Protect your drives

Whichever local backup systems you use, you must protect your hardware. At the very least, any powered drives should be plugged into surge-protected sockets. But consider investing in a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), which will also enable your Mac to continue to run for a short time in the event of a power outage, until it can be shut down in the normal manner. Look into purchasing multiple drives, too. If you’re cloning your Mac, consider swapping the drive onto which you save your clone on a regular basis; keep one in a secure location away from your home (such as an office safe, or a locked box at a relative’s house). This might sound a touch paranoid, but you can never have too many copies of important data.