After many years of complex backup strategies using Retrospect and removable media, I find a simpler scheme best.
Now using the LaCie Silverkeeper - free with their products - I have specified certain folders to be copied to a remote drive each day. With hard drives growing, and in my case, the number of new files every day through photography becoming enormous, a universal backup isn't practical.
For these files, those that must be ABSOLUTELY PROTECTED, I use a RAID 1 system - the photo collection, especially. RAID 1 is a mirrored pair of drives that are identical. If one goes down, the other remains.
The optimal pricing is on 250Gb and 600Gb drives right now.... and the scheme works well with Firewire. We backup the entire network over the standard ethernet thru the main machine that is connected directly to the Firewire....
For $200-$400, all an extra drive needs to do is save you once, paid for by even one hour's billing saved for a small firm....
The LaCie drives are fanless, and live in a large gun safe. In Canada, we don't have much personal ordnance, so there's lots of room for computer and camera stuff. Thinking about cooking oil immersion as a supplemental cooling system.
Dwight Atkinson