Time Capsule: Total Piece of Crap?

alra111

Registered
I have a Time Capsule 1 TB and it seems to have a mind of its own. It seems only to want to be connected to my iMac via my existing wireless network. Well, I don't really care to do that. Music starts skipping sometimes, doubtless due to poor network conditions. I have reset the piece of sh***t a million times, configured it manually and automatically, and told it that I wanted to DISABLE WIRELESS. However, once I do that, I cannot successfully mount it to my desktop as a LOCAL HARD DRIVE, the way my Western Digital 500GB hard drive worked flawlessly from the beginning.

I have connected the Ethernet cable from my iMac to the LAN port and nothing. WAN port and nothing. If there was some other f****ing port I'd probably try it and would get the same result: NOTHING.

I have tried different Ethernet cables in case it was the Ethernet cable. It wasn't.

Should I sell this crap on eBay and get a Western Digital 1TB drive? Or is there a way to connect this BS to the computer as a local hard drive? I am so disgusted by this Time Capsule that it is ridiculous. If someone wants to explain what I should do, I'd be happy to listen.

Thanks,

Alra111

PS: Even though I use it for music and have my iTunes library stored on it (the TIME CAPSULE), whenever the F**** it feels like, iTunes changes my library location back to the IMAC'S built-in hard drive. I want to disable this stupid behavior or at least be asked for permission before it happens. I'm assuming it is doing it whenever the network conditions are unfavorable and it cannot find the TIME CAPSULE. Every f***ing time I discover that my iTunes library location has been changed, I have to reset it do the TIME CAPSULE and move, copy, organize, rename and all that BS all my music files so they go back to the F****NG TIME CAPSULE.
 
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No, the Time Capsule is not a local disk, like the Western Digital.

Time Capsule must be used as a router and a network disk. It should appear to your computer as another networked computer should. Your Time Capsule should replace your current router. You iMac should connect to a LAN port -- not the WAN port. Your DSL or cable modem should connect to the WAN port.

I think the problem lies in that you're trying to use the Time Capsule in a fashion that it was not intended to be used in. With a greater understanding of how it works and what it's supposed to do (connecting locally to a Mac for backing up with Time Machine is not what it's supposed to do), I think you'll find it quite intuitive.

Can you explain your network setup in detail? DSL or cable modem? What wires go where?
 
First reset you Time Capsule by the instructions that were included. By the way, are you using the N or G speed? Make sure your all your wireless does N because you slowest wireless device will drag done speed to all the other wireless devices.

When I got mine I already have a D-Link wired router that is connected to my cable modem. I then took a CAT 6 cable from my wired router/switch and put it to the WAN port on the router. I then launched /Applications/Utilities/Airport Utility to set it up. Once the setup was done (WP2) I launched System Preferences->Time Machine and choice that for my Time Capsule disk.

I then mounted the Time Capsule disk and put it on the Startup items list since it is always on. I then connected a cable from my Mac Book Pro to do the initial backup because of the huge size. Once that was done the disconnected it and backup regular wirelessly.

I read somewhere that using Time Capsule or almost any wireless hard disk as iTunes Library is contrary to belief is NOT up to speed yet to stream Movies reliable just yet, even with the N speed. I say this because the Time Capsule like to spin down to save power, etc. I think it does this to prolong the life of the internal disk.

You would (IMHO) be far better off putting the iTunes on a Firewire or better wired disk to your computer.
 
Thank you, I wish Apple had been more clear that this Time Capsule is not really meant to be used as your primary hard disk. How come you can use it in a wired fashion when you do your initial backup, but not continue using it in a wired fashion thereafter?

Also, if you run the Airport Utility and select your Time Capsule, on the Wireless "tab" there is an option called "Off." Doesn't that imply that you can use it wired all the time?

I don't know why iTunes keeps switching the library back to the Local Hard Drive setting. Does it do this when it cannot contact the Time Capsule? Why the F**@&*@ doesn't it ask for permission before doing so?

I'm going to see how much music I have and move it all to either my Western Digital or my Local Hard drive.

Traditionally, I avoided keeping the music (and media in general) on the local hard drive in an effort to "future-proof" my music collection so that whenever I upgraded my computer, all I had to do was connect the hard drive to the new computer so that I could avoid copying all the music manually. But I'm getting a headache every time iTunes decides to change the music library's location back to the Mac's hard drive.

Thanks for your help,

Alra111
No, the Time Capsule is not a local disk, like the Western Digital.

Time Capsule must be used as a router and a network disk. It should appear to your computer as another networked computer should. Your Time Capsule should replace your current router. You iMac should connect to a LAN port -- not the WAN port. Your DSL or cable modem should connect to the WAN port.

I think the problem lies in that you're trying to use the Time Capsule in a fashion that it was not intended to be used in. With a greater understanding of how it works and what it's supposed to do (connecting locally to a Mac for backing up with Time Machine is not what it's supposed to do), I think you'll find it quite intuitive.

Can you explain your network setup in detail? DSL or cable modem? What wires go where?
 
I think I'm gonna follow your advice and move all the music to my wired hard drive or even better, the iMac's built-in hard drive.

Thanks for your help!

Alra111

First reset you Time Capsule by the instructions that were included. By the way, are you using the N or G speed? Make sure your all your wireless does N because you slowest wireless device will drag done speed to all the other wireless devices.

When I got mine I already have a D-Link wired router that is connected to my cable modem. I then took a CAT 6 cable from my wired router/switch and put it to the WAN port on the router. I then launched /Applications/Utilities/Airport Utility to set it up. Once the setup was done (WP2) I launched System Preferences->Time Machine and choice that for my Time Capsule disk.

I then mounted the Time Capsule disk and put it on the Startup items list since it is always on. I then connected a cable from my Mac Book Pro to do the initial backup because of the huge size. Once that was done the disconnected it and backup regular wirelessly.

I read somewhere that using Time Capsule or almost any wireless hard disk as iTunes Library is contrary to belief is NOT up to speed yet to stream Movies reliable just yet, even with the N speed. I say this because the Time Capsule like to spin down to save power, etc. I think it does this to prolong the life of the internal disk.

You would (IMHO) be far better off putting the iTunes on a Firewire or better wired disk to your computer.
 
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