external hard drive time machine wifi router

You could buy a Synology Network Attached Storage (NAS) device and set it up as a Time Machine backup destination. Retrospect is a great option if you need to backup both Macs and PCs across a network. Retrospect can backup to a local hard drive, a network attached storage (NAS) device like the Synology NAS I mention in Option 3, a cloud-based backup service, or a combination of all of these options. It can scale from being used to backup just 1 Mac, 1 Mac server or multiple servers and numerous Macs and PCs across your home or business network. Retrospect is available with many license variations. Retrospect is an alternative to or competitor of Time Machine, so you would stop using Time Machine and use Retrospect instead. Retrospect has been around for over 30 years and was once the predominant backup solution for individual Mac owners and Mac-based businesses. This option isn’t an exact replacement, but I list it here, nonetheless.

If you only have laptops, consider Option 3. If that Mac leaves the network then your entire backup system stops working. If all of the Macs on your network are laptops, which come and go, then this isn’t an appropriate option since the external hard drive needs to be connected to one chosen Mac. This option makes the most sense if you have a Mac that is stationary, such as an iMac or a Mac mini. You could either buy a multi-terabyte hard drive or even a dual hard drive system that would let you setup a a RAID 1 mirror. This option requires you to connect an appropriately sized external hard drive to your Mac, then use the Time Machine Destination feature that Apple includes in macOS 10.13 High Sierra (and newer) to setup a shared folder on your external hard drive. Option 1 – Use The Time Machine Destination Feature in File Sharing Options 4 and 5 are appropriate if you use your Time Capsule as both a Time Machine backup destination and as a wireless router. Options 1-3 are appropriate if you use your Time Capsule only as a Time Machine backup destination.

External hard drive time machine wifi router