Joe walks you through these important steps:

• Identifying backup hardware that matches your needs and budget
• Understanding the pros and cons of Time Machine, including nine situations where you'll want to go beyond Time Machine
• Setting up your backup drive (or Time Capsule)
• Configuring Time Machine
• Making a bootable duplicate
• Storing a backup offsite
• Recovering your data

You'll also get tips for setting up ChronoSync, CrashPlan, Data Backup, QRecall, Retrospect, and Synk; find out how an online sync is (and isn't) like a backup; and find coupons for 10% off CrashPlan and a $30 discount on Data Backup.

In this book, you'll find answers to questions such as these:

• How can I get the maximum benefit from Time Machine?
• What features should I look for in an external backup drive? And, should I use a Time Capsule, Apple's all-in-one Wi-Fi router and backup appliance?
• Should I use an online "cloud" backup service, such as Backblaze, CrashPlan, or JungleDisk?
• Should I use USB or FireWire to connect my backup drive?
• What's a versioned backup, and why should I care?
• Why is having a bootable duplicate important?
• How can I easily and effectively keep an offsite backup?
• Time Machine is acting strangely. What should I do?
• How do I migrate existing backups to a Time Capsule?
• What's the difference between an online sync and a backup?
• How do I restore a file from TimeMachine?