Backup Your files!
We all dread the scenario: your flash drive crashes—you need your files—you only had one backup—now you have to re-do it. Don't be "that guy/girl." backing up your work is easy and relatively pain-free.
At any given time I have 5 copies of my work. I Keep one on my laptop, and 4 additional copies on external hard drives with Firewire connectivity. (USB works well too). I use Memeo back up software. It came free with my Western Digital hard drives. I have it set up to automatically back up specific folders on my laptop when I connect one of my hard drives.
Memeo
Simple Backup for a complex digital world. Choose from Instant Backup and Premium Backup with more flexibility and Windows integration. Start protecting your files in less than 60 seconds.
I am a fan of Memeo, but you should choose whichever backup software you are most comfortable with—do your research.
Here is how my system is set up. The Memeo backup software is installed on my MacBook Pro laptop. As you can see in the screen capture below, I've set up the Memeo software to detect when I connect one of my hard drives. When I connect a hard drive (I use Firewire) Memeo launches itself on my laptop and immediately compares the designated files on my computer with those on my external hard drive. If the files on my laptop have a newer date, it replaces the older file on my external hard drive. Be careful—it does write over and replace the older file without asking. I have used Memeo successfully for about three years now.
Apple's Time Machine
Apple Video: Time Machine Basics
Mac 101 Tutorial: Time Machine
Time Machine lets you automatically back up your entire system in Mac OS X v10.5 and Mac OS X 10.6 or later. Time Machine keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on your Mac--system files, digital photos, music, movies, TV shows, documents, and so forth. You can easily go "back in time" to restore files if you ever need to.
Time Machine works with your Mac and an external hard drive. Connect the drive, assign it to Time Machine, and start enjoying some peace of mind. Time Machine automatically backs up your entire Mac, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies, and documents. But what makes Time Machine different from other backup applications is that it not only keeps a spare copy of every file, it remembers how your system looked on any given day — so you can revisit your Mac as it appeared in the past.
Be careful—when your backup disk gets full, TIme Machine starts to write over the oldest files on your hard drive to make room for new files.