Take Control of Mac OS X Backups, Fourth Edition

Joe's Recommended Basic Strategy

What I recommend for most users is a three-pronged approach: regular (say, weekly) duplicates of your entire hard disk, even more-frequent (say, daily) versioned backups of your data files, and at least one set of media kept off-site (by physically moving it or by using an online backup service). The duplicates will provide a complete, bootable copy of your disk; the versioned backups will pick up all the files that change regularly; and the off-site backups will protect you against the loss of your local backup media. Users with extensive photo or video data may need to go a step or two further due to the large file sizes—separating that data from their main backups and using special strategies to keep it safe ...