STUWD  p.s. the programs don't necessarily 'work together' - it's you the computer user that uses both of them as described to backup and then restore your data when needed. Try using just one of the apps first in isolation (which is better than most people!) and you'll understand it and also understand it's shortcomings.

Superduper - instant recovery, but you can't keep it up to date every hour of every day - you'd never get any work done!

Crashplan - always up to date backup of your home folder, but isn't exactly instant recovery as you'd have a lot of downloading to do. And if your hard drive it really messed up you'll have to reinstall all your other stuff like os x itself and whatever programs and settings you have before restoring your unique home folder.  
(Version 2.1.4)

STUWD  and read this

http://maczealots.com/articles/backup/  
(Version 2.1.4)

STUWD  I'd recommend paying for SuperDuper if only to be able to use the 'smart update' which is a very quick way of updating the bootable backup image from one week to the next. Instead of copying absolutely everything (which takes maybe an hour) it will change only the new/changed stuff (for me the whole process takes maybe 15mins).

Buy yourself an external firewire (not usb) hard drive the same size as your internal drive to make life easy - this will be your sacred don't-use-for-anything-else drive to keep in a safe place away from your computer until you update it every week.

Read the support provided by SuperDuper - you'll understand it fine. And make sure you actually test the backup image by booting into it (via Startup Disk in preferences) - that way you'll trust it. There's loads of advice from SuperDuper - don't be afraid to read it. But the proof really is in the doing it yourself.

The Crashplan website is very easy to understand. So is the app when you start using it. Again, as mentioned above - make sure you know it's working! Once it's backed everything up, why don't you delete a test file or folder (with a few unimportant pictures or documents) and learn how to restore them with Crashplan? That way you'll understand the process and trust it too.

I can't praise the two websites and help documents supplied with the apps enough - they're written in plain english too.

Good Luck  
(Version 2.1.4)

STUWD  Use Crashplan and SuperDuper together and your data will be bullet-proof!

I am paperlight and use my mac for just about everything. I never submit reviews but I have just done one for Crashplan and Superduper because they've totally saved the day.

My macbook hard drive died without warning a few weeks ago but I lost nothing - not even the documents I was working on that afternoon! I was up and running again minutes later thanks to this easy routine:

1) I make weekly bootable images with SuperDuper onto an external firewire drive. It doesn't take long as SuperDuper only looks for differences in the images. The most recent was four days before the drive died.

2) Crashplan watches for any changes in my Home folder and uploads these to my windows computer and Crashplan Central - I think it does this every 15 minutes. This is invisible - I'm not even aware of it happening but I can always bring up Crashplan and check.

So... when my hard drive died all I had to do was:

a) Boot up from the external firewire drive made in SuperDuper;

b) Tell Crashplan to download anything new or changed from the last four days until present.

c) Work off the external hard drive while I figure out what the hell happened to my macbook's internal drive!

It turns out that my drive did indeed die from mechanical failure. Disk Warrior (another good app to look into) couldn't save it.

I'm only giving SuperDuper 4/5 for features as I still have to buy a copy of Crashplan for this particular bullett-proof technique.

There's over a decade of photos, med school studies and financial information kept safely inside file vault on this thing. Needless to say I was quite pleased with my backup plan! I didn't even break a sweat.  
(Version 2.1.4)

STUWD  Use Crashplan and SuperDuper together and your data will be bullet-proof!

I am paperlight and use my mac for just about everything.

My macbook hard drive died without warning a few weeks ago but I lost nothing - not even the documents I was working on that afternoon! I was up and running again minutes later thanks to this easy routine:

1) I make weekly bootable images with SuperDuper onto an external firewire drive. It doesn't take long as SuperDuper only looks for differences in the images. The most recent was four days before the drive died.

2) Crashplan watches for any changes in my Home folder and uploads these to my windows computer and Crashplan Central - I think it does this every 15 minutes. This is invisible - I'm not even aware of it happening but I can always bring up Crashplan and check.

So... when my hard drive died all I had to do was:

a) Boot up from the external firewire drive;

b) Tell Crashplan to download anything new or changed from the last four days until present.

c) Work off the external hard drive while I figure out what the hell happened to my macbook's internal drive!

It turns out that my drive did indeed die from mechanical failure. Disk Warrior (another good app to look into) couldn't save it.

I'm only giving Crashplan 4/5 for features as I still have to buy a copy of SuperDuper for this particular bullett-proof technique.

There's over a decade of photos, med school studies and financial information kept safely inside file vault on this thing. Needless to say I was quite pleased with my backup plan! I didn't even break a sweat.  
(Version 07.30.2007)