> Developers who don't try to let the client know that their internal backup is unable to protect the data if the hardware fails or the system is stolen, and the failed/stolen equipment is the only copy of the data , isn't doing their job.

I agree! I have replaced numerous systems for clients in a small business where their system was stolen. When asked for a back up, they said their only tape or disk was in the machine.

When it comes to Zipping for a backup. I will always run a winzip session to back up the entire data dir to a separate drive. Then may tape process will trip over open files but get that zip file.