Any Time Capsule or Airport Extreme owners?

[silverpig]

I'm still using a WRT-54g router/access point for my network and with dd-wrt it is quite good. However, I am going to be getting rid of a bunch of stuff, moving, and getting new stuff soon and want to go dual-band wireless-n and gigabit.

I've got a hackintosh desktop that also runs my plex media server and is connected to my tv, as well as a macbook pro, my wife's macbook, and we each have iPhones as well.

Currently, I have time machine running on 3 separate USB hard drives for all the computers, each one having its own. The desktop is always connected to its time machine drive, the laptops, well... they don't get connected very often.

So, I'm planning on a new network setup in my new place and was looking at routers/access points and network storage. Ideally, I'd go with some sort of access point and a big drobo-FS or something like that, but I'm not about to drop $1k (or more) on it. Does anyone here have experience with the airport extreme as a router/access point? It is attractive to me because it is wireless-n (dual band), and gigabit, and has a usb connection so I can attach my own drive.

Alternatively, I could go with a time capsule and save myself the extra attachment (which would be nice). I'll probably pick up an Apple refurb if I do go for one.

The only real thing holding me back is that I like the configurability of dd-wrt and have heard the airport extreme/time capsule isn't close in features. I don't do anything crazy, but I like to set up a static IP for the hack, and have dhcp for the mobile computers, with some port forwarding and, ideally, some usage statistics.

 

[dionx]

I had a WRT-54g with Tomato, but also wanted wireless-n. I bought a refurbed AirPort Extreme, and just used a wired network connection from the WRT-54g to the AirPort. Everything that supported Gigabit connections, I attached to the Airport. For my other connections like VOIP that only support 10/100, I attached to the WRT-54g.

This setup allows me to keep the customization of Tomato and maintain the wireless-n and Gigabit speeds of devices that support it.

And now that I have two separate wireless networks (g and n), I use the "n" as my personal network and the "g" for guests.

 

[silverpig]

Hmm, that's an interesting idea.

 

[MotionMan]

I have an extreme with a USB hub plugged into it. I have three 1TB drives plugged into that for Time Machine and double backups for my networked computers (2 Minis and 2 MacBooks).

MotionMan

 

[Pandamonium]

I've got a D-Link dual band flashed to dd-wrt and run time machine backups to a Synology NAS. It's not as clean as a Time Capsule setup, but I've got a bit more control.

I was really considering the time capsule route until I found a cluster of reviews where users were experiencing high failure rates. I think the power supply was crapping out. Apple may have engineered the problem out of the current supply of Time Capsules for all I know, but that's something you ought to consider.

If I could do it all over again, I'd build my own mini-server. If I weren't building, I'd buy a QNAP. They're a 5-10% premium over Synology but they support scheduled SMART scans and most support wake-on-LAN. I've been trying to figure out a way to protect against bit-rot, and while I don't know that scheduled SMART scans will help, I don't see how they could hurt.

If I were to build my own mini-server, I'd get an HP Microserver. My bit-rot paranoia has me on a ZFS crusade. It's a $300 barebones machine that can use ECC memory, which helps integrity a bit.

Here's the way I see it:

Time Capsule pros: clean all-in-one solution
Time Capsule cons: hardware reliability, data loss in the event of a single drive failure

Router+QNAP/Synology NAS pros: fair amount of features, protection against single drive failure if you run a RAID1, low power, quiet
Router+QNAP/Synology NAS cons: $300+ for a diskless 2-bay NAS with reasonable performance (see smallnetbuilder benchmarks), no bit rot protection

Router+Microserver pros: customizable to your heart's desire, protection against as many drive failures as you want to pay for, almost as quiet as a NAS, about 50-60W idle power consumption
Router+Microserver cons: can easily end up costing $800+ after you upgrade the RAM and fill it up with hard drives

 

[Tyranicus]

The only real thing holding me back is that I like the configurability of dd-wrt and have heard the airport extreme/time capsule isn't close in features. I don't do anything crazy, but I like to set up a static IP for the hack, and have dhcp for the mobile computers, with some port forwarding and, ideally, some usage statistics.

I've been using an AirPort Extreme for about 2 years now, and I love it. The AirPort Utility interface is much better than the web-based interface of most routers. I'm not sure about usage statistics because I have never had a reason to check that, but it can do IP reservations and port forwarding with no issues whatsoever.

 

[GrantMeThePower]

I just got the airport extreme, and i love it...the only problem is i didnt realize that the airtunes feature was only for the airport express..that was a huge bummer.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I have an Airport Extreme and can highly recommend it. I use it with a 1TB USB drive for my Time Machine wireless backup of my MBP. I can't say the same for the Time Capsule - mine conked out, out of warranty, making it a costly paperweight.

 

[MotionMan]

I have an Airport Extreme and can highly recommend it. I use it with a 1TB USB drive for my Time Machine wireless backup of my MBP. I can't say the same for the Time Capsule - mine conked out, out of warranty, making it a costly paperweight.

How did it die and what did you do with it?

MotionMan

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

How did it die and what did you do with it?

MotionMan

It just flat-out stopped working and ceased to be visible as a router, so I don't think the HD was what died. Honestly I felt it was urgent to get my network going again so I bought a new router and external HD right away. I think my TC is still rattling around my house somewhere - I never looked into getting it repaired. I really should - it might be cost-effective to repair and sell it. It was a very early first-gen TC - I bought it right after they were released.

 

[MotionMan]

It just flat-out stopped working and ceased to be visible as a router, so I don't think the HD was what died. Honestly I felt it was urgent to get my network going again so I bought a new router and external HD right away. I think my TC is still rattling around my house somewhere - I never looked into getting it repaired. I really should - it might be cost-effective to repair and sell it. It was a very early first-gen TC - I bought it right after they were released.

Please let me know if you find it and what you decide to do with it.

Thanks.

MotionMan

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I do still have my TC. Do you have some use for a non-working TC or are you just interested if I get it repaired?

 

[MotionMan]

I do still have my TC. Do you have some use for a non-working TC or are you just interested if I get it repaired?

I would be interested either way, depending on the terms, of course

MotionMan