Backup 3 to DVD – what items are important to backup?

[florencevassy]

I hope that this isn’t a silly question but it seems that this hasn’t been covered before.

About once or twice a month or so I use Backup 3 (from .mac) to backup important items onto 2 DVDs.

But what items are really important to backup apart from the obvious ones? I usually set it up to backup iPhoto, itunes, Dreamweaver HTML files and a couple of folders that have important documents.

What other items should I backup? Should I backup my library as well?

Any suggestions are welcome ! Thanks.

 

[Cinematographer]

Should I backup my library as well?

If you have still some space left, backup the library too. The whole Mail folder is stored there, Keychains(!), Adressbook (I guess) and so on ...

This is your personal library. Inside the system library (directly on the HD), there's a folder called "Packages" containing the packages downloaded through Software update, which I backup as well.

... And no, I don't think it's a silly question.

 

[telecomm]

To make things simple you might just backup your entire user folder (which won't differ much in size from music + photos + videos + library). As Cinematographer noted, you really should be sure to back up your library.

 

[Diatribe]

If you're not worried about space and for example your app support folder in your library isn't too big, yes I would definitely back that up too.
My current backup strategy...

Daily:
- all preferences, bookmarks and important documents to my iDisk

Weekly:
- my entire HD to an external HD

Monthly:
- my entire HD to an off-site HD (yeah I am worried about losing data... )


Still, you already have the basics (iTunes, iPhoto). That said I'd backup the library too (that way you don't have to set your prefs all over again, you can just copy them again).
It all depends on how much space you have. I'm for a total backup at least once a week and important files everyday.