If you were to start a web application from scratch, how would you deal with important database backups?
This looks like a simple and safe way of handling repeated MySQL backups.
I gave a look at your comments and found this one which replies to my question perfectly (I didn't follow that thread, discovered it right now): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=459000 -- thank you for sharing your experience!
1. Set up a replication slave on another server. 2. Periodically lock the slave while you back it up. 3. Copy files to 2 different secure locations.
This gives you consistent backups that do not interrupt production, as well as a hot copy in case of some catastrophe.