Switching to Mac

I decided to switch to a Mac and purchased a Macbook lap top and time capsule (they should both arrive this week).

 

My current plan is to use the time capsule as the main storage drive for my photos, videos, and other data. I

intend to hook an external drive to the time capsule using the usb port and back up the time capsule data to the

external usb drive. I intend to buy a firewire external drive to connect to the laptop when it is stationary and

have time machine back up to the firewire drive. I realize that it will not be backed up as often as if I used

the time capsule, but I am not sure I need a backup every hour.

 

My plan is to use picasa (via parallel desktop) and a mac version of Lightroom to edit photos.

 

Anybody have any advice on whether this set-up is not only workable, but also optimal -- my goal in switching to

Mac is to put together a stable system, and then, hopefully, be able to focus my attention on photography and on

not "managing" the computer (or at least not as much attention as my Windows setup has required as of late.)

 

Three other questions:

 

1) Is it possible to remotely access the time capsule drive via the internet without having a computer at home,

i.e., If I am away from home with the laptop, and no other computer is at my home, can I use the internet to

connect to time capsule? This is not an essential item, but would be nice if possible.

 

2) How will the time capsule drive have to be formatted to allow me to read/write data with both picasa (windows

application) and lightroom (mac application) -- or is this solved by parallel desktop?

 

3) Any advice on a quality drive with both firewire and usb connections?

 

Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can provide.

 

Monte

God, scrap Picasa. Your new machine comes with iPhoto which is infinitely better and more reliable, as well as being

less hassle.

 

1: I am not sure. I would not worry about daily backup while you are on the move. if you are worried, carry a drive with

you, but I generally don't worry about it all the time. But when you are at home, you might want to schedule backups 3

times a day to one, then the backup of the backup once a day, or even once a week.

 

2: Fat32 is probably the format you need for compatibility with Windows. Whether Windows can access a network drive

efficiently is another issue. But Disk Utility has the option of formatting in FAT for windows cross compatibility. I would

recommend formatting your time-machine drives with the GUID partition table to maximize their compatibility.

 

Quality if drive will get an argument started. All i can tell you is that i have one Buffalo, and the case looks and feels

awful, plus its power management hardware does not work. all my other drives are LaCie, and the new-ish black USB

drives have good power management that works properly, and they are relatively inexpensive. My brother uses the D2

drives that have multiple interface, but are larger. Sadly they all have external power supplies, meaning you will

inevitably have a spagetti tangle under your desk. But try to stick to one brand and type, so that you can stack them and

swap power supplies and stuff. it just makes your life easier.

 

Good move. when i finally moved back to mac it saved me a lot of time and stress.

 

t

i just remembered something else. FAT file systems have a big flaw: maximum file size of 2 gig. So if you were ever to

use Aperture or make a video, or disk image of something, you would not be able to store it on the FAT drive.

 

Hence, hypothetically, maybe there is a way to have your time capsule as a Mac partition, and somehow mirror its

contents to a Windows drive attached to it.

 

t

Feltus doesn't like Picasa. I don't agree. It is a great place to park pictures that you want to share with other people at

their leisure - for free!

 

You can't access the Time Capsule unless it is attached to another computer on the internet some way / using a

network.

 

Feltus is right about drives being an argument. They all are only worth what their warranty is.

 

Drobo makes a great backup system ( www.drobo.com ). May be more then you want to spend. I'm happy with the way

it works.

I'm not sure I understand how you plan your HD's, but I think you may misunderstand the Time Capsule setup. It's not an

extra HD you can use, meaning read/write with applications, it's a passive, on-going backup of your system (defined by

the user or default). It's not a read/write like other HD's, but one that keeps writing copies of your HD's as you work

(hourly, daily, weekly and monthly backups). It's accessible by the "Time Machine" icon to retrieve files.

 

You can set partitions on other HD's or other HD's to be your backup for Time Machine beside Apple's, but it still works

the same way. It's simply a passive backup, first the whole system, than the routine partial (new or updated foldes, files,

applications, etc.). And consider using an ethernet or wireless connection instead of usb or firewire. You can turn the

Time Machine off and unplug it (no on/off switch) when you not around (save repeated empty copies).

Scott:

 

I have not taken delivery of the time capsule, but its my understanding that it can be used as the storage point for Time Machine; or it can be used as a regular network drive. Here is what Apple says:

 

 

"Time Capsule also works great as a wireless hard drive whether you have a Mac or PC. It sets up in a snap, giving you a networked hard drive you can use for storing and sharing any kinds of files."

 

My plan was to use time capsule as a shared drive to store photos and use a hard-wired drive for storing Time Machine back ups.

 

Am I missing something?

 

Monte

Congratulations... I think you'll love your Mac. I've been switched for a year, using iPhoto and Aperture on an iMac. Couldn't be happier,

and have no more dealing with the high maintenance/strange behaviors of a PC.

The FAT32 file size limit is about 4Gb, though that's still too small for, e.g, a full DVD image.

Monte, that's true, but also not true. The Time Capsule a plug and play hard drive and works with Time Machine (note

Time Machine is the software and Time Capsule the hardware) on a Mac. You don't install and use it like a normal hard

drive, it contains (that I can tell) its own OS (why you can just unplung it when it's not needed) to communicate and

operate with any other computer(s) for backup operation (one computer being the host connection). It can share stored

files and works with printers either wirelesssly, on a network, or direct connection (USB or Ethernet), but I'm not sure it

can be used as both a Time Machine and a user hard drive. I think you have to choose which you want it to be.

 

I see it as passive 24/7 backup to any system, but then I can easily be wrong. This is my understanding from reading,

talking with folks and when I installed mine. Check with Apple's Website or folks for verification of your understanding.