One of the coolest features of Leopard Mac OS X 10.5 is Time Machine, the automatic file backup utility. This is the perfect tool for the person who does not regulary backp their system. You just need to purchase an extra drive and then set and forget Time Machine. By default it initially performs a full backup and then backs up your changed files every hour. Usually you do not notice that it is doing anything in he background unless you have a older Mac.
At work I use a dual core MacBook with an external Firewire drive and I only really notice that a backup is occuring when I am ready to leave and disconnect the drive. At home I have a single CPU 1.8 Ghz G5 Power Mac with 1 GB of RAM. I bought an extra sata 320 GB internal drive that I configured Time Machine to use. Even with a internal SATA drive I noticed when files were being backed up. It can be a drag on the system. I can imagine it would be much more noticeable on lesser systems.
I do not use my home computer as often and really do not need it backed up every hour, but Time Machine is so streamlined (som may say "dumbed down"
that there are no options to adjust when a backup occurs, at least until now.
I found the Time Machine Scheduler. A free simple utility that allows you to schedule backups between one and 12 hours. It was easy to install and set up. I scheduled it to backup evey six hours which is a lot more often than I use to and is a lot less painful. I still get my files backed up, although not as often, but there is less of a drag on my system which I appreciate. Even with the scheduler, Time Machin eis still the easiest means of backing up your files.