Time Capsure vs Network Accessible Storage
November 10, 2011 7:39 PM Subscribe
What is the right apple/mac storage solution for me?
We have the following products:
Mac Book - the white one - 2009
Mac Book Pro - 2010
iTouch - 2009
We are looking at getting a Mac Air and possibly an Apple TV.
I am the primary user of the Mac Book Pro at the moment but I travel around a lot and I'm finding it on the heavy side. I want to switch to the MacAir but find a network storage solution so that I can still make the movies I want to, create large presentations and edit and store photos. I don't need to have the the movies or photos available everywhere I go but they should be available also to the rest of the family or accessible if I decide I want to work on the Mac Book Pro rather than the MacAir. Like wise we want to be able to share our iTunes library.
I'm pretty hopeless with all things computers but what I want is the same kind of set up that I have at work. I have a hard drive on my computer where I can put stuff and then I have access to different shared drives with documents and pictures etc so I don't gum up my hard drive or others with large attachments sent through email or whatever.
I know time capsule does a backup of your documents but what I want is to limit what stays on my MacAir as there is not much storage space.
I've heard Network attached storage is cheaper but that is not the main driver for me. We also would benefit from the wifi on time capsule but before purchasing it I need to know that it is the right choice to serve as a network storage solution so that all three MacBooks and the iTouch can store and share certain information like iphoto, imovies and itunes.
We have the following products:
Mac Book - the white one - 2009
Mac Book Pro - 2010
iTouch - 2009
We are looking at getting a Mac Air and possibly an Apple TV.
I am the primary user of the Mac Book Pro at the moment but I travel around a lot and I'm finding it on the heavy side. I want to switch to the MacAir but find a network storage solution so that I can still make the movies I want to, create large presentations and edit and store photos. I don't need to have the the movies or photos available everywhere I go but they should be available also to the rest of the family or accessible if I decide I want to work on the Mac Book Pro rather than the MacAir. Like wise we want to be able to share our iTunes library.
I'm pretty hopeless with all things computers but what I want is the same kind of set up that I have at work. I have a hard drive on my computer where I can put stuff and then I have access to different shared drives with documents and pictures etc so I don't gum up my hard drive or others with large attachments sent through email or whatever.
I know time capsule does a backup of your documents but what I want is to limit what stays on my MacAir as there is not much storage space.
I've heard Network attached storage is cheaper but that is not the main driver for me. We also would benefit from the wifi on time capsule but before purchasing it I need to know that it is the right choice to serve as a network storage solution so that all three MacBooks and the iTouch can store and share certain information like iphoto, imovies and itunes.
Best answer: Get the Time Capsule. You may get more storage for less form elsewhere, but it isn't going to fit as nicely into your Apple-heavy household.
posted by Good Brain at 10:26 PM on November 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Good Brain at 10:26 PM on November 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Get a Synology DiskStation ds211. I bought one on the basis of Brian Lam's recommendation, and it's great. It plays nicely with the Apple TV, it serves iTunes, it downloads torrents, it allows remote access to files. And it's cheap.
posted by roofus at 4:43 AM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by roofus at 4:43 AM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
I also vote for the Synology brand. They have a variety of options at different price points, with different storage options. I've had mine for about six months and it's been great. One note rhoug, I find it a bit loud, but that could be due to the hard drives I purchased.
posted by reddot at 4:58 AM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by reddot at 4:58 AM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
BTW, I'm not sure that the touch will be able to use either the time capsule or Synology as direct storage.
posted by reddot at 4:59 AM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by reddot at 4:59 AM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I'm pretty hopeless with all things computers
Is the Synology system user friendly? I heard it is not. If not, is this a good solution for YukonQuirm?
posted by cahlers at 9:12 AM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
Is the Synology system user friendly? I heard it is not. If not, is this a good solution for YukonQuirm?
posted by cahlers at 9:12 AM on November 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
As noted, the TimeCapsule isn't just a NAS, it is also a quite competent simultaneous dual band 802.11n WiFi router. It also acts as a Bonjour Sleep proxy, and I wouldn't be surprised if its updated with some iCloud related features at some point in the future that won't be supported on third party NASs.
posted by Good Brain at 10:14 AM on November 12, 2011
posted by Good Brain at 10:14 AM on November 12, 2011
Yes, I found the Synology to be pretty straightforward. I don't find Apple's Airport utility to be very user friendly though. :)
posted by reddot at 5:58 PM on November 15, 2011
posted by reddot at 5:58 PM on November 15, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dfriedman at 7:44 PM on November 10, 2011 [1 favorite]