Is it really better to save backups to an external hard disk

Wifey and I have UPSs for both computer center and for entertainment center. A direct lightning strike -- I'm not sure if any UPS can survive such. A lightning strike somewhat away from the house or apt, an outage, a brown-out, a sudden blip of power OFF, then ON, then OFF then ON -- all of that is very survivable; UPS will battery-power connected devices for 15-20 minutes. If we're home, we can power things off properly during that short window. If we're not home, well, at least, the centers are protected from damage.

RolandJS said:

Wifey and I have UPSs for both computer center and for entertainment center. A direct lightning strike -- I'm not sure if any UPS can survive such. A lightning strike somewhat away from the house or apt, an outage, a brown-out, a sudden blip of power OFF, then ON, then OFF then ON -- all of that is very survivable; UPS will battery-power connected devices for 15-20 minutes. If we're home, we can power things off properly during that short window. If we're not home, well, at least, the centers are protected from damage.

I have an oversized UPS so I will be protected in case of multiple outages like the ones we had three summers ago. It could run at the present load for 1 hour 47 minutes but I have it set to hibernate my computer if the power is off more than five minutes.