Backup/restore

[Fsiwtfrr]

Weird issues at home, looking for a way to backup my ipad to an external drive so that if it dies I can restore to the exact same model.
Update: just to clarify, I want to make a copy of my device so that I can restore it, or clone it to a different device, even if there’s no internet. Long story but I dont want to be w/o a device if I dont have internet.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

You can back your iPad up to iCloud easily and restore it as needed.

 

[MacInWin]

What iPad, what verson iPadOS, what Mac, what version macOS? All of that makes a difference in how to do what you are seeking.

Are you open to paying for a third party product to make the backup? If so, there are alternatives. Using Apple's solutions will end up with the backup on the internal drive, not the external one, but it's free.

 

[Rod]

As per the above answers you can backup and restore from either a Mac computer or a PC running iTunes. From either you can restore that iPad to it's current contents but it needs to be compatible with the computer, hence the need to know "What iPad, what version iPadOS, what Mac, what version macOS?"
No method of backup will include the iOS. For example if you have a backup of an iPad running iPad OS (iOS) 15 it will not restore a new or different iPad to iOS 15, only the user data, apps, preferences ect. Your computer will offer to update the iOS to the current or most current iOS available.
Alternatively you can backup specific data to a USB thumb drive using a USB-A to Lightening Bolt adapter.
SanDisk make a device specifically for this purpose with Lightening Bolt and USB connectors and built in software to assist backing up data.
So there's lots of alternatives but backing up to iCloud is the simplest and cheapest method because it's just a matter of activating it in settings and it will backup daily when locked and on charge.