Chapter 9. Using Backup

One of the many perks of having a .Mac account is that you get a copy of Apple's file-backup program, named, appropriately, Backup. With it, you can set up your system to automatically copy important files to your iDisk, to a network volume, or to another hard drive, or even burn them to CD or DVD or do some combination of the above.

The information on your computer all of your e-mail messages, letters, digital photos, everything is there because of incredibly complex electronic devices and equally complex hardware that keep everything in order. But, inevitably, something happens to one of those systems, and some or all of that precious data evaporates, never to be seen again. It's personally happened to me twice.

Backup offers hope. Properly used, it's a great way to ensure that you don't lose any valuable data. Once you've set up your backup scheme, Backup does the heavy lifting for you. It copies the latest versions of your files, so that if something happens to your local copy, you can easily restore your lost files. In this chapter, I'll show you how to install and set up Backup to protect your data.