Every year, I resolve to implement a solid backup strategy. Every year, I fall short. And every year, I say that this year will be different - this time for sure.

I’ve tried backing up to CD. Life is way too short to backup to CD. Personal directories maybe, but a full system backup is out of the question.

I’ve tried backing up to DVD. It’s not enough better than backing up to CD. It may be faster and it may require fewer manual disc swaps, but a full system backup still takes the better part of a day.

This year I’m using Déjà Vu (bundled with Toast Titanium to clone my laptop hard drive to a Firewire hard drive. I’m using Retrospect Express (bundled with Other World Computing Firewire hard drives) to back up my Firewire hard drive to DVD. And I’d be all set if I only had an off-site repository.

The full system backup to DVD was just as painful as ever. But I will only have to endure that process once or twice a year. Synchronization to the Firewire hard disk is fast and easy. And incremental backups to DVD are bearable.

A good backup strategy had always been just a bit out of my comfort price zone. But with inexpensive external hard drives abounding, no one has that excuse anymore.