Have you considered IDE RAID? Like you, I backup regularly (to my laptop, over ethernet), and keep my most essential files on a 128MB USB memory disk.
So if my hard drive failed tomorrow, I wouldn't lost much data, but that's only part of the equation. What I would lose is time.
Murphy's law dictates that your hard disk will fail, and probably the day before you have to have your most important project ready to demo to your most important client, when the last thing you have time for is rebuilding the system.
It can take the best part of a day to get an OS installed and configured to your liking (and even an emergency temporary configuration can take a couple of hours), and it can be weeks before everything is back to your favourite personalised settings. Plus you always find things that were missing from your backup, like that macro that comes in handy every once in a while.
So my next PC will definately have two mirrored hard drives (RAID 0). I might put it in this one if I feel the urge (but it would be nice to switch to SerialATA at the same time). This means that if anything happens to either drive, the other one has a complete copy of everything, available instantly, no downtime. Just get a replacement drive when you get the chance and everything will sync back to that.
An IDE RAID card only costs a few quid, plus the cost of a second drive, which is very cheap for a PC that's your livelihood.
Of course backups are still essential - RAID won't protect you from somebody dropping a safe on your computer...
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So if my hard drive failed tomorrow, I wouldn't lost much data, but that's only part of the equation. What I would lose is time.
Murphy's law dictates that your hard disk will fail, and probably the day before you have to have your most important project ready to demo to your most important client, when the last thing you have time for is rebuilding the system.
It can take the best part of a day to get an OS installed and configured to your liking (and even an emergency temporary configuration can take a couple of hours), and it can be weeks before everything is back to your favourite personalised settings. Plus you always find things that were missing from your backup, like that macro that comes in handy every once in a while.
So my next PC will definately have two mirrored hard drives (RAID 0). I might put it in this one if I feel the urge (but it would be nice to switch to SerialATA at the same time). This means that if anything happens to either drive, the other one has a complete copy of everything, available instantly, no downtime. Just get a replacement drive when you get the chance and everything will sync back to that.
An IDE RAID card only costs a few quid, plus the cost of a second drive, which is very cheap for a PC that's your livelihood.
Of course backups are still essential - RAID won't protect you from somebody dropping a safe on your computer...