer when the one desktop computer we have is asleep or out of sorts.

Here's what I learned after buying it that you should know before:

- Automatic backup is only for Mac machines with Time Machine (a feature of Leopard, which is a $100 upgrade I haven't done yet). For any other machine you have to configure it yourself somehow (there are no instructions for doing this). Also, I haven't been able to get it to work with Windows Vista's automatic backup feature - I get some kind of RPC server error when I try to specify to back up to the TC.

- It can't connect wirelessly to a wireless network that isn't 802.11.n. It kind of says it might work, but when I tried to configure it with my 802.11.g router, it just stopped responding and I had to reset it.

- It won't work with a network that's got less than 128-bit WEP encryption. This is a direct contradiction to something this product description says. Also it requires a 13-character ASCII WEP password, not a hexidecimal password.

- If you use it to access the internet through another router, it "dumbs down" its speed to the speed of that router. Even if I'm just writing files between my Mac and the Time Capsule, it's limited to the speed of the older, non-Apple router.

- Time Capsule supports WPA and WPA2 encryption, but if you use it with Windows machines or another router tech support says you should not try to use WPA because non-Apple equipment might have problems supporting it. WPA is supposedly better than WEP.

- The best scenario is to have it be your only wireless router. Although you can configure it to be a "member" of the network or to "extend your wireless network" if you connect it via Ethernet, Apple tech support discourages that. One tech I talked with said she had a customer who configured it to work with another router and it worked at first but then stopped working for no apparent reason.

- If you have a wireless router from your ISP you might have to reconfigure it (to change the password and encryption strength) and/or turn off the wireless feature to let Time Capsule be the boss.

On the bright side, Apple wireless support was free, easy to get, and helpful. (Except for the part where they kept telling me it probably wouldn't work the way I wanted it to!)

After a few days attempts to configure it, I can mount it as a network drive and it seems to be working (I'm copying 25GB of photos to it now). I haven't tried backing up to it yet, since I haven't researched yet how to do that on Tiger or figured out how to make it work on Windows.

I still think it's a decent price for a network-attached 1TB drive, but unless you have an all-Mac household and it can be your only wireless access point, you will have to do a lot of work on your own to make it do everything you want it to.

Excellent disk/router solution
Excellent product. Design great as usual with apple.
Just a little remark, and I was not the only one, I did not succeed to connect the time capsule to my actual router by wifi.
I succeeded to do that only by Ethernet.

paid for and never delivered
My credit card was charged & the prodcut was never delivered, seller claims he will issue refund but I have not heard from him in a while.
Seller: infinite surplus.