On Mon, 26 Feb 2007, Dan Langille wrote: > I backup my data. I leave the OS for reinstallation. The data > includes configuration files etc. But I don't backup the apps etc, > things which can be easily reconstructed from other sources. As long as you have time to do so. If it's a "mission critical" system, that could be mean: ASAP! Mission critical doesn't have to be a server, it could be the only computer you have and you need to be able to finish your school assignment or contract on time, without 4 hours delay. As you noted, RAID-1 can help there. But of course rm -rf / will nicely erase the files on both the master and RAID image. A thief will steal both drives at once, and a fire will melt both... Yes, RAID is not a backup. My backup: I have a script that copies to a medium sized hard drive (200 GB) using gnu cp with numbered backup versions option. I have two copies of the system on two different disk partitions. I keep the drive in the 300 lb (fire) safe when not backing up. And I am about to get a second drive so I can rotate. rsync-snapshot seemed good (does what I am doing now, but better) but I couldn't get it to work correctly in the time I had. Brett