09-25-2009, 04:45 PM
bhaveshp wrote:
[quote=Wags]
Is there any functional difference between TM and using a Base Station with a drive plugged in to it? That way if the drive starts to fail you'd still have the Base Station, plus more portability.
No functional differences between a Time Capsule & an Airport Extreme with a HD attached via USB with respect to Time Machine backups.
I've been using an Airport Ex for over a year with 10.5 & now 10.6 and it has been great. I prefer the cheaper, roll your own solution.
Furthermore, both Apple discussions & TUAW have long threads on Time Capsules failing @~ 18 months due to internal power supplies / heat.
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/11/are-apple...t-of-time/
Dunno if this would be a "functional" difference or just a general TM issue, but I have been using an Airport Extreme with an external USB drive for TM backups. Several times over the past couple years, TM complained about not finding the backup disk. Usually it's a matter of the volumes directory getting screwed up (thanks for that tip, Doc) and by deleting the spurious "volume" in question, all is well again. In a couple instances though, that didn't do the trick and I had to start over, erasing the drive and doing a full backup from scratch. I have no information on whether the Time Capsule occasionally suffers the same malady. YMMV