More on yesterday's data loss

It took a long time to bring all the data back, about 5 hours in the end. TimeMachine did an excellent job, but with one or two minor problems: it doesn't actually back up everything. In this case it didn't back up the Logs folder from the user account, which I needed for tracking remote support. I'll create an Automator script to send that to my DropBox account.

Also after a complete restoration of the data to the reformatted main drive, the hard drive wouldn't boot without reinstalling 10.6. After the reinstallation was complete, everything was back as it should have been, except for the logs folder.

I think it would be best to use Carbon Copy Cloner as well as Time Machine to have a sturdy backup system. TimeMachine is great for background backup and retrieval of damaged, lost or altered files. The fastest way to get back up and running though would be to have a continuous clone made of the whole drive, which Carbon Copy Cloner can do as a regular daily or hourly task. If this is stored on a FireWire drive then any Mac from G4 onwards can boot from it. If you use a USB drive though, only Intel Macs can boot from that. CCC warns you of this as you set up the clone process.