[spkguitar]

This is how I manage session files and backups on my studio rig:

Every session that gets worked on gets saved not only to the session drive, but to an external firewire drive when I close the session. That way I have immediate access to any sessions that I've been working on.

I have another external USB drive that I use specifically for backups. Each hard drive is backed up there initially, and then incremental backups are done weekly. Every time a backup is made, initial or incremental, backups are also made to DVD as well. Those DVD backups are taken offsite (I store mine at a relative's house)

Once every two months, new full backups are made to the external drive, and the old ones are discarded.

So in short:

DAILY: straight "Save Copy In" to external drive
WEEKLY: incremental true image backup to USB drive, full true image DVD backup for offsite storage
BI-MONTHLY: full true image backup to USB drive, full true image DVD backup for offsite storage

It's a little anal, and takes some time, but has saved my skin on more than one occasion.

For my laptop rig, sessions are done on the same firewire external as above, and then copied to the studio rig when moved back into the studio. This is the weak link in my backup chain. If I'm on the road away from the studio for any length of time, backups of the firewire drive are made to DVD.

My methods certainly won't work for everybody, but I would definitely recommend a regular backup schedule in one form or another for EVERYBODY. Disk images of a working system drive are VITAL. Backups to CD or DVD are recommended (especially in your case where you are running out of disk space).

There is a very old saying in computer circles that applies in this case; if it doesn't exist in at least 3 places, then it doesn't exist.

I also highly recommend verifying the true image backups on creation.