Setting up Time Machine is pretty idiot proof - connect an external drive to the Mac and Time Machine takes care of the rest. It formats the hard drive to work with the Mac, and automatically and periodically backs up files. About the only trouble I had with Time Machine was figuring out how to exclude certain folders from being backed up - it wasn't obvious from the user interface, but Apple's support pages tell you exactly how. Recovering files is pretty intuitive as well - Time Machine tells you what versions of files it has, and restoring an older version requires just a couple mouse clicks.
One the hardware side, the 1TB version of WD Elements portable external hard-drive at $80 (Amazon.com) is a good complement to Time Machine. It is small, light and powered entirely over USB. Not needing an AC adapter is a nice plus in my book. Relying on a non-IT supported backup is only as effective as one's discipline in keeping the hard drive connected to the laptop. And I am more likely to connect the hard drive to the laptop if the action is dead simple and does not clutter my desk. Further, not having the AC adapter reduces the probability of accidentally powering down the drive. One can of-course leave the hard drive permanently hooked up to power on one's desk, but I feel better about getting the drive out of sight, outside regular business hours. I just lock it up in my drawer when I leave work.
Lack of encryption, however, is a problem with this solution - the Western Digital hard drive doesn't support hardware encryption and I didn't find any Time Machine option that enables software encryption. But then again, when the backup drive is not in my sights, it is locked up in a drawer in a secure building, reducing the need for encryption to begin with.
Now to go solve the home back problem - the one that I had originally wanted to tackle.
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