Errrrrrr?? Firewire. What?s the big Ta-Do?

I’m switching from a PC and am waiting on my MBP which should be here by the weekend. Sam’s switchover thread has been a big help but until I have the MBP in front of me it’s all still pretty foreign to a PC user.

I currently have a Linksys 801.g router and the new lappy will be N so I looked at my options out there. Apples Time Capsule looked nice and after reading the reviews I was convinced to go the TC route (plus I have no external back-up drive now). In fact, I was ready to buy the 500gig for $275 last night until I read a review about why someone did NOT buy the TC.

It was due to speed. Wireless vs Firewire speed. Firewire? The most I know/knew of FW is by reading all the folks out there crying about the MB not having it. Heck for all I care, you can have the port I’m going to be getting. I’m prob not going to use it. That was till last night and I found out what this FW thing is all about.

Really why buy TC and get slow(er) transfer rates compared to just buying a nice external drive and using my lickity split FW port? Sure I’d have the convenience of auto wireless data back-ups with TC but TC can only back up when on AC power anyway. So I could just plug in the external drive when I go to bed anyway.

I’m confused. And though my confusion rate will go up once I get the MBP and I start walking the apple road of life – I’m confused as to using TC vs using Firewire with an external drive. Sooooooooooo............I ask you all who have 'Been there -- Done that'....

 

Firewire is certainly faster, but you have to be plugged in. The advantage to TC is that you can leave it in another room and be backing up wherever you are in your house (so long as you're plugged in that is). So you can leave the TC in your office, and even if you're using the Mac in your living room or bedroom, you can still be doing Time Machine backups as well as access the already backed up data.

That being said, I don't see a big issue in just plugging in. That's what I've always done with my USB external drive.

 

One of the main disadvantages to Time Capsule (ignoring Firewire for a moment) is that your backup drive becomes part of your router. You can never move your backup drive without affecting your router.

I went with the Airport Extreme Base Station (TC minus internal HD) and have a USB HD connected to it which I use with Time Machine on both my Macs.

If you use just an external drive connected to your Mac (via Firewire or USB) you're limited to only backing up one machine at a time, and only while it's plugged in. When the day comes (and it will) that you have a second or third Mac in your house, you then either need to buy additional backup drives for each machine, or continually move your backup drive around. This is where TC and AEBS excel.

If you buy either a TC or AEBS, then you automatically have one centralized backup location for all of your machines. Since Time Machine's regular routine is to keep hourly backups for 24 hours, daily backups for 30 days, and then weekly backups until your drive is full......the easiest (and best solution IMO) is to just let everything backup via wireless to either TC or an AEBS with USB drive attached.

My Apple router has been by far, the best router I've ever purchased so I have no problems recommending one of these to anyone.

Personally, I favour the AEBS over TC simply because you can change or upgrade your backup drive at anytime where as with TC you're stuck.

As far as Firewire is concerned, honestly I've found that USB works just as well and have never felt that I'm missing out by NOT using it. Apple's decision to drop Firewire is a pretty good indication that USB is future friendly and it wouldn't surprise me to see USB3 connections show up on future Apple products.

 

firewire is all good and dandy but i would definatly recommend a usb external over the firewire as every computer has usb ports and thus you could also use the external to port files from your pc to a friends or watever and if its firewire then there will be a slim chance that your friend or watever will have firewire.

In terms of the office world and such firewire is rare to find unless your working on apple workstations (just giving you some insight and advice not flaming FW as it is faster then usb2)

 

I think in the general consumer world, firewire is pretty much dead. For the average user there just isn't enough difference between usb and firewire.
I use a usb external for my TM. I plug-in ~1 week and do my backups, which take ~5min. Firewire could reduce this by a minute, but hey what's a minute between friends. Like others have said the main advantage of TC is that the backups are wireless, and regular. So cause I'm lazy I run the risk of loosing data should my drive crash 6 days after my last backup.
So if data backup is critical than I suggest getting either a AEBS+usb external or a TC.
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