Regarding "Cracking Open the Time Capsule"
Re: Cracking Open the Time Capsule
Submitted by mashikoboy on December 27, 2010 - 12:25pm.
I am intending to upgrade my 500 GB Time Capsule with a 2 TB (or maybe larger) Western Digital hard drive.
The company's current catalog lists two drives in their Caviar Green series which appear to be exactly alike, except for cache size (32 & 64 MB). I'm referring to the WD20EARS and the WD20EADS models.
I am wondering how cache size affects performance in a situation where a hard drive is installed in a TC.
Specifically, I would like to know which of the two drives would be better suited/cost effective for my intended purpose.
Of the two specific models you've listed, you'll want the EADS one. WD's EARS series of drives use the new Advanced Format 4KB sectors, which Time Capsule cannot use natively. You supposedly can set a jumper on the EARS drives to revert back to the old sector size, but I haven't tried a drive configured as such in a Time Capsule.
FWIW, I installed a WD20EADS in my own Time Capsule (replacing the WD10EADS I had upgraded it to as part of the article) and it works flawlessly.
Since the cache enhances transfer speed, using it over USB or a network would most likely see no improvement whatsoever. I'd get the cheaper, 32mb version
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