Apple will stop supporting the AirPort Time Capsule, now what?

rudy1073 wrote:

I am interested in what you finally do. I also have the AirPort Time Capsule and rely on it to manage various wifi cameras around my home. most of the simpler wifi cameras won't consider connecting to new router bands. I have a ton of photos, music, etc stored in the time capsule. the whole reason I got the AirPort Time Capsule was because of its simplicity. I'm not too interested in creating a new network that might or might not interface with current equipment. I use 6 or more Macs in my home, the capsule has been my cloud for years. Let me know, thanks.

I’ve replaced some Time Capsule networks, where the Time Capsules were comfogured as access points and NAS behind a dedicated box. The gateway boxes have been Zyxel or Ubiquiti.

What I usually install (recently) is a mix of Ubiquiti networking gear and Synology NAS gear.

Ubiquiti is reminiscent of what Apple was offering for clarity and plug-and-play, and an Apple-like hardware esthetic, though with a far broader selection of Wi-Fi and gateway gear, as well as many products and options Apple never offered including switching, firewalls, cameras, and other gear.

I expect to prototype the UniFi UNAS Pro at some juncture, and there are rumored to be NAS models beyond the first UNAS Pro model arriving this year.

Synology NAS works well with Time Machine, and they have options from Wi-Fi connected gear to dual-bay entry-level gear and mid- and upper-end NAS arrays, and with many additional network-related capabilities available.

As a close-to-Time Capsule configuration to consider, I’d probably look at Ubiquiti UniFi Express 7 (Wi-Fi mesh capable, though with no camera or other app support) or Cloud Gateway Max (this gateway needs added Wi-Fi access points, but has support for cameras and other Ubiquiti features), with a Synology DS124 single-bay or DS223 dual-bay for Time Machine.

Ubiquiti access points work well wired or mesh, and which helps with coverage particularly when wired backhaul is not available.

If you want an all-on one option, a Synology mesh (or maybe router) Wi-Fi box with an add-on USB hard disk drive.

If Wi-Fi is already available with an RJ45 network jack, then a Synology NAS box can be added to the existing network.

Here’s another recent thread with details, as well as some NAS vendor suggestions:

• Time Machine will no longer support Time … - Apple Community

These allow both wired and Wi-Fi configurations.

An old Mac also works.

Just a note to clarify and point out that the Time Capsule was a unique product in that it was a Wi-Fi router with a built in hard drive that was designed to handle Time Machine backups from your Mac(s).

No other manufacturer ever offered a product like this, so your task is going to be two fold.....since it will require two completely different devices.

1) Finding a Wi-Fi router that will meet your qualifications

2) Find a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device that will connect to your new Wi-Fi router so that you will be able to back up to the NAS over the Wi-Fi network provided by the new router.

I am going to stop short of recommending a product though, since I'm not currently using the type of setup that you will need. I would advise though that you choose products from the same manufacturer since they are more likely to work together in a seamless fashion.

+1 on Synology.

While a very capable NAS, their device setup and online tutorials make it reasonably easy for a NAS Novice to get their TM Backup — a critical app for most “Mac owning” purchasers — up and running.

well you can still use a NAS Network-attached storage - Wikipedia

and of cause you can use a wired connected storage unit by usb or thunderbolt to use various types of backup solutions

macs never soly relied on time machine for backup you can backup in tons of ways, and as far as I know then you can still use time machine to wired storage and maybe also to NAS devices on your network.

yeah as I said NAS like mine from synology support time machine so that would be an option

If you ever needed an “excuse” to upgrade your network with a NAS, this is a good one.

It would help if you can define what exact networking requirements you want the replacement Time Capsule to meet.

For example:

• Are you looking for a feature-to-feature direct replacement? ... or, what features are most important to you? Based on what little you posted, are you only looking for a network storage device or a combination device, like what the Time Capsule does?
• Do you want the device to support Time Machine backups?
• For Ethernet, do you want the WAN-side port(s) to support 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, or greater bandwidth? How about the LAN ports? How many LAN ports do you want?
• For wireless, which standards do you want it to support: Wi-Fi 4, Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, or newer? What wireless security protocols do you want it to support: WPA, WPA3, WPA3?

The more you can provide us, the better we can be equipped to assist you with some options.

I am interested in what you finally do. I also have the AirPort Time Capsule and rely on it to manage various wifi cameras around my home. most of the simpler wifi cameras won't consider connecting to new router bands. I have a ton of photos, music, etc stored in the time capsule. the whole reason I got the AirPort Time Capsule was because of its simplicity. I'm not too interested in creating a new network that might or might not interface with current equipment. I use 6 or more Macs in my home, the capsule has been my cloud for years. Let me know, thanks.