Any backup is a good backup as long as it’s solidly encrypted and you will remember the password or phrase.
Create a volume using true crypt and put your files there. It will appear in Windows Explorer as an ordinary file until you mount it. Then back that file up to whatever location you have access to.
True crypt?
Windows Explorer?
Boy, are you in the wrong thread…
Damn it. I keep forgetting about Mac’s (and reading the OP). :smack:
But seriously, there’s no Mac version of TrueCrypt? How provincial of them. :dubious:
Apple has “File Vault” and Encrypted disk images.
Carve your data onto the Nazca desert floor. It will be accessible for far longer than any of the methods suggested here. It will take more time for each backup though.
I had FileVault enabled on my account, but turned it off, because it interfered with Carbon Copy Cloner’s ability to function.
And so far, the backup needs of those posting here so far seem WAY more than I do, both in terms of volume and absolute (i.e. not personal) importance. Is buying data servers and paying monthly for a cloud service really the best option for someone whose needs basically amount to a lot of Word docs, pictures, and Firefox/Thunderbird profiles that I’d be personally, but not absolutely, devastated to lose?
shrug
I’m pretty sure you have rsync on OSX. Won’t swear to it, but I think so. I gave you complete scripts, which are easily modified for your particular configuration. Figuring out how to modify 'em will be a good learning experience. 
Just remember that any data you don’t have at least 3 copies of is going to be lost sooner or later. And, while your personal data is the most important stuff, backing up your system (which is easy with any *nix and a royal PITA with Windows) can save you a LOT of grief when something goes wrong.
If things go badly wrong, I can restore my entire system by booting from a Live CD or a Live USB drive into a Linux installation, and issuing one command line. Much easier than reinstalling.
Oy. Really? Is that three including or excluding the originals?
Is cloud services one of those “get what you pay for” things?
I’ve been doing this recently and I found its so easy. I just buy some big flash drives, the 32gb and 64gb versions and copy anything I want to back up into it. Why don’t more people do this? Is it the cost? I hate doing the CD thing because I’d have stacks and stacks of CDs, and I would go years between burning a few because I just hated the whole hassle of doing it. Right now, all I have to spend it a minute getting the flash drive, which is in a drawer within arm’s reach, plug it in, copy the files, and put it back. It saves me so much time that I don’t know if its the money, but why people don’t do this.
I keep two backups, one drive stays attached to the machine and backs up every day, the other is stored in another building. Once a week I swap the two backup drives, so the most I’d lose is one week of work.
… Another building? Yeesh! I don’t have another building to go to right now!
And I’ve always heard flash drives are fragile and unreliable. What are they like these days?
If the data is important then offsite backup is a must. What happens if there is a fire, flood, tornado, etc?
Flash drives are very reliable. Hard drives are also reliable, but they do fail sometimes. Which is why its good to have more than one backup.
You really need to use hard drives for your backup because they make it fast and simple. If the backup is difficult then you won’t do it.
IMHO, Flash drives are much less reliable than hard drives.
Sorry to bump; just thinking about this some more.
My data is important to me, at any rate (or at least parts of it are). Something offsite/away from home would be great, but only if it’s safe (not to mention that I’d hate to gain another significant monthly expense). I have full-time work, but no idea if the temp to hire is ever going to get to the “hire” part.
What do y’all think are my best options?
Do you have a bank safe deposit box?
I rotate complete Time Machine backups every few months into my safe deposit box. In between those rotations, I keep my regular TM backups going in my Mac. If you didn’t have vast amounts of data to backup, you could use Carbonite or one of the many other Internet-based backup services.
I don’t, though that may be more “reassuring” than trusting the cloud. How much are they these days? Like I said, expense is a concern.
I was unsure at first about just relying on hard drives, but then again, even the cloud is all HDs, aren’t they?
Storing the backups offsite is a good idea, but a safe deposit box might be overkill. If you can just leave the backups in the home of a nearby friend or relative, that might be enough.
It turns out, I get a safe deposit box free with my BofA account. I’ve had the same account for almost 30 years, and it was some sort of perk when I signed up. I never used it until I started to put my backups in it a few years ago.
I don’t think they are very expensive - around $25/year.
Hmm. I don’t have any friends or relatives nearby that I can visit just anytime I want.
Also, I don’t have FileVault turned on because it interferes with Carbon Copy Cloner and Time Machine (I have Snow Leopard), so I’m concerned about having my data just lying around somewhere unencrypted. Any suggestions that feature minimal fiddling?