Time Capsule and an external hard drive question

Please review above to see that we provided the upsides and downsides to each type of drive.

We also noted that we use both types of backups......because we value redundancy........but this might not be important to you.

If we could only choose one type of backup, it would be an "external" or "local" drive......if only because it is simpler and therefore more reliable than a TC.

A Time Capsule is a "network" drive. That means that it must connect to your network router. Devices can back up to the Time Capsule over the wireless network or using a direct Ethernet cable connection.

A "LaCie" drive is most likely a "local" drive, meaning that it connects directly to a Mac using a USB cable connection.

If you are asking about backups of your Mac, the USB type of connection is the cheapest, fastest and most reliable way to back up your Mac.

Backups to a Time Capsule are more complicated, slower, and less reliable than a USB type connection.

I use both, so I have a dual backup strategy. One set of backups is on the Time Capsule and the other is on a USB drive. If one drive fails, I still have all the backups on the other drive.

You may or may not want to consider something like this.

Apple no longer produces Time Capsule hardware and its networking part is outdated.

Buy an external drive with at least 2-3 times the capacity of what you’ll be backing up. Since Time Machine backups occur in the background, often at night, speed of the drive is not critical. I would not spend the extra money to get an SSD (solid state drive) - larger capacity is more important. IMHO.

My wife thinks it is overkill to have two separate sets of backups for our Macs, but I can live with the guilt.

Some users back up to yet another drive and keep it offsite, in case of fire, flood, or theft.

You are the best judge of what might be "too few" or "too many" for your needs.

To add one more note...

Time Capsule is Apple’s networked hardware drive for Time Machine backups. Time Machine is Apple’s backup software. It works with any drive, not just Time Capsule.