A few questions about Time Capsule

[SteelBlueTJ]

I currently have the older Wireless N model Airport Extreme. I am thinking about upgrading to a new time capsule. I prefer to connect my iMac via ethernet cable instead of WiFi since my airport extreme is close by. My question is, does the newer time capsule allow manual backups via ethernet or must they be Wifi only? I've been thinking about picking up a refurbished time capsule, but wasn't sure what methods it uses for time machine backups. I also have a 3TB WD external that I use for my backups now, and was thinking about eliminating some desktop clutter by combining the two devices.

Is the time capsule noisy? I mean can you hear the disk spinning up and down all the time? Thanks

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

HDD is barely audible. You can backup wired.

If you are okay with the configuration limitations, you really can't go wrong otherwise.

 

[Tomorrow]

If all you're really looking for is a wired backup, I think a simple USB drive would do the job nicely and be a lot less expensive. But if you also need the networking features of a TC, there's no problem with using it as you described.