Apple releases new 3TB Time Capsule

“Apple’s plans for new routers were confirmed Tuesday with a quiet update to the Time Capsule,” Electronista reports.

Advertisement: The new Time Capsule. Now with simultaneous dual-band 802.11n support. From $299 with fast, free shipping.

“Although no press release or store update has arrived so far, the company’s splash page now shows the hybrid router and network storage as ‘available in 2TB and 3TB models,'” Electronista reports. “It had previously stopped at 2TB, and the 1TB model has now been phased out.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: A search of the Apple Store online shows the 2TB Time Capsule priced at US$299 and the 3TB model at $399. More info here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]

43 Comments

    1. The speed difference between local networks and Internet can’t be overstated. If you value performance, a time capsule or other local storage solution is bar far the best way to go.

      I’m excited for iCloud, but for a hundred other reasons not related to back-up.

    2. Maybe anyone with a data cap from their ISP?

      Maybe someone who doesn’t use Apple mobile devices?

      Maybe someone who doesn’t have a large iTunes library?

      I think you get the idea.

    3. The Time Capsule could not just store your backups, but could potentially receive and distribute OS, software, security and other updates. It could receive a backup copy of music, movies, TV shows, books, apps and other conten you purchase from the iTunes Store. All this would take is a simple update pushed to the Tine Capsule by Apple. Plus, it would make the process of offsite online data backup to iClould much more simple by acting as a buffer. The possibilities are endless.

      If a Luddite like me can think of stuff like this, I’ve got a hunch that smarter minds at Apple have it in late beta.

    4. Good arguments. I tend to forget bandwidth is sometimes an issue. In our country (Netherlands) high speeds connections are quite common, perhaps 90% of all connections. But future software distribution is a good argument too.

  1. Sounds like a reasonable price – Amazon is listing Western Digital 3TB drives at $149, so for a router and 3TB in one package it’s not bad.

    Of course, since I already have an Airport router it’s just as easy to buy the drive and plug it in to the router…maybe it’s time to replace by 1TB backup drive.

    Incidentally, Time Machine is fantastic – truly set and forget. The hard disc on my Mac Air died recently; fortunately, because I was using Time Machine wirelessly, retrieving my data was a snap.

    1. Use Time Machine w/capsule, SuperDuper external drive for a bootable image and an on-line backup solution. With any backup and indeed existing data, use encrypted sparse bundles for any sensitive data. Don’t want to pay that much for the drives etc? Pick and choose the combination that works best for you. I use all of them.

  2. Wonder if Apple would sell the HDs in the Time Capsules as server graded.

    I have an Airport Extreme that just keeps on ticking with never a failure (3 years running non stop). Have couple of Western Digital HDs attached to it externally and already had one go corrupt on me.

    Would be nice, if Apple had thought to dispense a few extra coins to ensure a bit more reliability. 3TB of data is no joke. Time Machine is worth every penny for your assured thoughts.

  3. krquet:

    From the Apple store page for the new Time Capsule:

    Server-grade storage.

    The massive 2TB or 3TB server-grade hard drive2 gives you all the capacity and safety you need for backing up all your Mac computers.

    1. I agree! Drobos rock. If any of your 4 internal drives fails, no problem. Pop it out and replace it with a new one, the whole thing rebuilds itself with no data loss. Ahhhhh…

    2. I will put my two cents in here for a Synology DiskStation 411+. I find its Mac support excellent; out of the box, it works as a Time Capsule and it even serves as an iTunes server for my entire network.

  4. I agree with bgh. Time Machine has saved my wife’s hash several times in the last three years since she’s terrible at filing documents and loses important ones for her business sometimes. Our Time Capsule has worked flawlessly non-stop for three years now, but we’re thinking maybe we’ll retire it, store it in our bank safety deposit box, and upgrade to a 2 tb. We currently have 1tb and it’s only had to overwrite a couple of times.

  5. A Netgear ReadyNAS is time-machine capable, and offers redundancy for at least two 3Tb drives (dependant on model), for far less money.

    ————
    My Mac goes all the way to OSXI

  6. It sounds silly to buy a 3TB backup drive that doesn’t include Thunderbolt or even Firewire. Network connections are at least 10x slower than a direct connection. Who wants to tie up their local network for days moving GB’s or TB’s of data around?

    On top of that, there’s no backup power supply and no fan to prevent the unit over heating. All in all, it’s a goofy and poorly thought out backup solution.

  7. I was told by an online Apple Store rep that the new 3 TB model hardware is unchanged from the phased out 1 TB model and the existing 2 TB model. Only storage capacity changed. This introduction is a yawner! Nothing has been improved. Nothing!

  8. I’m very disappointed. Three TB is great, but the design of the TimeCapsule is probably one of Apple’s worst ever. The problem is no ventilation, and the backup drive cooks in it’s case. I peeled the rubber mat off my TC, drilled ventilation holes in the base plate and mounted it upside down on the ceiling, with a half-inch gap to cool the damn thing off. All this after replacing the blown capacitors in the power supply. I wish Apple would have just corrected the case design, but not this time.

    1. And the software just makes the heat issue worse: It does an automatic backup every single hour, and there’s no way to stop it unless you hack or disable automatic backup. Apple refuses to let it cool down for even one hour; it has to start spinning the disk and generate heat 24 times a day until it fries itself.

  9. I think that Apple is unable to
    Create a beter products cause other 3rd party Have that area covered.
    Unless Apple buys over Synology or other NAS vendors , then we might see a shakeup in the industry.
    So no to time
    Capsule.
    To Steve Jobs , our data may not be as
    Important as yours but they are precious nonetheless .
    Your Mac or what ever you use must be backed up on your HUGE server farms with multiple drives.
    If we Mac users can afford a ma we sure as he’ll will be able to afford an Apple branded thunderbolt multi drive Unit!!

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