My laptop backup plan

Background: I use a Mac.

Hardware: 2 external drives, 1 subscription to Mozy, 1 server,
1 Picasa account



1) Setup timemachine. It is easy, free, fast, and reliable.
How: Plug in an external hard drive and enable timemachine
Why: easy, free, fast, and reliable.

2) Mozy. It is easy, very low cost, and most importantly offers off site backups.
How: http://mozy.com/
Why: What if your house burns down?

3) Rsync. Easy, free, fast, and offers additional protection.
How: sudo rsync -vaxE --delete --ignore-errors / /Volumes/backup/
Why: Because you can't have enough backups and this drive gets unplugged and stored away in a safe plae.

4) Picasa. All the most important pictures are also upload to Picasa
How: Download the latest Picasa photo management software from Google
Why: To both share and backup important family photos

5) Rsync (again). This time to a server in the basement.
How: rsync -azvL --progress --delete -e '/usr/bin/ssh' "$LOCALDIR" $REMOTEUSER@$REMOTEHOST:$REMOTEDIR
Why: So the other PC's in the house can access the shared photos (and it can't hurt to have another backup)




If I had to pick 2 (there must always be 2 backups).

1) timemachine (fast, easy, reliable)
2) Mozy (offsite)