HOW TO: Backup Your Mac Intelligently
Last week Jon wrote about the horrifying experience everyone eventually has to deal with - 
data loss. His wife’s hard drive failed - and without a current backup to rely upon - he went through two data recovery companies and two thousand dollars to retrieve 80 gigs of home movies, pictures, and a career’s worth of graphic design files.
Jon’s lucky. He got his data back. My sister wasn’t so fortunate. I got a frantic phone call from her last night (which is why I’m writing this post). She kept a shortcut to her pictures folder on her desktop and somehow managed to delete the real folder when she dragged it to the trash. What did she lose? Over three thousand pictures she had taken from her senior year in highschool and first year at college. Gone.
I’m a paranoid person when it comes to backing up my files, but it took a hard drive crash of my own to make me realize how important backing up can be. Since then, I’ve gotten very good at making sure my data is secure. The setup I’m about to describe works for me. It’s based on how I prioritize my data and on the budget I’m willing to spend to keep everything safe. It’s not perfect for everyone, so take what I say with a grain of salt - an example of where to start and what’s possible.
All of my data falls into six categories.
* Email
* My Home folder (pictures, documents, application preferences, etc)
* My iTunes library
* My Movies folder
* Websites I’ve built (both personal and professional)
* Applications
I segregate my data this way based on how frequently I back up each and the method I use to do it. Sitening Blog » Blog Archive » How To Backup Your Mac Intelligently