As example: a program 1 minute old might have a hex file and no source file due to accident (no more culpable than having been created on a Win platform). The lack of an off site copy is hardly ignorance in this hypothetical.

You will not necessarily have "the current" but you should have something close. A Backup will never guarantee you absolute current recovery. All a backup can do is allow you to recover to some state. Now, visualize this: you work on thursday and your PC bums. You load the backup from wednesday evening and recreate what is fresh in your mind how hard is that?

My system is a daily on-site copy (transfer to server) and a weekly off-site copy.
So should my PC bum I loose a max of a day, should the building burn, I lose max a week.

Erik

Once in a company I worked for the CEO called in a consultant in such matters. A few of us were sworn to secrecy and told to come in for the weekend. That weekend we backed up every PC in the company and wiped their disks. Come monday, it became evident who followed the backup rules and who did not. Of course, since we had made backups, nothing was lost, but the emplouees go a real eye opener.