Spark Smart Modems and the USB 2 Port

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FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#319999 24-Jun-2025 15:43

Why is it that all the Spark Smart Modems only supports USB 2 at 480Mbps ??

The reason I am asking is that Apple will, with the release of macOS 27, no longer support my Airport Time Capsule 5th gen (A1470) this is due to Apple removing support for the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) in that OS version, which is used by Time Capsules for backups. Time Machine backups on macOS 27 will require storage drives that support more modern file-sharing protocols like SMBv2 and SMBv3.

Now Apple Airport Time Capsule also had inbuilt Wireless Router as well NAS (2Tb in my case). I wish they had continued development of this great device, but they haven't so I have to look to the near future for a replacement in the next 2 years.

So my thinking goes is I would like to hang a NAS storage drive off my Spark Smart Modem 1, which like all versions of the Spark Smart Modem only incorporate USB 2 whose speed is 480Mbps. The latest USB version is 4 with speeds of 40 Gbps.

Any advice would be great - Thanks

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

RunningMan

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#3386803 24-Jun-2025 17:15

I doubt you'd notice a huge speed difference with time machine. If you open Activity Monitor and watch network activity while a backup is running, you will see it's quite bursty with a fair amount of slower network activity. Just give it a go and see.

Having said that, will the Spark modem actually advertise it as a TM backup location? I think this needs to occur as well as being an SMB share.

Behodar

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#3386860 24-Jun-2025 21:21

RunningMan:

Having said that, will the Spark modem actually advertise it as a TM backup location? I think this needs to occur as well as being an SMB share.

That certainly used to be a requirement, but I think recent versions will back up to any old SMB share. On an actual NAS you'd want to set up a quota so that it doesn't eventually fill the entirety of the available storage, but if it's a dedicated disk hanging off a router then you don't need to worry about that.

cddt

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#3386900 25-Jun-2025 07:50

FineWine:

Why is it that all the Spark Smart Modems only supports USB 2 at 480Mbps ??

Facetiously, because you get what you pay for.

But it does explain it somewhat - generally newer or faster components are more expensive, so manufacturers will skimp in order to cut a dollar off the BOM. Classic example is laptops which are sold with 10/100 NICs.

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