Major Crash Destroys Site

While trying to upgrade my site, I ran into a critical error which crashed the site. The good thing about it, was I did not have a lot of content. The bad thing, was I had spent a lot of time developing what little content & comments that were posted. Things I learned: 1. BACK-UP, BACK-UP, and oh, BACK-UP your site. Although, I'm not sure how to do this, I'm going to figure it out. 2. If possible, you should build a test site where you can test patches & upgrades to make sure they work, prior to loading them on your production site. Although most of the seasoned bloggers probably know this, I suspect its easier said than done... Hence why I didn't do it. I have a hard enough time keeping one up and running. 3. I think I'll start writing my comments & post in a word document first and then cut & past into the site. That way, worst case scenario, I still have the content to re-post. If you have suggestions or best practices you use, please let me know.