I helped a client over the weekend who had a TiBook meltdown. System wouldn't start, OS installer wouldn't boot the machine. All in all a potential disaster in the making.
What saved this client's bacon was the fact that his internal HD was okay. The laptop's hardware had failed, something in the motherboard probably, but not the HD. The client had an external backup he updated periodically, in this case about a week before.
A typical client-consultant snafu will be one where the client insists on controlling the backup process or doesn't do it. In this case, the one week lapse represents work that has to be redone in order for the client to get back up to speed on their work flow.
Ouch! A week of work all because the backup is out of date. Of course, in this situation, that was avoided because the client was off to the a local Mac retailer (not the Apple store), with a burning desire to get the latest Macbook. The retailer, primed by yours truly, was prepared to check the internal HD (good), do the data transfer and return the new laptop ready to go the same day. Way to go Marin Mac Shop.
If this had happened on Sunday, with the store closed, potential disaster loomed if this had been put off to Monday. As another note, the client has one file they use to do their business, a file accessed by proprietary software. So minimum recovery is having the current file available plus the installer plus a machine with OS X to use to reinstall and get back to work.
So, multiple points of failure.
What has occurred to me is new forms of backup made available as free services. I've mentioned in a past post about a free online service named Dropbox. What Dropbox can do for you is give you free storage online (2 gigs) that manifests as a Dropbox folder on your local machine. The folder synchronizes immediately to the online version when a file or folder changes. Your Dropbox can be installed on different platforms (Linux, Windows) so your Dropbox can follow you around from machine to machine.
Even more excellent is your Dropbox is available from the online website.
If my client had Dropbox installed, and he kept his working file in the Dropbox folder, he would have had a current backup that is constantly updated. That would have removed the immediate problem of not having his work be up to date. A great solution with a free service.
