[BrianG]

I may seem a little paranoid, but I have a total of 3 external HDDs. One is at home and two are at work (to provide an off-site place in case there is a house fire or something). I then rotate which one is at work so things are current.

Each of these contain the same stuff. I don't back up programs because you just re-install those, and you'd also need the reg entries and such to make them work. So, I just back up the pertinent info in my login profile and anything else I deem worthy.

I have several batch files that calls up windows backup program, backs up certain files and folders I identify, checks the backup, and then stores that file as "my backup_mm-dd-yyyy.bkf". Pretty easy to do and because there is a date in the filename, allows multiple backups of the same stuff if I want. Each backup does a certain thing; one for my pics, one for videos, one for mp3s, one for all kinds of install apps for different programs, etc. Keeping them seperate allows me to recreate the backup for only the items that changed, which takes less time.

At the same time, I have extracted all the program install CDs as ISO files and store them on the external drives as well. When I want to install something, I can either make a new disc or mount the ISO as a virtual drive.

All this stuff is mirrored on all three external drives, and one set on a IDE drive inside my PC ("C drive", programs, profile, etc is on a set of 35GB RAID0 SATA Raptor drives).

I also backup my money info (checkbook log, etc) and various account stuff in an additional way. Once I finish my accounting, I have a batch set up to gather all those files, WinRAR them with a password, and then FTP them to a secure folder on the net somewhere. This is closer to a "real time" backup for some things that change frequently. Again, all automatic.