Offsite

I've recently got my hands on Leopard and I've started using Time Machine for backups - and I have to say it really takes the hard work out of backing stuff up. However, as good as it is I've also started being extra cautious and begun a strategy of off-site backups. I figure that all the backup in the world won't help if some scumbag burgles your house and nicks not only your computer but your backup drive as well. Believe me, in my line of work I see it all the time.

I've burnt all my photos (one year per disc) to DVD and also backed up all my iTunes music to DVD too, and shipped them off to a trusted source. I know that iTunes isn't strictly necessary bearing in mind I still have (most of) the original CDs, so I can always re-rip, but thats a bit of a long task really - and if the aforementioned scumbag steals your CD collection as well as your computer then you're really scuppered, particularly if you've got some classic discs that have now been deleted.

There's not a huge amount else of importance. I make very regular backups of all the websites I work on, but those are fairly small files, so not only do they go on to backup drive AND USB stick, they also get burnt to CD for good measure every so often and I've just started chucking the odd folder of documents and stuff onto DropBox (www.getdropbox.com). I figure you can't be too careful.

Think about it - you might not want to put all your eggs in one hard-drive-shaped basket, regardless of how good your backup strategy is. Just something to think about...