I've faced issues in the past, particularly with free or eBay webhosts, where the server just "disappears," leaving me with little or no data from my website. As a lesson learned from these mishaps, I've created a set of scripts to ensure that my data is always backed up. This shell script backs up any or all of your databases and emails and/or FTPs them over to you. With cron, you can have this process automated, leaving you with regular backups, as well as a piece of mind.
