Sometimes all you can do is make periodic manual backups and hope you don't lose too much

Ever since a hard disk crash in 2009 when I lost four months of work, I've been a fanatic about having constant up-to-the-minute backups. My old system was to make periodic backups on CDs whenever I remembered, maybe every six to twelve months. But that doesn't cut it for me anymore, because who wants to lose 6-12 months of work? Since then I've had two…