Using an Apple Time Capsule? Read this.

[stupid dogbot]

Apple are the undisputed kings of sexy design - I've got an iPod Nano, which is the best designed gadget I've ever owned - but I don't trust Apple to make reliable, mission critical hardware. When it comes to entrusting your data to a bit of hardware, sexy design can fuck off - I want unattractive, sensible, practical & easily serviceable.

Well, exactly.

 

[mauvais]

That's not what MTBF means, or at least not how it applies.

http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/perf/qual/specMTBF.html

To be interpreted properly, the MTBF figure is intended to be used in conjunction with the useful service life of the drive, the typical amount of time before the drive enters the period where failures due to component wear-out increase. MTBF only applies to the aggregate analysis of large numbers of drives; it says nothing about a particular unit. If the MTBF of a model is 500,000 hours and the service life is five years, this means that a drive of that type is supposed to last for five years, and that of a large group of drives operating within this timeframe, on average they will accumulate 500,000 of total run time (amongst all the drives) before the first failure of any drive. Or, you can think of it this way: if you used one of these drives and replaced it every five years with another identical one, in theory it should last 57 years before failing, on average

 

[EastEnder]

Good thing too, because they dont sell any. Mission critical is not a word thats applied to *any* consumer electronics.

A little pedantic perhaps. I meant "mission critical" in a consumer sense - as in, a device being marketed for the specific purpose of backing up, presumably important, data. Apple's own marketing blurb states:

...It automatically backs up everything, so you no longer have to worry about losing your digital life...

Well given how badly designed it is (within the context of a reliable backup device), I'd say you most definitely do have to worry about losing your digital life...

 

[grit]

Well given how badly designed it is (within the context of a reliable backup device), I'd say you most definitely do have to worry about losing your digital life...

I can only assume that you have actually dismantled a unit and have the required knowledge to make such a claim?

Stuff fails, its part of life. Regular hard drives fail all the time yet they are sold to store backup data, however this fact seems to be ignored by several posters on this thread.

 

[EastEnder]

I can only assume that you have actually dismantled a unit and have the required knowledge to make such a claim?

I have absolutely no first hand idea of how reliable or well built the device in question is, I'm merely basing my opinion on the reports in the press - if it turns out they're unwarranted and this is a rock solid, dependable bit of kit, then I'll happily apologise to Mr. Jobs.

I still stand by my assertion that something being marketed as a backup device, with claims such as "It automatically backs up everything, so you no longer have to worry about losing your digital life", should not take the form of a sealed box that, if the reports are accurate, can be destroyed by overheating. Maybe if they rewrote their marketing spiel to read "It automatically backs up everything, so you might not have to worry about losing your digital life as long as nothing breaks", I'd feel happier.

Stuff fails, its part of life. Regular hard drives fail all the time yet they are sold to store backup data, however this fact seems to be ignored by several posters on this thread.

I might suggest it's being ignored by Apple too. I'm not singling out Apple for criticism here, many other manufacturers make similarly misleading claims. A hard disk based backup device without any kind of RAID is a disaster waiting to happen. I can't see many manufacturers highlighting that fact to consumers, at least not until/if RAID devices become as cheap as single drive based solutions. But in the meantime companies like Apple are marketing devices on the basis that they're a reliable means of preventing data loss - which as you've pointed out, in the case of a single drive system like the Time Capsule, is wholly misleading.