Despite its jawdroppingly exorbitant cost, there is no denying that the Apple Time Capsule is one of the best backup solutions available. It’s wireless, so multiple computers can easily and conveniently use it, and OS X’s Time Machine software makes the entire backup process both easy and foolproof. The only problem, of course, is that Time Capsules are really designed to work with Macs — you can use them with Windows PCs, but then it just becomes a glorified Samba share.

A very expensive Samba share, too: $500 for a 3TB Time Capsule is a lot of money, even for your average Apple zealot — especially when you consider that you’re basically buying a pearly-white wireless router with a hard drive inside. Suffice it to say, if you’ve ever bought a wireless router, you’ll know that they can be bought for around $50; and portable 3TB hard drives are only $130. In other words, if you’re willing to do a little bit of legwork, you can make your own Time Capsule for about $200 — and if you’re a multi-OS household or office, you can even create a DIY Capsule that works equally well with Windows, Mac, and Linux. Having said that, this guide will focus on making a Windows Time Capsule, but there is a section at the end if Mac and Linux users also want to get in on the action.

The hardware

If you take a look at the back of an Apple Time Capsule, it’s basically a 4-port router with a USB port — it doesn’t even act as a DSL or Cable modem! To make your own Time Capsule, you need to pick up an 802.11n wireless Belkin or Linksys router with a 4-port switch and one or two USB ports. The latest models (around $60) seem to handle external storage fairly well, but if you opt for an older or cheaper model ($40-50), be sure to check some reviews beforehand. If you want a wireless router with built-in DSL or Cable modem, it’ll cost you around $100.



Hard drive-wise, you have two options: you can go the complete DIY route and buy an internal 3.5″ drive, a USB enclosure, and turn them into an external hard drive — or you can simply buy a ready-made portable hard drive from Seagate, Western Digital, or whoever your favorite manufacturer is. To be entirely honest, portable hard drives are so cheap that it’s almost not worth the hassle of building your own USB enclosure. Empty enclosures cost at least $15 — and today you can get a Western Digital My Book Essential 3TB for $129 from Amazon. You’d be hard pressed to find an internal 3.5″ drive for $115, that’s for sure. If you want to go a little cheaper, TigerDirect has a 2TB Iomega Select for $79 — and likewise, an internal version can’t be found for less than $70.

In most cases, you will want to plug your USB drive into a computer and format it before you continue. Wipe the drive clean, delete any “special” partitions, and format the entire drive as FAT32 — or NTFS if your router supports it.

Once you’ve got your wireless router and a formatted hard drive, grab a USB cable and connect them up, turn the router on — and then move on to the next step: configuration and software.